Jacob and Catharine Beam (1737-1820), along with their daughter Catharine (Beam) Merrell (1766-1842), and son-in-law Samuel Merrell (1758-1833), emigrated to Canada from New Jersey in 1788, and founded Beamsville.
In 1917 the Royal Flying Corps established a School of Aerial Fighting on the farmland immediately east of Beamsville.