Rev. William Martin Beauchamp was born on March 25, 1830, in Coldenham, Orange County, New York.

He was an American ethnologist and Episcopal clergyman. He received his education at Skaneateles Academy until 1845. He graduated from the DeLancey Divinity School, and in 1886, he received a degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from Hobart College, Geneva, New York. He was ordained into the priesthood of the Episcopalian Church in 1863 and spent most of his career at Grace Church in Baldwinsville, New York (1865-1900). He then moved to Syracuse where he researched and wrote on the Iroquois. In 1893, he published “Indian Names of New York “ and in 1905, "History of the New York Iroquois, now Commonly Called the Six Nations". He was president of the Onondaga Academy of Science in 1901 and 1902 and vice president of the Onondaga Historical Association from 1909 until 1919. The Beauchamp Branch of the Onondaga County Public Library in Syracuse is named for him.

He died on December 13, 1925, in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York.