Family History for Mom and Dad

John Wiley and Nancy Jane Bedwell Adams (Front row Right) with their children Juda (front row with child) Wilson, (Back row Second form the left) Marion (Center back tallest man) Louisa (First woman in back) and Martha, (young girl leaning on her mother) ca 1905.

Summer of 1920. John Wiley and Nancy Jane Bedwell Adams (Older couple middle row, far left) with daughters Louisa (beside them holding Marion's daughter Lelia) Juda and Martha (directly behind Louisa and son Wilson far left, back row) All the children are sixteen of John's grandchildren: Front row, Juda's daughters Lillie and Nellie , Martha's daughters Flossie and Florance and Marion's daughters Zilphia and Grace and his son Calfee. Beside Louisa who holds Lelia are Wilson's sons Cecil and Raligh. Beside them Marion's sons Covey and Coy and at the end Juda's sons Earl, Jessie and Carl. Juda;s daughter Flora is directly behind Covey in the light dress with the ruffled collar. The back row are unidentified friends or relatives.

John Wiley Bedwell SubmitteJd by Bill Fields

John Wiley Bedwell was born October 18, 1855 in Letcher County Kentucky. His father, Erasmus Bedwell had arrived in Letcher County from Grayson County Virginia about 1850.

On August 12 1852 Erasmus married Letty Adams of Letcher County. Their first child, a daughter Margaret Jane was born in April of 1853. John was the second child and first son. He was named for his grandfather John Bedwell and his uncle Wiley Bedwell. Three years later in 1858 John's brother Nelson was born followed by a sister Nancy in 1860.

Sometime between 1860 and 1868 Erasmus and Letty divorced and in Feb 1868 Erasmus remarried. Both Letty and Erasmus went on to have more children. In total John may have had as many as fifteen siblings.

After Erasmus left, Letty reverted to her maiden name of Adams and her children came to be known by that surname as well although when they did anything they deemed "official" such as marrying or transferring land they used their actual surname. All their children, however,
used the name Adams and Bedwell was almost forgotten by later generations. On March 8, 1879 John Wiley Bedwell (Adams) married Nancy Jane Cornett. His older sister Margaret Jane had Married Nancy Jane's brother John and his younger half sister Sarah Frances would later marry Nancy Jane's brother Granville. John's brother Nelson also married and raised a family. John and Nancy moved to Camp Creek in Leslie county where they had seven children

More info from Bill Fields who seems to have very carefully researched the Bedwell Family:

The Life and Times of Erasmus Bedwell

Erasmus Bedwell was born in Grayson County Virginia probably in the summer of 1827. We know he was born in Grayson County from one of his marriage bonds. Establishing his parentage took some work but using the census data for 1830, 40 and 50 for Grayson County, it is clear that the only people who could possibly have been his parents were John Bedwell and Patsy Pool Bedwell.

Erasmus would have grown up on his parents' farm, about 4 miles outside Independence, Virginia. He may have been especially close to his brother Wiley who was only two years younger because he named his first son for his father and his brother--- John Wiley. By the summer of 1850, Erasmus was a young man of 23. When the census taker came, Erasmus was not in the home of John and Patsy. (Since the 1850 census is the first to list the names of children, the fact that Erasmus was not at home leads many researchers to exclude him from the family.) He was listed several miles away in the household of William Dickerson and gives his occupation as "laborer".

Recently a thanks to Ralph Bedwell of Hercules, CA the plot of Erasmus in the summer of 1850 thickens. He pointed out that the 1850 Census also shows Erasmus Bedwell, listed as a 24 year old carpenter, incarcerated for "petit larceny" in the "Penitentiary of Virginia" in December, 1850. (Check out the link below) There is a slight age discrepancy but having searched Virginia time and time again I think that there is only one Erasmus Bedwell It seems most likely to me that this is the same Erasmus Bedwell as the one counted in Mr. Dickerson's household a few months before. The census suggests he was incarcerated sometime in 1850. If he was indeed a free man when living at the Dickerson household he must have committed his crime and been sent to the penitentiary in the fall of 1850. At this point I have no idea what exactly Eramsus did or how long he was supposed to have been imprisoned but I am really grateful to Ralph for supplying the reason the eldest son of a fairly prosperous and successful old Grayson County family left and never seems to have returned or been remembered.

Somehow between December 1850 and Aug 1852 Erasmus did leave prison. Hopefully he did that with the agreement of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Whether or not he went back to his parent's home or not I don't know but he arrived in Letcher County Kentucky enough in advance of the late summer of 1852 to meet court and become engaged to Letty Adams. That process could have moved quickly or not. In any case he did arrive in Kentucky and on Aug 12 1852, married Letty S. Adams in Letcher County. Letty was from Kentucky, the daughter of Micjah John (John Cagie) Adams and Elizabeth Mullins.

It appears that Letty and Erasmus lived first in Letcher County. Their first two children, Margaret Jane (Jenny) who was born April 1853, and John Wiley seem to have been born there. John certainly was as he is in the Letcher County. birth records, born October 18, 1855. His parents are listed as Erasmus and Letty. By the 1860 census Letty and Erasmus had moved to Perry County and had two more children, Nelson R. born in 1858 and Nancy born June 1860. Since Nelson is not in the Letcher County birth records the move must have happened between John's birth and his. Interestingly, that 1860 census lists Erasmus as "Barnabas". Erasmus seems to have been commonly called "Rass" and the census taker may have decided Rass was short for Barnabas. Of copurse, given his relationship with the Virginia Penitentiary System Rass may have deliberately been a tad vague. There is no doubt, however, that this "Barnabas" is really Erasmus as he is the only Bedwell in all of eastern Kentusky and the rest of the family match exactly that of Erasmus and Letty.

The next record we have of Erasmus is in 1866. On Feb 4, 1866, again back in Letcher county, Erasmus Bedwell married Sarah (Sally) Caudill, the daughter of Matthew and Terry Caudill. Letty Adams Bedwell had not died so Erasmus and Letty must have divorced. These were small communities of families that had lived there for generations so it is just not reasonable to believe that Erasmus remarried without having legally ended the first marriage. Everyone would have been aware of who he was married to when. There is also a question with respect to a possible fifth child. A later census (Perry 1880) shows Letty with several children (she continued to have children after she and Erasmus split up).One, Lynda is 16 which means she was born in 1864. Since we don't know when Erasmus and Letty split up Lynda could belong to him. Another point of interest is the fact that in the 1880 census Letty and all her children ranging from Nancy who is twenty years down to Margaret who is one are listed with the surname Bedwell. This is interesting because whatever the reason for the divorce all of Letty and Erasmus children changed their surname from Bedwell to Adams. While they used Bedwell on legal documents they were commonly known as Adams and all the subsequent generations of Letty and Erasmus' sons use the Adams surname. The children themselves however, knew that their name was actually Bedwell. This is demonstrated by the fact that while they were commonly called Adams, Erasmus' sons John and Nelson reverted to Bedwell whenever they engaged in legal activities. Both the marriage bonds for Nelson and John Wiley use the Bedwell surname, not Adams. And when John Wiley divided his land between his sons he is listed on the deed both as "John W (Bedwell) Adams" and "John W. Adams Bedwell". None the less, half of the Bedwells became Adamses.

In addition total Letty Adams seems to have had at least nine children. The first four are certainly by Erasmus: Margaret Jane, John Wiley, Nelson and Nancy. Then from the 1880 census, Lynda who may or may no have been Erasmus's daughter, Jenny, Sarah Frances, Manday and Margrett. Sarah Francis was born in 1872 and from her marriage bond was the daughter of James Young. Like all of Lettys' children Sarah Francis commonly went by Adams and is “Adams” on the bond. But in the 1880 census when she was 7 she is Sarah F Bedwell. It is unclear if Letty ever actually married anyone other than Erasmus. Her headstone in the Singleton Cemetery on Camp Creek in Leslie Co, reads "Letty Adams".

Erasmus and Sally were married in 1866. Two years later their daughter Ester was born. She lived 2 years, dying in 1870. In the 1870 census it is only Erasmus and Sarah. Two years after that in 1872 Francis (Fanny) was born. Along with Fanny the 1880 census lists Andrew Jackson (A. J.) Born in Aug 1874, Thomas born May 6, 1876, Terry (listed as a male) born about 1879, and Elizabeth born in 1880. A daughter, Flora is listed in the Letcher county birth records as born to Erasmus and Sally March 20, 1878 but is not in the census. She must have died before age two. Also Sally and Erasmus' last child was a son Elijah born in June 1880. It is possible the census taker confused the names and sex of the infant in the household. Lige should have been the child born in 1880 and Elizabeth is never mentioned in any later records.

The 1880 census is the last official record of Erasmus. Eli Hall was a Letcher County neighbor of Erasmus and Sally. He kept a daily diary of activities in the area and in the fall of 1880 made this notation: "Erasmus Bedwell died September 25, 1880". There is no cause given and no other details. Erasmus would have been 53 years old. Presumably he is buried somewhere in Letcher county but I've never been able to find out where.

We know for certain that Erasmus Bedwell left 10 children, Margaret Jane (Jenny), John Wiley, Nelson and Nancy with Letty and Fanny, A.J., Thomas, Terry, Flora and Elijah with Sally. In addition it seems likely that Letty's daughter Lydia was also his making eleven. At this point I know that at least seven, Jenny, John, Nelson, Nancy, Fanny, AJ and Lige survived to adulthood. I have at least some information on descendants of all those but Nancy. Just from those six children Erasmus' grandchildren (through at least 8 generations now) number in the thousands. We are spread out over the entire country and beyond. We were and are teachers, social workers, farmers, lawyers, truck drivers, politicians, doctors, coalminers, carpenters, nurses, ministers and merchants. Like Rass, a few also had intimate contact with a penitentiary or two. Some still have his surname, most don't.

Whatever it was that inspired Rass to leave Virginia and head for Kentucky worked out well for us!

After Erasmus….

It is still difficult, after fifteen years of looking, to even decided how many children Erasmus had. There are some confusing duplicates and some that appear once and nowhere else. Names and sex sometimes seem to change. There are links below to all seventeen possible contenders .

With Letty Adams there were four that I am certain of:

Margaret Jane (Jenny)

John Wiley

Nelson

Nancy

With Sarah Caudill there were five that I am certain of:

Ester (died at age 2)

Francis (Fanny)

Andrew Jackson (AJ)

Flora

Elijah (Lige)

With Letty Adams there is one more that I strongly suspect Erasmus fathered:

Lydia

With Sarah Caudill there were two more that appeared on at least one census:

Terry

Thomas

With Sarah Caudill there was one more that appeared on a census. I am fairly certain it was a mistake but anything is possible:

Elizabeth

With Letty Adams there are three more that might have belonged to Erasmus---if he was a little less than faithful to Sarah. But they did appear on a census with Erasmus' surname:

Jenny

Mandy

Margrett

And finally with Letty Adams there is one more that was documented elsewhere with a different father but she too appeared on a census with Erasmus' surname

Sarah Francis

Before Erasmus….

The earliest beginnings we have been able to trace for our Southeast Kentucky Bedwell family start in London, England around 1600 with a man named Thomas Bedwell. We know very little about Thomas other than his name and the fact that in 1635 he was living at St. Giles Parish, Cripplegate, London. That is where and when his son Robert Bedwell was born.

Robert Bedwell is the first Bedwell to come to America. It appears that all Bedwells in North America, including our family, descend from this man. It is not know when Robert actually landed in the colonies but it was probably about 1650-60. He arrived first in old Rappahonnack Co. VA where he married Ann Colly, he daughter of Thomas Colly. The couple had five known children, Thomas, Robert, Henry Elizabeth and Mary. It seems that Ann died while the family still lived in Virginia. Robert then remarried to Susanna Fisher but does not appear to have had children with her. Susanna did bring two of her children, Susan and Adam to the household. Sometime around 1670 Robert moved his family to Kent Co. Delaware. He died there in 1686

Robert Bedwell, the son of Robert is the next in our line. Robert was born in old Rappahonnack Co. VA about 1662. He traveled with his father to Kent Co. Delaware and it was there that he married Helen (Her surname may have been Preston). We know that Helen and Robert had two sons, Robert and James but there may have been others that have been lost. Robert lived his life out in Kent County, dying there in about 1718.

James Bedwell also lived his life out in Kent County. He was born there probably sometime between 1690-1710. We do not know the name of James' wife but we do know he had eight children, Robert, Thomas, Susannah, James, John, Elijah, Cabel, and Elizabeth. All eight of the children were born in Kent County Delaware. James Bedwell died in Kent County sometime before 1771.

Robert Bedwell, the oldest son of James was born at Murderkill 100 in Kent County Delaware in about 1735. Robert married Anne Wilson, the daughter of Robert Wilson and they too had eight children, James, Elisha, Robert T., John, Ruben, Thomas, Micha, and Mary. After his marriage, Robert left Kent County. He lived for 12 years in North Carolina before moving to Virginia. In 1769 he was given a grant for land in Montgomery Co, (now Grayson County) Virginia. Robert remained here until his death in late 1807. He is buried in and old family cemetery about 4 miles from Independence in Grayson County.

James Bedwell was the oldest son of Robert and was probably born while the family still lived in Kent County Delaware. He traveled with his father to Grayson County Virginia where, on July 6, 1797 he married Jane Wells. His brother Elisha Bedwell performed the ceremony. In 1800 Jane and James had their first child, John. He was followed by Wilson, Lorenzo Dow, James, Sarah, Charolette, Rebecca, Jane and Rosemund. James was a farmer and a minister in the Methodist church. He lived in Grayson County until his death on Dec 12, 1856.

John Bedwell was born in Grayson County Virginia in 1801. When he was about 19 or 20 years old, on Dec. 20, 1820 he married, in Grayson County, Martha Pool. Martha's nickname was Patsy. She was the daughter of William Poole and Penelope Permelia Harrison. It appears that some of their first children may have died as infants. The first child to survive was a daughter, Telitha who was born in 1826. Their second child and first son was Erasmus born in 1827. (Later ages given at the time of the censuses suggest he was born in the early summer, June or July). The next child, Wiley was born in 1829 followed by Eliza (1831) Levi (1835), Alfred (1836) William (1840), Charolette (1834), Nancy (1843) Felix (1847) and Martha (1849). John, like his father, was a farmer and was also affiliated with the Methodist church. He lived his entire life in Grayson County. John died prior to 1870.

Sources: Much of the information on the early Bedwell family comes from the book "A Bedwell Family" by Larry King (1982Hendersonville TN) and from Grayson Co. Virginia and Kent Co. Delaware records.

Note: Ralph Bedwell has recently developed an excellent web page with much more detailed information on Erasmus' ancestors (as well as the whole Bedwell family in North America) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bedwell/