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

of Larkins head, from the back. A newspaper article on this incident related that “Old
man Bedsole, was loaded onto a mule-drawn wagon and hauled to the hospital at
Fayetteville, where doctors said he was not expected to live".
However, it appears that he did indeed live another 20 years!! They called him “Old
Man Bedsole” at age 63. Today, we don't generally consider a man an Old Man until
about age 80-85. Here is his marriage record to Atha Carter:.... Larkin Bedsole
Cumberland Co 65/W To Atha H. Carter Cumberland Co 25/ May 17, 1890 J.
McGeddie, Justice Of The Peace.
Bedsole Peculiarities
It has been a curious finding to me that there are certain ancestor and descendant
Bedsole lines which have an inordinately high number of mean, vicious, drunks and
trouble-makers in them and other lines which have a high number of lawyers and
doctors and others which have a high number of carpenters, those with lots of
mechanical skills and finally, those with high numbers of school teachers in them.
A despicable peculiarity I have noted among them, is that there are a few lines which
contain Bedsole men who were excessively mean, brutal, hateful and cruel
especially to their wives and children. One of these illustrious people, I am ashamed
to say, appears to have been my own Grandpa. To those few, I claim no kin
whatsoever, notwithstanding the obvious.
The Bedsole Curse
But there is one thing I have found prevalent in all the Bedsole lines as far back as I
could trace it and that is what I call “The Bedsole Curse”. If you are a Bedsole by
birth, you have more than likely been eaten up by this curse and are well aware of it
already. “Murphy’s Law” states; “If anything can go wrong, it will”. But in the Bedsole
Curse, I found that “ If there are several things that can go wrong at the same time,
and there always is if a Bedsole is involved, the one thing which will cause the most
damage, cost the most money and hardship and which will have the most
detrimental effect on the Bedsole, will always go wrong FIRST
.
CONCLUSION OF THE BEDSOLE HISTORY
That concludes the Bedsole History, as it were. Words, whether true or conjecture,
cannot adequately convey the suffering our Ancestors endured, until about 1950,
when the majority had quit share-cropping, and began working in various factories
and at more industrialized occupations, thus making more money and greatly raising
their standards of living. In my case, for that I say with extreme appreciation: "Thank
God".
...........................PAGE 17.................................................................................