Genesee-Oakland County MI Archives Biographies.....Bearslee, Amzi 1819 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 28, 2007, 1:05 am

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

AMZI BEARDSLEE, one of the oldest settlers of Flint, is well known as a man of
character and thoroughness and as one of the hardest working men in the county.
He helped to put up the first mill which was erected in this vicinity and in
other ways became well known throughout this part of the county. He now belongs
to the firm of Beardslee, Gilles & Co., who manufacture sash, doors, blinds,
dressed lumber and all kinds of building material. He was born in Sussex County,
N. J., August 8, 1819, and his father, Samuel, was a native of Newburg, N. Y.,
while the grandfather, Austin Beardslee, was born in Connecticut, but in his
later years was a farmer in New York. The mother, Hannah Blaine, was born at
Paterson, N. J., and was a daughter of Thomas Blaine, a Revolutionary soldier,
who lived to be ninety-six years old. They are distant relatives of the Hon.
James G. Blaine.

  The father of our subject died in Sparta, N. Y., at the age of sixty-five
years, and the mother lived to be ninety-seven years old, dying in Birmingham,
Mich., in 1875. Of their thirteen children nine grew to maturity. Amzi was
reared in New Jersey until he reached the age of twenty years, and in 1839 he
came to Michigan with his mother, locating at Birmingham, where he obtained work
in the manufacture of fanning mills for some four years. In the spring of 1843
he came to Flint and worked on the first flouring mill built in the city,
locating it on the Flint River. He then engaged in the manufacture of fanning
mills for a year and afterward carried on carpentry, contracting, and building
until 1861. At that time he bought an interest in the planing mill from W. R.
Morse & Foote, establishing the firm of Foote & Beardslee, and in 1865 Mr.
Gilles bought an interest, and the present firm was formed. Mr. Conoyer joined
the firm in 1867, and three years later they built the shop which they now
occupy, and which has lately been enlarged to a three-story building, making the
establishment by far the largest of any in the county.

  In 1844 Mr. Beardslee was united in marriage, at Flint, with Miss Mary E.
Taylor, a native of Connecticut, and to them one child was born, Henry, who died
at the age of twenty-four. After the death of his wife our subject was a second
time married, in 1869, to Mary J. Baker, of Flint, who was born in New York in
1822. This lady came to Michigan with her parents when only a year old and made
her home in Oakland County. Her two children are Mary, now Mrs. Elliot, of
Flint, and Anna, who is Mrs. Smale, of Flint, both of whom are graduates of the
High School. This family was prominently identified with the Methodist Episcopal
Church and Mr. Beardslee has been connected with the official Board of the
church of Flint since 1844, and has been active in the building of every
Methodist Episcopal Church erected in this city. He was originally a Republican
but is now a Prohibitionist, and is active in the work, attending county and
State conventions and using his influence in every way for the upbuilding of
public sentiment.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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