Woman of the Century/Marie Wilson Beasley

BEASLEY, Mrs. Marie Wilson, elocutionist and dramatic reader, born in Silver Creek a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa., about 1862. When she was seven years old, her father removed to the West and settled on a farm near Grand Rapids, Mich. Marie lived on the farm until she was fourteen years old, when her father died, leaving the family to make their own way. Bearing good credentials from, the citizens of Paris, Kent county, Marie removed to Grand Rapids. She became a member of the Baptist Church at the age of fourteen years, but is liberal in sentiment towards all creeds that teach Christ and his works. In her youth, while striving to secure an education, she made her needle her support, earning by hard work enough money to enable her to attend Hillsdale College, Hillsdale. Mich., for a year. She afterwards studied under Professor Walter C. Lyman, of Chicago, and since 1SS3, when she made her début as an elocutionist and reader, and also as an instructor in the art of elocution, she has taught MARIE WILSON BEASLEY. many who are already prominent in that field, and her readings have brought her a reputation in many States. She was married in January, 1889, to J. H. Beasley, of Grand Rapids, where they now reside. They spent one year in San Francisco and other points in California. Besides her work as an elocutionist and instructor, she has been a successful lecturer, taking an active interest in the relation of women to law and society. The theme of one of her most successful efforts on the lecture platform is "Woman's Rights, or the XVI th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America." She is a woman of amiable disposition, much force and decided powers of intellect.