Beaudry Family History

The Beaudry Legacy: Civic Leadership and Frontier Enterprise

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According to Beaudry family history, Donald J. Beaudry Jr. descends from a distinguished lineage of statesmen, frontier entrepreneurs, and industrial pioneers whose leadership in 19th-century politics, commerce, and land development left a lasting mark on North America. His paternal ancestors — Jean-Louis, Prudent, and Victor Beaudry — are remembered within the family as influential figures in both Canadian and American frontier history, credited with helping to drive the growth of major cities, expand early infrastructure, and advance mining and real-estate development across the continent.

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Beaudry Family History

Jean-Louis Beaudry: Statesman of Montreal

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Jean-Louis Beaudry is remembered within Beaudry family history as a visionary political reformer who rose to prominence during one of the most transformative periods in Canadian history. A founding member of the Société des Fils de la Liberté in 1837, he championed responsible government and greater democratic freedoms in what was then Lower Canada.

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According to family accounts, Jean-Louis’s vision extended beyond simple reform — he spoke of fostering greater regional independence and economic self-determination built on the principles of liberty and enterprise. Following the failure of the Rebellion of 1837, he fled first to New Orleans and later to Hartford, Connecticut, where he joined members of his extended family. After receiving amnesty in 1838, he returned to Montreal, resumed his commercial pursuits, and reentered public life.

 

Jean-Louis later served three terms as Mayor of Montreal, guiding the city through a period of urban expansion and modernization. Under his leadership, Montreal advanced its transportation systems, civic infrastructure, and administrative governance. In 1861, he co-founded the Banque Jacques-Cartier, a cornerstone of Quebec’s early financial system. The institution later merged into the Provincial Bank of Canada, which evolved into today’s National Bank of Canada — one of the country’s largest financial institutions.

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Beaudry Family History

Victor and Prudent Beaudry: Pioneers of the American West

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While Jean-Louis remained active in Canadian civic life, his brothers Victor and Prudent Beaudry ventured westward during the mid-19th-century gold and silver rushes, where they became early contributors to the growing economies of California and Nevada.

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Victor Beaudry played an important role in the development of Cerro Gordo, a remote mining settlement in the Inyo Mountains of eastern California. Starting as a merchant who supplied local miners, he gradually acquired ownership in several claims as repayment for debts. Working alongside engineer Mortimer Belshaw, he helped construct improved smelting works and introduced more efficient ore-processing techniques. Under their efforts, Cerro Gordo became one of California’s most active silver and lead producers of the late 1860s, helping supply the expanding city of Los Angeles and nearby markets.

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Prudent Beaudry, working in parallel with his civic and business interests, broadened his activities through mining investments across California and Nevada. Among his ventures was the Slate Range Gold and Silver Mining Company in San Bernardino County, California. He also formed partnerships with other mining interests throughout Nevada, contributing to the region’s early growth in trade and infrastructure.

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Family history recalls that Victor and Prudent often referred to Nevada as “The Silver State,” a reflection of both its mineral abundance and the success they found through years of work and enterprise. Through discipline and vision, the Beaudry brothers built one of the great 19th-century fortunes of the American West — a legacy defined not by wealth alone, but by perseverance, ingenuity, and civic contribution.

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Beaudry Family History

Prudent Beaudry: Land, Infrastructure, and Civic Transformation

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Building on the success of his mining ventures, Prudent Beaudry became a central figure in the territorial and civic development of 19th-century Los Angeles. Through a series of strategic land acquisitions, he assembled extensive real-estate holdings across what are now Downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Alhambra, and the area that would later become Anaheim. At the height of his enterprise, he ranked among the largest private landowners in Los Angeles County, playing a formative role in the region’s early urban expansion and economic growth.

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As the 13th Mayor of Los Angeles (1874–1876), Beaudry oversaw a number of transformative public works projects, including modernization of the city’s water systems and the first frameworks for municipal planning. His landmark real-estate development — the Bellevue Terrace Tract — encompassed land that would later house the Los Angeles Central Library and the former Los Angeles State Normal School, a predecessor to UCLA. Today, Beaudry Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles stands as a lasting tribute to his vision and to the city’s early era of civic innovation.

 

Although many of Prudent Beaudry’s original parcels were later sold, family history maintains that certain portions of his Los Angeles holdings continued under Beaudry family stewardship for generations. Over time, the family also acquired property and investment interests in Canada, France, and Hong Kong. These enduring assets, preserved and expanded through successive generations, reflect a tradition of foresight, discipline, and long-term perspective — a quiet but enduring testament to one of North America’s pioneering lineages.

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Beaudry Family History

Prudent Beaudry: The West Coast Morgan

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Prudent Beaudry served as the 13th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1874 to 1876, guiding the city through one of its most transformative eras. He modernized infrastructure, improved the city’s water systems, and oversaw civic planning that helped lay the foundation for Los Angeles’s modern growth.

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According to Beaudry family history, during the mid-19th century the Beaudrys maintained close business relationships with Julius Spencer Morgan, father of J. P. Morgan, and other members of the Morgan network. Both families were involved in the dry-goods trade, early private banking, railroads, and investment ventures that extended from Hartford and Montreal to New York and the developing American West. Within family records, these connections are remembered as having strengthened the Beaudrys’ role in trade, finance, and civic enterprise—earning them the nickname “The West Coast Morgans.”

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Family accounts also suggest that members of the Morgan family encouraged Prudent to seek a second term as Mayor, impressed by his fiscal discipline and vision for growth. By that time, however, he had turned his focus toward completing large-scale real-estate and infrastructure projects across the Los Angeles basin—including areas that would later become Bunker Hill, Angelino Heights, and much of downtown Los Angeles. Preferring to build through enterprise rather than politics, he chose not to run for re-election.

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Prudent Beaudry’s influence endured long after his term ended. Through foresight, investment, and discipline, he became known within family and regional history as “The West Coast Morgan”—a title reflecting both his association with America’s great banking families and his legacy as one of California’s most visionary early builders.

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A Legacy Reborn in Nevada

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Just as Prudent Beaudry helped shape the economic and civic foundations of 19th-century Los Angeles, Donald J. Beaudry Jr. now seeks to redefine the financial architecture of Nevada for the 21st century. The same principles of innovation, prudence, and partnership that once guided the Beaudrys and Morgans now underpin a new vision — creating a sovereign, self-funding Nevada powered by ownership rather than taxation, and by long-term investment rather than short-term policy.

 

Where Prudent built cities and infrastructure, Donald builds intelligent systems — AI-driven, market-based, and sovereign in design. Both share the same enduring Beaudry hallmark: transforming vision into structure, and structure into lasting prosperity.

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A Legacy of Vision and Land

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The Beaudry family has deep roots in American history — from shaping the early development of Los Angeles to contributing to the pioneering spirit that helped define Nevada and the American West.

Prudent Beaudry, 13th Mayor of Los Angeles and one of the city’s largest historical landowners, helped lay the foundations for what would become downtown Los Angeles and much of its surrounding growth corridor.

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Had the Beaudry family’s historic Los Angeles landholdings remained intact, their value today would almost certainly be extraordinary. With central Los Angeles among the most valuable urban real estate markets in the world, the Beaudry portfolio would represent one of the great generational land legacies in American history.

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Such scale reflects the foresight, discipline, and enduring impact of Prudent Beaudry’s acquisitions — a legacy of building, not borrowing; of creation, not speculation.

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That same spirit of innovation and long-term vision continues today — not in land, but in technology, finance, and state-building — as I work to shape Nevada’s future with the same purpose and determination that once built the American West.

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Reflections from The Los Angeles Times

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Upon Prudent Beaudry’s passing in 1893, The Los Angeles Times published an extensive tribute recognizing his unmatched contributions to the city:

 

• "Prudent Beaudry has the record of having made, in different lines, five large fortunes."

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On his leadership and philanthropy, the paper noted:

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• "In his official capacity he was noted for his fearless honesty and his active advocacy of all measures looking for the benefit of the city. Only those who have lived in Los Angeles can form an idea of how great a debt the city owes to this unobtrusive, quietly energetic man. His wealth was always kept occupied in developing new enterprises, and thus was diffused among the poorer people. His philanthropy was of the best kind—he furnished work whereby a man could earn his livelihood."

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The Times concluded:

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• "One of the most visionary men in Los Angeles history."

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Legacy and Name Origins

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The surname Beaudry originates from Old French, signifying qualities of boldness and strength. The given name Donald is of Gaelic origin, meaning “world ruler” or “great chief,” reflecting a lineage long associated with leadership and influence.

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The Beaudry family’s earliest recorded origins trace to the Côte d’Azur in southern France — particularly the historic region of Occitanie and the Principality of Monaco. During the 13th century, this Mediterranean corridor served as a nexus of commerce, diplomacy, and maritime power, where prominent families maintained close ties across Provence and the Riviera. Archival records note that early branches of the Beaudry line were active in this region alongside other distinguished houses, including those connected to the Grimaldi dynasty of Monaco — reflecting shared geography, influence, and enduring association.

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Over the following centuries, the Beaudrys expanded northward into Normandy before migrating to North America. By the 17th century, they had established roots in Montreal, Canada, and later in Connecticut — laying the foundation for a transcontinental legacy of civic leadership, enterprise, and public service that continues to the present day.

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In a continuation of that heritage, Donald’s wife, Kadek Grimaldi Beaudry, carries a name that honors the historic Grimaldi lineage — a graceful reflection of the family’s enduring connection to the elegance, discipline, and noble traditions of southern France and Monaco.

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The Silver State — Nevada

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During the height of the 19th-century mining boom, Prudent and his brother Victor supplied miners across California and Nevada with essential tools, equipment, and provisions — often in exchange for a share of whatever silver or gold they discovered.

 

Family accounts recall that it was during this period Prudent began referring to Nevada as “The Silver State” — a name born not just from the precious metal itself, but from the spirit of risk, reward, and enterprise that defined its early pioneers.

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While many of their ventures yielded little or nothing, a few proved extraordinarily successful, generating fortunes that helped establish the Beaudry brothers among the most prosperous builders of the American West.

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Historical Links

 

The Beaudry family helped shape North America through politics, enterprise, and community building — from early banking and silver and gold mining to the landmark land acquisitions that made Prudent Beaudry one of the largest landowners in Los Angeles County history. These connections reflect both the achievements of past generations and the modern legacy carried forward today by Donald J. Beaudry Jr. and Kadek Grimaldi Beaudry.

 

From pioneers of mining, banking, and city building in the 19th century to innovators in AI and global finance in the 21st, the Beaudry legacy endures — a story of vision, adaptation, and generational progress.

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Prudent Beaudry 

Link 1   Link 2   Link 3    Link 4   

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Victor Beaudry

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The Beaudry Block Los Angeles

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Jean-Louis Beaudry

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Video Jean-Louis Beaudry

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Jacques-Cartier Bank

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Cerro-Gordo Mines California

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Beaudry Tower: Hong Kong

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Beaudry Tower: Los Angeles

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Beaudry Tower — Los Angeles

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Standing tall in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, Beaudry Tower is a 64-story residential skyscraper located at 960 West 7th Street — completed in 2023 and currently recognized as the tallest residential building in California. Developed by Brookfield Properties, the tower was named in honor of Prudent Beaudry, the 13th Mayor of Los Angeles and one of the city’s earliest civic visionaries.

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The site on which Beaudry Tower stands lies within the area once developed and owned by Prudent Beaudry during his extensive 19th-century real-estate ventures. Today, the tower serves as both a modern architectural landmark and a tribute to the pioneering foresight that helped transform Los Angeles into a global city.

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Beaudry Tower stands as a contemporary symbol of the family’s enduring legacy — a bridge between historic civic leadership and modern urban innovation, linking the city’s past to its ever-evolving skyline.

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Modern Legacy

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BlkEdgeAi — Black Edge Artificial Intelligence

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Founded by Donald J. Beaudry Jr. and Kadek Grimaldi Beaudry, BlkEdgeAi is a next-generation financial technology firm specializing in AI-driven hedge fund development, model optimization, and advanced system engineering projects in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense.

 

Combining decades of market experience with cutting-edge artificial intelligence, BlkEdgeAi represents the continuation of a long Beaudry tradition — building systems that shape economies, redefine industries, and bridge the frontier between human intelligence and machine precision.

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DAA – Deep Ancient Archaeology

Founded by Donald J. Beaudry Jr., Deep Ancient Archaeology is a global research organization dedicated to uncovering lost civilizations and exploring humanity’s earliest history through fieldwork, discovery, and advanced documentation.

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Bridging science, exploration, and historical inquiry, DAA continues the Beaudry tradition of curiosity, analysis, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge about the world’s origins.

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Today, Donald J. Beaudry Jr. carries forward the Beaudry legacy of vision and leadership — advancing it through global finance, technology, and public service as a candidate for Governor of Nevada in 2026.

 

(Left)

Mr & Mrs Donald J. Beaudry Jr. 

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Donald Jr's - Parents

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