Elias Root Beadle
Elias Root Beadle [1]
a Presbyterian minister, was born at' Cooperstown, N. Y., Oct. 13, 1812. He united with the Church at the age of seventeen, and soon after commenced his preparation for the ministry, spending parts of two years under the tuition of Rev. Dr. E. N. Kirk, then pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church at Albany, N. Y. In 1835 he was licensed to preach, and in 1836 was ordained. His health being much shattered in conseqnence of his labors as a city missionary, he accepted an invitation to become the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Albion, N. Y., where he remained for two years; at the end of which time he accepted an appointment as a missionary among the Druses of Mount Lebanon, Syria, and sailed from this country in June, 1839. The war in Syria prevented his entrance upon the work for which he had been set apart, and, after three years' missionary labor in different parts of Syria, he went to Constantinople, with the hope that Providence might open some field for work in Turkey. To recruit his health, he decided, after a time, to return to his native land. In 1840 he went to New Orleans, where he continued for nine years "in labors abundant and most fruitful, in zeal ardent, in perils oft, amid epidemics and panics, sicknesses and calamities." As the result of his persistent toils, three Presbyterian churches were formed in New Orleans, of one of which he was pastor for several years. In 1852 he returned north, and became pastor of the Pearl-street (Congregational) Church in Hartford, Conn, a new church, of which he was the first minister. Here he continued for ten years, with but little relaxation from his ministerial labors, and then yielded to the pressure of disease, and was obliged to spend eight months in the West Indies to recruit his wasted energies. Returning to Hartford, he continued his labors for a time, and then resigned. After spending some time in the Old World, he returned to the United States, and having accepted a call to the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, he was installed Nov. 12, 1865, where for thirteen years he had a successful ministry. His death, which was sudden, occurred Jan. 6, 1879. In some respects, Dr. Beadle was a remarkable scholar, being well- informed upon all the sciences, but his specialties were mineralogy and conchology, in which latter science he was one of the very highest authorities in America. The museum of Brown University has been greatly enriched from his valuable collections. See Dr. Herrick Johnson's Mem. Sermon. (J. C. S.)
