Bedsole - NCGenWeb

BEDSOLE SARAH E 26 6N 23W TALLAHASSEE 0 1900/11/12
BEDSOLE SARAH E 26 6N 23W TALLAHASSEE 0 1900/11/12
BEDSOLE SARAH E 23 6N 23W TALLAHASSEE 145.61 1900/11/12
BEDSOLE SARAH E 23 6N 23W TALLAHASSEE 0 1900/11/12
BEDSOLE, HENRY Leon County, 1860.
BEDSOLE, HENRY Leon County, 1860.
THEIR HOUSES BACK THEN
In 1798, they still lived in log cabins. Here is the Direct Tax List from 1798, for two Bedsole
ancestors...George.....Main house; 23 X 23 feet. Dirt Floor. Constructed of logs and planks. Kitchen 10 X 10
ft., Meat smoke House 8 X 10 ft., Corn House 8 X 12 feet, both constructed of logs. Dairy 8 X 8 Feet.
Wooden shingles. ....Joseph....Main House, 16 X 38 feet. Plank floor. Of logs and Boards. Kitchen 8 X 10 of
planks. Meat house 8 X 10 Hewed Logs covered with hewed planks. Corn house 8 X 10 constructed of
Hewed Logs. Do you know how long it takes to "Hew" just one plank ? About 8 hours. Its done with Axes,
chisels, Adze's, and drawing knives.
EDWARD BEDSOLE'S STORY
Edward, listed as landowner several times, above, was born to Thomas Bedsole, Jr. and Charlotte English in
1819 in Beaverdam, NC. He died in 1909 and is buried in Clarke County, Coffeeville, Alabama. You can see
above, that others also moved to, or were born in, Clarke County. He was about twelve years old when they
moved to Alabama. He was married to Susan Blackwell and they lived in Crenshaw County, Alabama initially,
but he moved his family to Mossy Head, Florida about 1853, then to Clarke County. (Coffeeville).
About 1891, Edward moved to Grove Hill (Coffeeville), Alabama where he, his son Quincy and Edwards
sister Elizabeth’s son Rayford, built a log store at the crossroads between Coffeeville and Grove Hill,
Alabama. Over the next couple of years, they developed a group of drinkers, smokers, snuff users, tobacco
chewers, never-do-wells, hangers-on and trouble-makers, who frequently gathered at the store and
discussed politics and how they were all being wronged by the local politicians. Eventually, Edward and
Rayford began selling moonshine whiskey from the store and the gang which gathered there from time to
time now numbered perhaps 50-60 men. Over time, they turned to stealing from politicians at first, but that
practice grew until their victims included their own neighbors, who were just poor, ordinary farmers.
Over time, Edwards gang developed a hatred for the merchants in Grove Hill and in the county, who charged
outrageous prices and sometimes took any property the farmers owned, in payment, and when they,
especially the sharecroppers, could not pay their bills after harvest time, the gang began stealing from the
merchants own stores and their harvest crops too. Big landowners also began to fall victim to the gang for
the same reasons. If the gang decided they wanted someones corn, cotton, pigs, cattle, or other property,
they simply showed up in the dead of night and took what they wanted. If the owner objected with violence,
he was simply shot, for his trouble. The local sheriff was always “too busy”, or “out of town”, to do any law
enforcement of this gang, after all, the sheriff lived among them, and shortly, they began taking whatever
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they wanted from whoever had it. Finaly, five good men from the area sent a telegram to the Governor of
Alabama, explaining the situation to him and asking him to send army troops to arrest the gang. Instead, the
Governor, not being the brightest bulb in Montgomery, telegraphed the Sheriff asking for clarification and the