Samuel Beatty
1811-After 1880

SAMUEL BEATTY, retired farmer; P. O. Cardington; was born at Belfast, Ireland, in 1811; son of John and Ann (Hay) Beatty. His father was a merchant in a small town called Ballynure, in the county of Antrim, and kept tavern and had a farm in connection with his mercantile business; the father's family consisted of four boys - Alexander, William, Samuel and Robert; and three girls - Eliza, Jane and Mary. His parents were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and gave their children a good education.

Samuel mastered the common branches, such as reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar, and at the age of 18 went to join his two older brothers in the West Indies, where they held positions as overseers of plantations. Landing at St. Johns, on the Island of the Antigua, he found a similar situation, which he held one year, and then, with his other brother, joined the third, who, in the meantime, had come to the United States; locating at Pittsburgh, he there learned the chairmaker's trade.

After spending a short time in Zanesville, O., and Medina, O., he went to Greersville, Knox Co., Ohio, where he spent three years in teaching school and working at his trade; from this place he went to Fallsburg Tp., Licking Co.; in Dec. 13, 1846, be married Sarah Nichols, of Howard, Knox Co.; born Sept. 22, 1822. Her father, Amos, a native of Virginia, and her mother, Sarah (Davis) Nichols, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Ohio when the Indians roamed through that part of the State; her grandfather, a Frenchman, was killed in the Revolutionary war while on picket; her grand parents Davis were from Germany. In 1847 Mr. Beatty bought the farm where he now lives, consisting of 132 acres, then covered by a dense forest. After one year's residence in Licking Co., and two years in Knox Co., he moved on his land in 1851, which now comes 155 acres. The change wrought by Beatty is wonderful; he cleared up over 100 acres, and now has a model farm, with good buildings and a handsome residence, with delightful surroundings. They have raised a family of six children - Robert Alexander, a farmer, of Cardington Tp.; William John, Franklin L., who died May 8, 1874; Amos Mann, Ann Eliza and Evaline.

William John, at the age of 15, enlisted in the 40th and was transfered to the 60th 0. V. I., and was in the battles of Wilderness, Nye River, Spotssylvania, North Ann, Bethesda Church, Shady Grove, Cold Harbor, Gaines' Hill; the battles before Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Yellow House, Poplar Grove, Pegram Farm, Hatchers Run, Fort Steadman, and capture of Petersburg; passing through all these without a scratch.

Mr. Beatty's youngest brother, Robert, succeeded to his father's business; and in 1866 his sister, Mary, visited him with her husband, the Rev. Robt. Wallace, who was a delegate from the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in Ireland to the Centenary of Methodism in America, but who died in Cincinnati, of cholera, just ten days after his landing. Mr. Beatty is a member of Cardington Lodge No. 384, of Free Masons, and is a Republican.

The History of Morrow County and Ohio. Chicago, Illinois: O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 186 Dearborn Street, 1880, page 634.

This information was transcribed and posted on the Heritage Pursuit site.