Sullivan County PA Archives Biographies.....BEDFORD, Henry 1822 - living in 1899 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 2, 2005, 6:58 pm Author: Biographical Publishing Co. HENRY BEDFORD, a prominent and highly respected citizen of Elkland township, Sullivan County, Pa., was born in Yorkshire, England, September 22, 1822, and is a son of Henry and Sarah (Seeker) Bedford. Mr. Bedford has already passed beyond his three-score years and ten, the length of life allotted man; and, although he has had two strokes of paralysis, he and his friends still hope he may live at least to see the dawn of a new century and, if it be God's will, much longer. Our subject's father came to America in 1822 and landed in New York City. Soon after he found employment in a starch factory at Bull's Head, New Jersey. He worked there for several years and then sent for his wife and children, who had remained in England. About this time he moved to Sullivan County, where he purchased a tract of land, now occupied by Thomas King. He built a suitable house and barns and busied himself clearing the land and cultivating the soil. In those primitive days the women were very strong, able-bodied and accustomed to working out-of-doors. It was so with our subject's mother. She was as handy with the axe as her husband and assisted him in clearing and tilling the land, besides rearing a family of children; thus she accompanied him in a befitting manner through all trials and tribulations to prosperity. They had both attained the age of about seventy when the final summons came for them to lay down their earthly burdens and enter into rest. Their children were all born before coming to America. They were: John, Ann, Richard, James, Harriet, Jonas and Henry. Our subject's father was a strong believer in the principles taught in the old English Church. He was a sturdy, hard-working man, and was well liked by all who knew him. Henry Bedford, our subject, lived the ordinary life of a boy on a farm in those pioneer days, and when grown to manhood, purchased 100 acres of the Thomas B. Merritt tract and laid the foundation of a fine farm. Later he added another 100 acres to it, this last purchase being off the Bishop White tract. All this was heavy timberland and in those days there was very little market for wood. Our subject had before him the gigantic task of clearing this land before he could cultivate the rich soil. This he accomplished, little by little, as by perseverance and patient effort he expects to accomplish all he sets out to do. He built a log house, like other pioneers of his day, and in time had the lower 100 acres cleared into fine fields, surrounded by windbreaks. These fields he cultivated and they soon yielded him handsome returns; thus, by inheritance and by his own exertions, he became the owner of a fine farm of large dimensions, the greater part of which he cleared in the subsequent years of his occupancy. With the exception of the few years in which he dealt in horse-rakes he has followed general farming. He has been a hard worker and of sterling worth to all. On September 10, 1846, our subject was united in marriage to Martha Ann Vaugh, who was born in 1825 and died in 1856, leaving four sons as a legacy to her husband. Three of these sons are now Methodist ministers. Her children were: Rev. Sylvester, who married Elizabeth Rathbone and now has a family of four children, Harry C., Dean, Anna, and Edna, located at Houghton, N. Y.; Rev. John N., who is a teacher in theology at Houghton, N. Y., where he lives with his wife, who was a Nellie Rudduck, and has a bright little child named Alpha; Rev. Oliver, whose wife's name was Bertha Wing,—their home is blessed with two little ones, Clayton and Dena; and Sumner, who now has charge of the homestead farm,— he married Carrie Fields, and has the following children, Bruce, Lynn, Grace, Nellie and George, who died at the age of four. After the death of his first wife our subject contracted a second marriage, being united to Mary, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Brobst) Hunsinger, in 1859. She was born June 2, 1831, and has been a cheerful help-mate and companion for more than forty years, and is still a solace to Mr. Bedford in his old age. This second union was blessed with three children, namely: Cordelia, who died aged four years; Ulysses, who married Sarah Brackman, and was the father of twins, Edna and Edgar, now-deceased; Clara, wife of Frank Black, who now reside in Delaware and have four children, Floyd, Mabel, Delia, and Lulu Edna. Mr. Bedford was for many years a strong adherent to the principles of the Republican party, but, believing that intemperance does more to ruin our nation than anything else, he became an ardent Prohibitionist. He never sought office but was persuaded by his friends to serve as supervisor for a short time. Mr. Bedford was so firm in his belief in the doctrines of the Wesleyan Methodist Church that his three oldest sons became Wesleyan Methodist ministers as before-mentioned. This church grew out of a separation from the Methodist Church, the result of its connection with slavery. Wesleyan Methodists oppose all kinds of oppression, believing God to be the governor of nations and that the supreme authority of His revealed will should be acknowledged by the constitutions of states and nations. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899) This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb