William Ambrose Beasley was my great-grandfather (and I
knew him!). You can see more of the Beasley family tree
here.
According to the 1890 Census, Morris David Beasley was
married but still living with his parents at the time of the
census; he was not living with his wife, Emma, whom he
married February 4, 1880 in Daviess County, Kentucky.
Morris David Beasley died the same year Walter Morris
Beasley was born, in 1893 - just seven months after the
birth of his last son.
According to the 1900 Census, Emma was living with all of
her living children and with her brother, William Smith.
According to that census, the father of Emma and William was
born in Germany.
I cannot find William and Emma in any US Census prior to
1900, and I cannot find their father, William Smith or
Schmidt, at all.
According to my grandmother, Emma (Beasley) Cravens, who was the daughter of William Ambrose Beasley, William Smith died because he "fell in a fire." I did not ask further questions about this when she told me. Years later, after her death, a friend in Henderson, Kentucky looked up the information in the newspaper from the time (not available at newspapers.com). Here is the transcript of the story he found, and here is a scan of the information (PDF - two extra long pages):
Tuesday, September 4, 1906
The Gleaner (Henderson, Kentucky)“Billy” Smith is Burned to Death
At Reeds, This County - Deliberately Committed Self-Destruction.
He Jumps Into Brush Fire
Was Forty-Two Years Old and Was Deaf Mute - Came From Daviess County
The motives which prompted William Smith, better known as “Billy” Smith, a resident of Reed, to commit self-destruction will never be known. His death occurred Friday at Reed and was quite tragic.
Billy Smith, extremely unfortunate in life - he was deaf and dumb - walked westward from Reed on the road that leads to the mouth of the Green river and about 10 o’cluck reached the point where a number of hands were cleaning the Stanley ditch. The place where they were working was within forty yards of the spot where, on Monday of last week, Houston Leonard met a horrible death in the explosion of a charge of dynamite that had been placed under a stump.
In the only language known to the unfortunate man, working his fingers in the deaf mute language, he was conversing with Jeff Bentley, the overseer of the work. He had just mentioned to Bentley that one brush pile - they had fired a number of them - was burning particularly well, its flames leaping into the air twenty or thirty feet. Smith turned to leave Bentley and the latter, with his back to Smith, returned to his work. Bentley supposed that Smith had started back home and upon hearing a noise and turning around, was horrified to see Smith leap into the center of the burning brush pile and fall. He ruled over and Bentley ran up to the fire and succeeded in pulling him away from the fire and extinguished his burning clothes by throwing water over him. He had been burned on both sides of his body and his legs and hands were burned, but his face was unscathed.
Smith was immediately taken to his home where he as given aid by Dr. G. E. Mitchell. Smith endured the terrible agony of his pains stoically, the only sound he could make being a heart rending mumbling which no one could understand.
Smith died about midnight and was buried Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Brick Wall grave yard. Rev. Luke Lacer, of the General Baptist church, conducting the ceremony.
When Smith made his fatal leap he had in his pocket a leather wallet containing $216 in currency and $1.09 in coin - he had a hatred of banks - and the purse with its contents were entirely unharmed.
Smith was forty-two years old and had always been quite a character around Reed where he was known by everyone. He was raised in Daviess county near Birk City, and had resided in Reed about twelve years. He was unmarried and is survived by a sister, with whom he lived and several nephews.
I have a million questions, of course. Did he really commit
suicide? My grandmother told me that her great Uncle was the
father to his nephews, since theirs had died - she was not
alive when he was, so she must have been told this. He "had
always been quite a character around Reed" - what does that
mean? My grandmother never told me he was deaf. And the sign
language he used - where did he learn it? My
great-grandfather was 9 when his uncle died - what did he
remember?
The article about his death says he came to Reed about 12
years before, which would make it about 1894. There is
confusion about his age - I have that he was born in 1850,
which would make him 56 when he died, but the article says
he was 42 at the time of his death.
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