Background
He was born in Oswego County, New York, United States, in 1821.
He was born in Oswego County, New York, United States, in 1821.
In 1838, he was apprenticed to H & East Phinney, a publishing firm in Cooperstown, New New York
He had a sibling: Irwin Pedro Beadle (1826-1882). They were the grandsons of Benjamin Beadle, a Revolutionary War soldier. After a temporary move to Michigan, the Beadle family returned to New York, and lived in Chautauqua County, New New York
Erastus worked for a miller named Hayes, where he began his printing career when cutting wooden letters to label bags of grain.
There he learned typesetting, stereotyping, binding, and engraving. In 1849 Irwin went to Buffalo too, and found a job as a bookbinder.
The next year, the brothers set up their own stereotype foundry. Irwin left the company in 1856 and went to the Nebraska Territory where he acted as a secretary for a company settling the town of Saratoga.
The town was busted in 1857, and Beadle returned to Nebraska shortly thereafter.
Erastus retired to Cooperstown, New York, in 1889, where he died on December 18, 1894. His papers are archived at the University of Delaware.
