My Genealogy Hound

JOHN A. BEASLEY, a practical and successful farmer, was born within one mile of his present residence October 14, 1822, being the fifth of eleven children of William M. and Elizabeth (Anthony) Beasley, who were natives of North Carolina, and were early settlers of Giles County, Tenn. Here they were married and raised their family. The father died in Madison County, Miss., in 1832, and the mother at the old homestead, in Giles County, in January, 1852. Our subject received a somewhat limited early education, and through life has followed farming. He served in the late war in the First Tennessee Cavalry, and served seventeen months. He was opposed to secession, and used his influence and votes to keep his State in the Union, but after secession became a fixed fact he followed the fortunes of his State. He was at Corinth, Iuka, and Thompson’s Station, and at the battle of Iuka his horse was shot dead under him. He became exempt from service in 1863. October 24, 1844, he wedded Sarah C. Wells, born in Giles County July 28, 1828, daughter of Jesse Wells, an early settler of the county, born in Virginia in 1797, and to them were born eleven children: Jesse Fendle, William J. E., John E., Reble L., Dayton, Ann E., Sarah J., Eudora M. M., Ida J., Louella, and Daisy V. Mr. Beasley was formerly an old line Whig, but is now a Democrat. He is a Mason, and he and wife own 360 acres of land, and he is called one of the open-handed and honorable citizens of the county. He and his oldest daughter are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while his wife and the rest of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church South.