author
Frederic W. Beasley
1808–1878
A 19th-century Episcopal clergyman who also wrote poetry and reflective fiction, he is remembered for "Papers from Overlook-House" and the poem "Henry Venola, the Duellist." His work carries the thoughtful, literary tone of a writer shaped by church life, family history, and old Philadelphia.
1 Audiobook
Papers from Overlook-House
by Frederic W. Beasley
About the author
Frederic W. Beasley, better known in archival records as Frederick Williamson Beasley, was born in 1808 and died in 1878. He was an Episcopal clergyman in Pennsylvania, and University of Pennsylvania records identify him as the son of the Rev. Frederick Beasley and note that he earned a bachelor of arts there before later receiving an honorary doctor of divinity.
Archival material from the University of Pennsylvania describes him as rector of All Saints' Church in Lower Dublin, Pennsylvania. The same records show that his papers and published works were preserved across generations of the Beasley family, suggesting a life closely tied to both ministry and literary work.
As a writer, he is credited with works including Papers from Overlook-House and Henry Venola, the Duellist: A Poem. Those titles point to the range of his interests: part devotional and reflective, part literary, with a taste for narrative, memory, and moral feeling that fits the mid-19th-century American reading world.