Losee Bedell (abt. 1766 - 1840)

Ancestors

Biography

Losee Bedell Maiden Name

Date of Death ** 12-30-1840 Age 74y

Veteran Inscription Cemetery (name/alt/alt) Swinburne Cemetery

Village Deer River Town / County Denmark, Lewis County Photo Number 362-022 (available by email) Burial ID 139529

The Riddle of the John Bedells and Losee Bedell Posted by: Joe Mary Ellen (Bedell) Rhea Date: September 06, 2001 at 18:23:11 of 1235

RE: John Bedell (s of Samuel, gs of John, ggs of Robert of Hempstead) married Althe or Alche Van Nostrand: Tredwell states he was born before 1723 since his name appears on the roll of Capt. Hicks’ Queens County Company of Militia in 1738 [CMR vol 1, p 576]. John registered his stock mark on the town books of Hempstead as a half penny the upperside of the off ear and a half penny the underside of the near ear on 20 Apr 1747 [HTR vol 4, p 409]. This mark is a duplicate of that registered by his grandfather John Bedell in 1684 [HTR vol 2, p 114]. The same mark was registered by Abijah Bedell [Daniel(4), James(3), Robert(2), Robert(1)], indicating that John had either relocated or died by that time [Tredwell, Additions and Corrections].

A John Bedell of Hempstead made his will 7 Jun 1759 that was proved 6 Jul 1759. He mentions his wife, Elizabeth, who was pregnant at the time the will was made. He also mentions his children, John, Mary, William, Silas, James and Obediah, the last two evidently quite young [WNYHS vol 5, p 321]. Tredwell in Additions and Corrections believes that this John must have married 4 times, including a marriage to an unknown first spouse in order to legitimately father the four children given the dates of the first two marriages recorded here. As we shall see, this assumption is not well supported. Because of the discussion that follows, we have placed the John Bedell of Hempstead in this paragraph as an unplaced Bedell family. The unplaced John Bedell family’s known genealogy is as follows: John Bedell, b. before 1723, married 1) unknown [possibly, but not likely, an earlier Althe Van Nostrand. Their children were: John, Mary, William and Silas. He, or another John Bedell married on 10 Dec 1753 in St. George’s Church, Hempstead, Queens County, NY Martha Flower. Their children were James Bedell, baptized 5 Sep 1763 in Hempstead.

There was a John Bedell who was a carpenter at Oyster Bay of Huntingdon, NY in 1752 as the father of school children (p. 94 of H.A. Stoutenburgh, A Document(ary) History of the Dutch Congress of Oyster Bay, Long Island) whose subsequent history has not been learned [Tredwell, Additions and Corrections]. John was living 7 Jun 1656 on the south side of Plains of Hempstead [HTR vol 4, p 209]. There are no conflicting dates to show two adult Queens County John Bedells during this period; and as the 1651 marriage is still not early enough for John to have fathered the four children now attributed to the first reported marriage, Tredwell presumes that John moved to Oyster Bay and then returned in 1656 or before [Tredwell, Additions and Corrections]. Tredwell reports another child not mentioned in John’s will, Benjamin, who he believes was born before 1723.

It appears that Tredwell may have combined the records of at least two different John Bedell’s -- one who married Althe or Alche Van Nostrand and one or two who married Martha Flower and Elizabeth Doxey. See the following notes. Further, there are two separate wills with different dates and different generations. Either two separate Van Nostrand families had a daughter named Althe or Alche (or one named Althe and the other named Alche) who each married a John Bedell -- or Tredwell is in error. Therefore, we have recorded here as the son of Samuel the John Bedell who married Alche or Althe Van Nostrand as reported in the will abstracted by Silas F. Dorrance below.

It may be that the John who married Alche Van Nostrand is not the son of Samuel and Ph

ebe (Gritman) Bedell. The John Bedell who married Martha Flower had a son, James, who was given 150 pounds in the will of John Gritman of Hempstead, which suggests that this John was the son of Samuel and Phebe (Gritman) Bedell.

Bedell Vertical File, NYGBS Library, reviewed 9 Nov 1999: An undated letter by Silas F. Dorrance of New York on Raymond Par ? Corporation letterhead, 154 Nassau Street, Tribune Building states: [I have?] “a number of notebooks with miscellaneous notes relating to the Bedell and allied families for you to look through . . . “Hoping that you are able to extract some aid from the above copy of Will.” “By the way, I might add that I have heard my sister-in-law speak of some of these folks, and have ofter heard her speak of the Ladues and Losee Bedell.”

Silas F. Dorrance in a letter of 13 May 1922 states: “Dear John: I have but just now found my notebook containing the copy of John Bedel’s will, which I will copy off as I have it:” [the following is our abstract of the will as reported in the letter: Last Will and Testament of John Beedle, recorded in Troy, Rensselaer County Probate Records, Book VI, p 314, Recorded and Proved 1 Apr 1820. John Beedle of the town of Sand Lake, County of Rensselaer, State of New York. Mentioned are grandson, John Ladue; son Abraham Bedell, grandson John Beedle; granddaughter Mary Gorslin; granddaughter Alche Shants two children, Caty and Jeremiah Shants; granddaughter Sary Rogers; daughter-in-law Sary Beedle, wife of John Beadle, deceased and heirs; daughter Elizabeth Tidd; daughter Alche Swartout or heirs; Elizabeth Gorslin; daughter Sary Swartout; son George Beadle and grandson John Ladue, my farm; George Beedle, John Ladue, Lose Beedle sole executors of the will, signed John Beedle, proved 1 Apr 1820.

In a letter of 11 May 1922 from John to Silas F. Dorrance, he states: “I am looking up a branch of the Van Nostrand family. I have a Samuel Van Nostrand who married a Phebe Bedell who is supposed to have been a daughter of Captain John Bedell and his wife Alche Van Nostrand.” [Note, a Phebe Van Nostrand is not mentioned in John Bedell’s will. It should also be noted that John’s wife is not mentioned. The sole basis for assuming that this John had Alche Van Nostrand as his wife is the daughter’s given name, Alche, who married a Swartout. Some clarification may be available in a family history entitled “The Swartwout Chronicles” that I have not seen. In the 11 May 1922 letter, John states that a copy is in the Long Island Historical Society’s Library [now merged with the Brooklyn Historical Society undergoing expansion and renovation].

I have no idea who John is, since the last name does not appear in the transcribed copies that apparently Silas Dorrance provided to the NYGBS Library.

Also, can anyone tell me the father and grandfather of Losee Bedell and his relationship to the John who married Althe or Alche Van Nostrand? Joe Rhea

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