Richard Beasley narrates from when he is five years old in 1766 as witness to the tenant rebellions in New York State followed by the American Revolution when his father Henry Beasley and Uncle Richard Cartwright in Albany, New York, risk their lives through the horrors of the civil war for the loyalist forces. Richard Beasley becomes a commissary at Fort Niagara, from which he observes the war out of Niagara featuring his cousin Richard Cartwright Jr,, secretary to Major John Butler of Butler’s Rangers, Chief Joseph Brant and Ensign Walter Butler while he continues his fur-trading at Toronto and the Head-of-the- Lake Ontario. After the war, his land dealings, merchant business and association in trade with Richard Cartwright Jr and Robert Hamilton, his arguments on the settlers’ behalf in the legislature where he was speaker of the Assembly, and his involvement as agent in the German land companies in Markham and Waterloo Counties, particularly during the Aaron Burr conspiracy with the French to retake Canada, make him suspect to the oligarchy in York, later Toronto. As magistrate and organizer of the militia in West York he takes on several roles during the War of 1812. The battles in the Niagara Peninsula, which involve the 2nd York Regiment of which he is Colonel, he describes in detail.

As his intellectual cousin Richard Cartwright becomes more conservative and prominent, Richard Beasley grows more liberal. His correspondence with the famous defender of civil liberties Lord Erskine, his work for a free press, his championing of the reforms of Robert Gourlay and his friendship as a moderate reformer with William Lyon Mackenzie continue the political themes introduced earlier in the book. He manages to overturn the judgment of a military tribunal set up to ruin him by his powerful enemies, including Reverend Strachan and Col. William Claus, for his political views. He relates the economic blights, the pastimes, the joys and sorrows of the settlers with particular emphasis on affairs at the Headof-the-Lake, which, with his help, becomes Hamilton, a county capital. He gives us interesting details of the Upper Canada Rebellion and shows that many among the Upper Canadian community sympathized with it. In his last stint in the Assembly he does much for the establishment of civil rights and works with his one-time conservative opponent John Beverley Robinson for the country’s benefit before the uniting of the provinces in the Act of Union of 1841.

RICHARD BEASLEY gives us a personal, continuous and dramatic picture of our history and the characters that made it. Richard died in 1842.

SOURCES FOR THE BOOK - In a .PDF  format file - Click Here

Arts & Entertainment, FLAMBOROUGH REVIEW

When he was boy of 10, David Beasley dreamed of writing a book about the interesting historical experiences of his great-great-great grandfather, Richard Beasley. Several decades later and with 20books under his belt, the former Hamilton resident has fulfilled his dream. Beasley, now living in Simcoe, recently released From Bloody Beginnings: Richard Beasley’s Upper Canada, which he describes as creative non-fiction. “The characters are true and the events are what happened except they’re presented in a novelistic style,” he said, as he talked about his latest book launched earlier this month at Joseph Brant Museum in Burlington.

The book relates in narrative style the varied experiences of Richard Beasley (1761-1842), a fur trader, soldier, political figure, farmer and businessman in Upper Canada. A United Empire Loyalist, Beasley left New York in 1777 to settle in the Hamilton area, where he remained until his death. Beasley lived during volatile times and the book covers many of the events that impacted his life, including the tenant rebellions in New York State, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. It also tells of Beasley’s many accomplishments, such as his stints as a magistrate, organizer of the militia in West York, and leader of the Legislative Assembly.

There are Flamborough references in the book as well. Beasley owned several parcels of land in the area, some in both west and east Flamborough. Before the War of 1812, he provided goods to Tecumseh, the famous leader of the Shawnee who joined British Major-General Sir Isaac Brock to force the surrender of Detroit in August 1812, a major victory for the British.

While doing research for his book, Beasley learned that Tecumseh also lived in Flamborough for a short time after his brother was defeated in the United States at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. The native leader lived in the Greensville area, Beasley said. Also, there were accounts that Beasley’s two sons went on a hunt for gold in the area north of Beverly Swamp in Flamborough but there were no reports that they ever found any. Beasley feels that local residents, especially those in Burlington and Hamilton, will enjoy reading his book because it presents “a side of history that they don’t know much about.” Also, for those who carry theBeasley name, it offers a personal and dramatic look at their ancestral history.

Dismissing claims often heard that Canadian history is much less exciting than American, he said, “We haven’t exaggerated our history the way that they (the Americans) have.” Even so, he insists that there are plenty of interesting events that have shaped Canadian history and many are recounted in his book. Beasley said he has been researching his new book “on and off” since 1960, concentrating more deeply on it for the last two to three years. He is currently working on a historical novel about Burma, set at the beginning of the Second World War when it was invaded by the Japanese.

Beasley was born and schooled in Hamilton, graduating from McMaster University with a bachelor of arts degree in literature and history. He lived in many European countries for close to 40 years, working, studying and writing for several years and also earned a master’s degree in library science and a PHD in social economics from the New School for Social Research in Manhattan. His first published novel, a biography entitled The Canadian Don Quixote: the Life and Works of Major John Richardson, Canada’s First Novelist, appeared in the 1970s to much acclaim. In 2004, his historical novel, Sarah’s Journey, about a slave who escaped from Virginia to Upper Canada in 1820, won the best novel award presented by the Hamilton and Region Arts Council.

January 10, 2009

RECORD STAFF

From Bloody Beginnings: Richard Beasley's Upper Canada by David Richard Beasley (Davus, 388 pages, $15.95 softcover)

Would you want a great-great- great grandson to take on the job of writing your memoir? Maybe so. Richard Beasley, one of the founders of Hamilton and a key player locally as the 19th century began, fares well in this book of creative non-fiction by his descendent, David Richard Beasley of Simcoe. "Supposing Richard Beasley's aim was to make sense of the historical forces in his lifetime . . . (and to) show that the motives of individuals were as decisive as battles in war in creating a new country and a new culture," the author writes, suggesting the book be thought of as a manuscript Beasley might have penned before his death in 1842 and that it might recently have been found in an old house in Blenheim, Ont., where one of his daughters once lived.

Born in Albany, N.Y. in 1761, Beasley grew up amidst bloodshed as loyalties were sorted out during and after the American Revolution. He became a fur trader and wound up staying in Upper Canada, became a militia organizer during the War of 1812-14, then a politician, magistrate and business person. He was wealthier than most, had some slaves and built a grand home in Hamilton that he later had to give up. Dundurn Castle was built on the foundations of his residence. In this area, he is best known as a land speculator who was vilified by Mennonite settlers in Waterloo Township (also known as Beasley Township then) when they learned they didn'thave clear title to land he sold them -- and never would unless the debt-ridden Beasley could pay off the mortgage he had with Six Nations leader Joseph Brant.

In her 1945 book Grand River, Kitchener librarian Mable Dunham has Mennonite settler Sam Bricker going to Hamilton "to confront Beasley with his dishonesty" and Beasley confessing his guilt. Mennonite leaders in Waterloo subsequently returned to Pennsylvania and gathered funds that let them form the German Company and acquire title to their lands. The Beasley "memoir" includes no confessions of dishonesty, but does describe a visit by Mennonites disturbed by rumours they had been defrauded. Beasley, in turn, tells Brant, who takes out a newspaper ad to dismiss the rumours and vouch for his integrity. Beasley then describes working with the Mennonites to right the situation. "I made trips into Pennsylvania . . . with Mennonite friends to talk to groups of the brethren and explain our predicament."

There's another interesting spin on Mennonite lore when the memoir has Beasley leading the initial Mennonite settlers through the infamous Beverly Swamp to reach the Waterloo Township lands. "This suited the Mennonites, because they looked upon the swamp as a barrier preventing others from trespassing on their Eden," it says.

David Richard Beasley is the author of more than 20 books and pamphlets published by his own Davus Publishing. They range from a novel about the nature of love to travel books, biographies and non-fiction works about modern art. In From Bloody Beginnings, he has done an admirable job of producing his ancestor's memoir. It's a format with obvious pitfalls, but it also allows him to tell many colourful stories and to reflect on the life and times of an interesting Upper Canada figure.

Jon Fear is a Record copy editor.