John Charles Beadle, a farmer in Ellice Township, purchased Lots 24 and 25 on Nelson Street by May 1874. The house at 269 Nelson Street was built after April in 1875. It appears that John Charles built the house as an income property, and as he eventually retired to Stratford, perhaps he intended to live in this house. The first tenant of 269 Nelson Street was Samuel Brothers, a carpenter, who lived there for approximately one year. The second tenant, David Sebring, a gentleman, lived there for about two years. In 1878 or 1879 the house was sold to Joseph Pepper. Perhaps John Charles Beadle was too stretched financially to continue renting the house.

John Charles Beadle’s parents were John Beadle and Selina Latter from Wateringbury, Kent, England. John’s occupation was listed as a carrier, and his deliveries may in part have been his own beer because in the Canada Census of 1851 he is listed as a brewer. In 1844 John and Selina came to Canada with their four younger children -- Joseph, John Charles (born in 1826 or 1827 in Wateringbury, Kent), Thomas Edwin, and Emma Selina (and her new husband), leaving the two eldest who had already married in England. In 1844 John leased a lot in Ellice Township and in the following year leased the adjacent lot. He was also listed as a brewer in the 1861 census when he was living with his son Joseph and family on their farm in Ellice Township (his wife Selina had died some time in the 1850s). John followed Joseph and family to Michigan in the early 1860s, and died there about 1875.

John Charles Beadle married Sarah Carey (listed as Harriet in his obituary) in about 1853, presumably in Perth County. Sarah is listed as having been born in Kent, England in 1828 and having immigrated to Canada in 1836 according to the 1911 census. There is no other information available about Sarah.

John Charles farmed in Ellice Township soon after immigrating to Canada in 1844. From 1863 to 1889, the directories for Perth County list him as having a farm adjacent to his brother Thomas Edwin. (Thomas Edwin also later retired to Stratford, building a house at 253 Ontario Street.) John Charles retired from farming in about 1891. He and Sarah first lived on Front Street and later on Mornington Street in Stratford.

Charles and Sarah had six children: Emily Jane, Elizabeth Ann, Charlotte, Sarah Selina, James Charles, and John Thomas. It appears that Elizabeth Ann died young (after 1871), while the rest of the children eventually married with all but one having had children. They all lived in Stratford except Charlotte who lived in Wingham. There were seven grandchildren.

John Charles had a stroke in about 1905 which caused him to lose his sight, and he died from a subsequent stroke in 1908. After her husband’s death, Sarah moved in with her daughter Emily and family on William Street. She died in 1913. John Charles and Sarah are buried together in Avondale Cemetery.