Beach, Stephen

Beach, Stephen a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at Wallingford, Conn., March 15, 1790. Although lacking the advantages of a collegiate education, he became a good scholar and an excellent preacher. He was ordained deacon Oct. 20, 1815, immediately after which he officiated in St. Albans, Fairfield, and Sheldon, Vt., for several years. On Aug. 24, 1817, he was ordained priest. In 1822 he became rector of Salisbury, Conn.; in 1833 he removed to Essex, in the same state, taking charge also of St. Stephen's Church, East Haddam. In 1836 he resigned the parish at Essex, and assumed the rectorship at East Haddam, where he died, Jan. 14, 1838. As a preacher, his sermons were remarkably clear, earnest, and instructive, and he excelled in extemporaneous address. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, v, 532.