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William Beadle | |
|---|---|
 William Beadle's Grave (2018) | |
| Born | 1730 or 1746 Essex, England |
| Died | 11 December 1782 |
| Cause of death | suicide by gunshot |
| Resting place | Wethersfield Village Cemetery |
| Nationality |  England |
| Occupation(s) | merchant and retailer |
| Known for | being the first mass murderer to commit suicide in American History |
| Spouse | Lydia Lothrop (1750-1782) |
| Children | Ansel Lothrop Beadle (1771-1782), Elizabeth Beadle (1772-1782) Mary Beadle (1776-1782) |
| Motive | delusions spurred by the Revolutionary currency crash |
The Beadle Family Massacre occurred on 11 December, 1782 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The murders were committed by the family's Patriarch William Beadle.
Early life of William Beadle
editWilliam Beadle was born in a small village near London, England and when he was older began to have a reputation of being a good, honest, hard working man. During his time in England he began to attend Deism meetings and began to embrace God in the physical world.[1] William then moved to the Island of Barbados in 1755 at the behest of the Islands governor Charles Pinfold Esq (1709-1788).[2]
Family
editLittle is known of William's family in England, other then the following account from Stephen Mix Mitchell:
As to his busi|ness in youth am still left in the dark, but find he has once mentioned to a gentleman, some little inci|dents which happened to him while in company with his father, and that he very early became acquainted with a club in London who were Deists, where 'tis probable he received the first rudiments in those prin|ciples. While in England, where he left a mother and sister, he had a fair character for integrity and honesty. (February 1783)
— Stephen Mix Mitchell, A narrative of the life of William Beadle, of Wethersfield, in the state of Connecticut. Containing I. The particulars of the "horrid massacre" of himself and family. II. Extracts from the Rev. Mr. Marsh's sermon at the funeral of his wife and children., https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N14090.0001.001/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
Religious beliefs
editWilliam Beadle publicly was a Christian, he also embraced the ideals of Deism and before he committed the murder of his family, he entertained ideas of Calvinism as a moral justification.[3][4]
Revolutionary War
editWilliam then emigrated to America in 1762, first moving to New York then Stratford, before moving to Darby and finally Fairfield around 1770. While in Fairfield he met and eventually married a wealthy Connecticut aristocratic woman named Lydia Lothrop[1] and the following year then had their first child Ansell Lothrop Beadle. William and his family then moved to Wethersfield In 1773 and had their last two kids Elizabeth and Mary. During the Revolutionary War He opened a store and began to sell his supplies to the Government in exchange for Continental currency which began to rapidly loss value as a result of depreciation,[5] This led to Beadle's suffering financially and in 1780 William began to plot the murder of his family, writing in his journal:
ean to close the Eyes of six persons thro’ perfect Humanity, and the most endearing fondness & Friendship, For never did mortal father feel more of these tender Ties than myself. I really believe that the true God supports me. For while I am writing these very words and meditate on this intended deed, no singular anguish of mind affects me, and why should it? For my intentions are of the purest kind.
Plotting
editBetween 1780 and 1782, William would rehearse his murder plan by keeping an ax in the masters bedroom and choosing which knife he was going to use to kill his children, he would also watch his children sleep with his ax in hand to practice getting into position and to see if he would feel any remorse over the eventual murder.[1] William was anxious about going to Hell for his crimes writing:
“If it should at last prove Mr. Devil or any evil spirit [that prompts me in my plan to kill myself and family] all I can say about it is, that I was born a very unlucky fellow.”
— William Beadle, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357517085
While plotting the murders his wife Lydia left on a trip in November 1782 and told her husband about horrible nightmares she had been experiencing of her and her children's death, which only served as proof to the deranged William that it was the will of God.
Murder
editOn December 11, 1782, Beadle and his family ate their last meal of oysters. William sent their maid to retrieve a doctor for his wife, who he claimed had been suffering from an unknown disease and once she left, Beadle murdered his wife with an ax while she slept, then killed his children with a knife before making his way to his office and grabbing two pistols, one for each hand and shot himself in the head with both simultaneously.[2][5][6][7]
Aftermath
editOn December 12, 1782, the angry townsfolk tied him to a sled with the knife he used tied to his breast and left his body on the Western Bank of the Connecticut River. However the townsfolk of the neighboring town of Glastonbury complained that they did not want the body of Beadle rotting on their land. The selectmen of Wethersfield decided to bury the body in the woods, which was eventually found by a group of children, and the townsfolk moved it back to the riverbank and dug a shallow grave. During the Spring of 1783, the body was uncovered due to flooding and tourist began to take his bones as souvenirs.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c Glass, Andrea L. (January 2022). "The Tragic Case of William Beadle". ResearchGate.[better source needed]
- ^ a b Mitchell, Stephen Mix (1783). A narrative of the life of William Beadle, of Wethersfield, in the state of Connecticut. Containing I. The particulars of the "horrid massacre" of himself and family. II. Extracts from the Rev. Mr. Marsh's sermon at the funeral of his wife and children. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Story of the Murder of the Beadle family by William Beadle". Wethersfield Historical Society. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
- ^ Grasso, Christopher (June 2008). "Deist Monster: On Religious Common Sense in the Wake of the American Revolution". Journal of American History. 95 (1): 43–68. doi:10.2307/25095464. JSTOR 25095464.
- ^ a b Dan_nehs (July 25, 2017). "The Revolutionary Currency Crash Makes William Beadle a Mass Murderer". New England Historical Society. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
- ^ Dana (1735-1812), James (1783). MEN'S SINS NOT CHARGEABLE ON GOD, BUT ON THEMSELVES. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT WALLINGFORD, DECEMBER 22, 1782. OCCASIONED BY THE TRAGICAL EXIT OF WILLIAM BEADLE, HIS WIFE, AND FOUR CHILDREN, AT WETHERSFIELD, ON THE MORNING OF THE 11TH INSTANT, BY HIS OWN HANDS. / BY JAMES DANA, D.D. PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN WALLINGFORD. New Haven, Connecticut: T. & S. Green.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Smart, James R. (1989). A Life of William Beadle. self published.
- ^ Thomas, David (2018). The Anxious Atlantic: War, Murder, and a "Monster of a Man" in Revolutionary New England (PhD dissertation thesis). Temple University. doi:10.34944/dspace/4098. Retrieved October 8, 2024.