A Portrait and Biographical Record of Hendricks County (Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1895)--pages 1090-1091
William R. Beadle, of Broad Fork, Putnam County, Ind., one of the old soldiers of the Civil War and a practical farmer and respected citizen, was born in Mill Creek Township, Putnam County, April 23, 1840, and is the son of Samuel and Sarah C. (Jones) Beadle. William R. Beadle received a limited common education, and enlisted, at the age of about twenty-seven years, on February 13, 1865, at Terre Haute, Ind., in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-ninth Indiana Infantry, under Capt. E.H. Laymon, to serve as a private twelve months, or during the war, and was honorably discharged at Huntsville, Ala., under general order, on May 15, 1865, on account of the closing of the war, having served three months and three days. His service was in Tennessee and Alabama, at the front. He was sick in hospital with rheumatism and catarrh, caused by exposure and sleeping on the ground, and he has ever since been disabled. After the war he returned to Putnam County. He here married, April 3, 1862, Marinda Hurst, daughter of Jackson and Louisa (Miller) Hurst, and ten children have been the result of this union, viz.: Samuel, Hester, Charles, Lora, Ida, John, James, Ernest, Effie and Myrtle. Since the war Mr. Beadle has been farming, and bought his present farm of 154 45/100 acres August 15, 1886. He has always been a hard-working and industrious man, is an honorable citizen, and has brought up a respected family of children. Mr. Beadle is a member of Alexander post, G.A.R., at Stilesville, and in politics is a Democrat. Both Mr. and Mrs. Beadle are members of the Regular Baptist Church, in which he has been clerk. He is a man whose judgment is respected by the people, and he has been a justice of the peace for the past fifteen years. Mr. Beadle is a man of independent character, is a strong temperance man, and has been assessor of Mill Creek Township for two terms. He is fully disabled with rheumatism, and his right hand is ruined by this disease and drawn up. His left hand is in much the same condition, and his hips are affected. This was caused by sleeping on the ground in the month of March in the snow at Nashville, Tenn., with only the shelter of a small tent.
Samuel Beadle, the father of our subject, was a pioneer, and came to Putnam County in 1837, when a young man. He was born in Connecticut in 1808, and left New York state when twenty-eight years old. His father had settled in Chenango County, N.Y., in 1812.
Russell Beadle, grandfather of our subject, was a seaman in the War of 1812 and served on a vessel in the southern waters. The founders of the family were of English stock and early settlers of Connecticut. Samuel Beadle was the father of ten children: William R., John, Louisa, Frances, Marjorie J., Emily, Marietta, Lovicy, Lauretia, and Candace, all now dead but our subject, Emily and Lovicy. Samuel Beadle cleared up a good farm which he had entered, consisting of 200 acres, and became a prosperous citizen. He died, aged eighty years, in Sedgwick County, Kan., where he went to live with a daughter in 1886. Both subject and wife were members of the Methodist Church. Politically he was a Democrat, and at one time he was supervisor of the township. Jackson Hurst, the father of Mrs. Beadle, was from Ohio, and came to Putnam County, Ind., among the pioneers, about 1822, and cleared up a good farm and owned between 600 and 800 acres. Mr. and Mrs. Hurst were members of the Regular Baptist Church. Politically he was a Democrat. He was twice married; the first time to Louisa Miller, who bore twelve children, of whom eleven grew to maturity: William, Nancy, Miranda, George, Jefferson, Marrion, Levi, Columbus, Matilda, James and Thomas. By his second wife, formerly Eliza J. Galburt, and later the widow Hunter, when he married her, there was one child, Ida. Jackson Hurst was a well-known pioneer, a justice of the peace, and served as estate appraiser of his township. He lived to be seventy-four years old and died in Jefferson Township, Putnam County. His sons, Marion and Columbus, are Regular Baptist ministers.