JAMES H. BEDELL.
The subject of this sketch, now a resident of Suffolk, Nansemond
county, Virginia, was born in Dutchess county, New York, on August
12, 1836. He is a son of James H. and Alfina A. (Ada) Bedell, both
now deceased, and his wife is Sarah W., daughter of Thomas E. and
Julia Webb, formerly of Brooklyn, New York, now dead. They were
married in Brooklyn on December 31, 1855, and have six living children:
William T., Julia B., James H., Fannie A., Alve A. and Samuel W. They
have lost four children: Richard G., Sarah W., George W. and Harry S.
Mr. Bedell went to school in Brooklyn, New York, then learned the
engravers trade. In 1854 he went into the business of kindling-wood
manufacturer, in which he has been engaged ever since, as follows:
1854-5, in New York City; 1856, Baltimore, 1857, in Washington,
D. C.; later went to Clermont, Virginia, and in business there until he
returned to Baltimore in 1859, remaining there ten years. From 1869
to 1874 at Salisbury, Maryland; in Philadelphia 1874-9, then in Williamsport,
Pennsylvania, until 1886, when he came to Suffolk. Here he
has put up a kindling-wood factory at a cost of $32,000, which he superintends,
at the same time connected with kindling mills in Williamsport,
Pennsylvania.
