THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

January 28, 1993

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            This is a story about two brothers, Henry and Hiram C. Beadleston, who left their native state of New York to make a new life in Waupaca.

            Henry Beadleston was born November 23, 1833, at Lake George (Warren County), N.Y., and came to Waupaca in the early years of the 1850s.

            Hiram C. Beadleston was born December 30, 1835, at Glen Falls, also in Warren County, on the Hudson River, 45 miles north of Albany, the capitol of the state.  It is believed that Hiram came to Waupaca about 1857.

            In April of 1862, the two brothers entered into a grocery business in a small wooden frame structure on the northwest corner of West Fulton and North Main streets.  IN one of the old Waupaca newspapers dated July 23, 1913, there was a picture of this original Beadleston store.

            From their beginning in 1862, up to 1875, they carried almost exclusively groceries. In 1875 they added a fine line of drugs and medicine to their grocery line.

            Warranty Deed volume 18, page 540, dated January 13, 1863, indicates that H.C. Beadleston purchased lot number five, Block H, of the original plat of the Village of Waupaca, from Eliza L. and her husband Syrenus Belden.

            There were three big fires in Waupaca in the 1870s that destroyed most all of the wooden frame buildings in that block. The big fire of February 19, 1877, burned to the ground the Beadleston store, along with several others in that block.

            Prior to these big fires, each wooden structure stood independently of each other.  In other words, animals could go between buildings, or trash could have been thrown in there, so when the new brick buildings were erected they had to share existing outside walls, leaving no empty areas between buildings.

            Now, “party wall” agreements came into effect.  These were agreements between adjoining parties whereby they agreed to share the cost of using the party wall, as in the case where a party wanted to build between two existing buildings, they would not have to erect outside walls, but use them as their own walls. There was a cost involved in doing so.

            When the Beadleston Bros. rebuilt, so did the Waupaca Lodge No. 123, Free and Accepted Masons, whose lot was adjacent on the north.  There was a part wall agreement made between the two on May 19, 1877.

            A quit claim deed was issued to the Beadlestons for all of lot five and the south four and one-half feet of lot 4.  It was at this time that an error, undetected in the original deed, dated January 13, 1863, when Henry Beadleston’s name had been omitted on the original deed, was discovered.

            The Beadleston Bros. built their new brick building that stands today on the corner of West Fulton and North Main streets (Broadway Optical and Main Street Market Place).  According to the history of northern Wisconsin, the building when built was 65 feet by 44 feet, with a store room 38 by 44 feet. The building was built in the autumn of 1878. However, the dateon top of the building shows a date of 1877. Waupaca Lodge 123 Free and Accepted Masons building that is adjacent on the north, also has the date of 1877.

            It seems as if it was in the early 1880s, that Henry and Hiram Beadleston sold out their business to the firm of Hudson and Jeffers, but retained ownership of the building. Hudson and Jeffers in turn sold out their general merchandise business to J.A. Versen, who had come to Waupaca from Marshfield in 1894.

            More will appear in a later issue about the many different business places that have occupied this building in the 1900s.

            In Waupaca on November 20, 1879, Henry Beadleston was united in Marriage to Eliza Jane Arters. She had been born in Dayton, Ohio, on November 6, 1857.

            As they continued along life’s highway, they raised a foster child Alta May, who was born February 23, 1890, in Tomah. It was on September 20, 1908, that she was married to Herbert F. Quimby, and they became the parents of 10 children. Eight grew to adulthood:  Clifford, Billie, Jack, Eloise, Meta, Betty, Beverly and Etola. The two children that did not survive were Francis Loren and Sue Lee.

            Herbert Francis Quimby was born January 24, 1887 and passed away August 21, 1970, and Alta May Quimby was born February 23, 1890 and passed away August 7, 1971.  Both are buried on lot 298 in the original section of the Waupaca Lakeside Memorial Park.

            Hiram C. Beadleston was married at least four times.  On the Hiram C. Beadleston lot in the Waupaca Lakeside Memorial Park, there are these markers to verify this.  The following are the inscriptions on the four markers:  Irena L., wife of Hiram C. Beadleston, born February 19, 1836, died July 16, 1890; Annie, wife of H.C. Beadleston, 1842-1896; Exie, wife of H.C. Beadleston, 1849-1898 and Sarah Jane Beadleston,1837-1931.  Hiram C. Beadleston’s marker reads 1836-1932.

            There are two marriage records recorded in the Waupaca Register of Deeds office. On November 2, 1897 Hiram C. Beadleston married Miss Exie Hewitt of New York, and on March 22, 1900, he was married to Sarah Jane Burdick of Andover, N.Y.