11/25/07 VERSION: BEDSOLE HISTORY FROM 1673 ... - NCGenWeb

Travis Bedsole Coffee ...................................... ............... .1858
Travis F. Bedsole Rapides Parish, Louisiana................. 1905
William B. Bedsole Geneva (Samson)............. ...............1898
William F. Bedsole Clarke ............................... .................1891
William H. Bedsole Coffee................................................ 1891
Thomas Jr. and son Henry, are on the 1830 Census for Lowndes County, Alabama.
This proves that they and Sessoms did in fact, move from NC to Alabama at least by
1830.
IN FLORIDA
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.
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EDWARD BEDSOLE'S STORY
Edward, a brother of Henry above, was also born to Thomas Bedsole, Jr. and
Charlotte English in 1819 in Beaverdam, NC. He died in 1909 and is buried in Clarke
County, 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 at some point, then to
Clarke County.
About 1890, they moved to Grove Hill, 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 steal from politicians at first, but that practice grew until their
victims included their own neighbors, who were just poor, ordinary farmers.
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