The Rockaway Beach Memoirs of Alfred James Bedell

Transcribed and annotated by Marie E. Velardi

Last updated: February 1, 2010. Minor additions and corrections.

Alfred Curtis Bedell was born in East Rockaway L.I.. He had three sisters Kate, Mary and Libby. He learned to be a carpenter and architect from a cousin Abe Johnson, whose wife was a Cornell of the original (Cornwell) family who came from England in 1668. He served in the U.S. life-saving corp in the winter as it only operated in winter months. It is now the Coast Guard. In those days most of the ships from Europe were square-rigged and sail driven. Several were wrecked at the Rockaways and all perished, the two most disastrous were "The Iberion" from England and the "The Arasce" from Italy. Both were wrecked in a terrible blizzard; all were lost and the bodies were frozen stiff in all positions. There are all buried in a common grave in Rockville Center, and there is a big oblesk there telling of the tragedy.

PAGE 1 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Alfred Curtis Bedell [Father] was born in East Rockaway L.I.. He had three sisters Kate, Mary and Libby."

Alfred Curtis Bedell's parents were Benjamin P. Bedell and Cornelia Foster. See the The Descendants of Benjamin P. Bedell for details about them. He actually had five sisters: Kate, Mary, and a half-sister Libby Rhinehart, as listed above, as well as two other half-sisters by his mother's third marriage to Robert Craft of Inwood. They were: Adelaide Craft (born 1866/67) and Lucinda Madalin Craft (1873-1888).

2. "He learned to be a carpenter and architect from a cousin Abe Johnson, whose wife was a Cornell of the original (Cornwell) family who came from England in 1668."

Alfred Curtis Bedell, age 17, was enumerated in the 1870 census of Hempstead as a resident apprentice to Abram (Abraham) Johnson, a house carpenter. (1870 United States Federal Census. Hempstead, Queens, New York; Roll: M593_1078; Page: 476.) .Johnson's property was located on Broadway and Johnson Place in Woodsburgh (now Woodmere, Nassau County), where the Hewlett/Woodmere school district building stands today. (See an 1873 map.) Abe Johnson died in 1899 in his 80th year and was buried in Trinity Church yard across the street.

Exactly how the Johnsons were "cousins" of the Bedells has yet to be ascertained, but there's little doubt the families were close. Alfred Curtis Bedell's maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Foster, and his aunt, Mary Ann Foster, were members of the Johnson household in 1850. (1850 United States Federal Census. Jamaica, Queens, New York; Roll: M432_582; Page: 266.) Mary Ann later married a Johnson. Abe Johnson also witnessed the second marriage of Alfred Curtis' mother, Cornelia Foster Bedell, at Trinity Church, in 1861. It was probably around this time that Abe made Alfred C his apprentice.

Jim Pearsall has a web page about Abe and Mary's son, Thomas Johnson, who fought in the Civil War.

3. "Several [ships] were wrecked at the Rockaways and all perished, the two most disastrous were "The Iberion" from England and the "The Arasce" from Italy. Both were wrecked in a terrible blizzard; all were lost and the bodies were frozen stiff in all positions. There are all buried in a common grave in Rockville Center, and there is a big obelesk there telling of the tragedy."

In actuality, the ship "Iberia" sank in Jones Inlet with no loss of life in November, 1888. The Italian bark "Ajace" sank off the coast of Rockaway on March 4, 1881, killing 14 sailors. The "two most disastrous" wrecks in the vicinity of the Rockaways -- and the ones Alfred James was no doubt trying to recall -- involved the American vessels "Bristol" and "Mexico", both lost to the same terrible winter storm on January 2, 1837, almost fifty years before he was born. All told, some 215 people, mostly English and Irish immigrants, lost their lives that day. The memorial obelisk in Rockville Cemetery in Lynbrook stands over the frozen remains of the victims the locals recovered from the sea. Read more about the "Bristol" and "Mexico" disaster at the Long Island Genealogy website, here.

Georgianna Shaw was born in Fosters Meadow (Springfield L.I.). She had three sisters Betsey, Harriet and Ruth Ellen. Three brothers Benjamin, Joseph and William. Her Mother was English-Scotch and her Grand-mother was a Shinnecock Indian of Eastern L.I. They were a friendly tribe and sold the lands to the settlers. Aunt Betsy was decidely Indian, dark, high cheek bones and jet black hair down to her waist. The Cornells were the first white settlers in Far Rockaway, they bought it from the "Reka-wha-kah" Indians of the Rockaways. Mother was very religious and a good church worker, and we had to go to church and Sunday-school.

There were six children, three girls Celeste, Araminta, and Ethel and three boys, Charles, Willis and myself.

I had one daughter and two sons, Mabel, Alfred and Harold, and now Harold has a son, Harold James, born Nov. 1977.

PAGE 2 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Georgianna Shaw was born in Fosters Meadow (Springfield L.I.)"

Georgianna's parents were Jacob Shaw (born 1810/1816; died 1860) and Emily Granger (1820-1895). Springfield refers to the old village of Springfield at the eastern border of Jamaica town -- encompassing present-day Springfield Gardens, Laurelton, Brookville and adjacent communities.. Fosters Meadow is a 17th century name for a large tract of land that straddled the borders of the towns of Jamaica and Hempstead. It extended from present-day Elmont in the north (Old Elmont Cemetery began as Fosters Meadow Cemetery) to the wetlands surrounding JFK Airport in the south (Meadowmere at the mouth of Hook Creek may be the last vestige of the ancient place name). Elmont Road and Brookville Boulevard in Rosedale once formed old Fosters Meadow Road.

Alfred erroneously recorded his mother's death year as 1918. She died on February 27, 1919.

2. "She had three sisters, Betsy, Harriet and Ruth Ellen. Three brothers Benjamin, Joseph and William."

Betsy (Aunt Betsy) was Elizabeth Shaw (1839-1926), the wife of Simeon Watts Jr. of Jamaica NY. The rest of the siblings we'll save for our Shaw Family Tree, to be published later on.

3. "Her mother was English-Scotch ..."

"English", yes. "Scotch" is questionable. Georgianna Shaw's mother was Emily Granger, born in 1820 in Shelfanger, Norfolk, England. Her family immigrated to America circa 1830 when Emily was about ten years old. She married Georgianna's father, Jacob Shaw, in Fosters Meadow in 1838/39. The Shaws had been in living in Queens County since at least 1706, so if they had any Scottish ancestors, they were very distant ones.

4. "...and her Grand-mother was a Shinnecock Indian of Eastern L.I. They were a friendly tribe and sold the lands to the settlers. Aunt Betsy was decidely Indian, dark, high cheek bones and jet black hair down to her waist."

In a letter written to his granddaughter in 1977 (see the appendix), Alfred James wrote his mother had "a grandmother who was a pure 'Montauk' Indian". Georgianna and Betsy Shaw's grandmothers were: (1) Elizabeth (neé Cobb) Granger, who lived and died in England, and thus not possibly a Native American; and (2) Phoebe Cornwell, the first wife of Reuben Shaw Sr. of Valley Stream. Cornwell/Cornell is an old Long Island surname of English origin, but that fact doesn't necessarily disprove Indian blood -- misty legend has it that some early Cornells married Native American women.. Moreover, my mother and aunt remember seeing a picture of an old woman with long, braided hair smoking a corncob pipe whom they were told was the Indian grandmother, so there must be at least a grain of truth in it.

5. "Mother was very religious and a good church worker, and we had to go to church and Sunday-school."

The church was the First Congregational Church of Rockaway Beach, founded by Mrs. Fannie R. Holland in 1881. Rebuilt in the 1930s, it is located today at Beach 94th Street.

6. "There were six children, three girls Celeste, Araminta, and Ethel and three boys, Charles, Willis and myself... "

Here is an early (circa 1879) of Alfred James Bedell's parents and his older sisters Araminta (Mint) and Celestia (Les)

Click Here to Enlarge

See the The Descendants of Benjamin P. Bedell for additional genealogical details about this family.

I was born April 8, 1885 in Springfield, L.I. There is no record of my birth, and when I was small and asked where I came from Aunt Betsy said they found me in a musk-rat hole in the swamp. I can remember to when I was three years old and wore dresses and had long golden curls.

I started school at seven and spent a year in each grade to graduation in 1900. I was a bad boy in school at the beginning, and Miss Lee punished me by making me sit under her desk which was closed on three sides and ark. She was lucky I did not pinch her behind. We had a skating pond next to the school and in the Winter we took our skates to school and at recess we would skate. In 1893 the whole Sea Side burned and we all were dismissed and went to the fire. It spread so fast the stores were vacated and we children had all the candy and cake we could take. I remember the smoke and flames all about us. It was a miracle we were not killed. These were the care free days. No worry.

PAGE 3 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "I was born April 8, 1885 in Springfield, L.I."

Alfred's parents moved to Rockaway Beach in 1877, eight years before his birth. His older brother Charles, was born in 1883 in the town of Jamaica (probably Springfield village) as well. The place of their birth may have been dictated by the custom of women to stay with their closest female relatives (mothers, sisters) when about to give birth..

2. "I started school at seven and spent a year in each grade to graduation in 1900."

P.S. 44 opened in April 1901, a year after Alfred James graduated primary school. I assume he received his grade-school education in the original school building, a one-story wooden structure erected in 1881 by the Holland family. It stood at the corner of Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach 94th Street. It later became a police station..

The old Rockaway Beach school house served the community from 1881 to 1901

3. "In 1893 the whole Sea Side burned..."

The Great Fire that destroyed the entire Seaside district of Rockaway Beach actually broke out on September 20, 1892, when Alfred was six and a half years old. It did not extend eastward into the Holland district, where Alfred James lived.

Valentine Seaman was the Town Health officer, his duty was to get rid of dead horses. If a horse died he had a team to drag the body down to the Bay and then tow it to the fertilizer factory at Barren Island now Floyd Bennett field. We boys were playing early one evening when "Tini" cam down the road dragging a dead horse, naturally we all followed as boys will do. It was near dusk and we had to pass a small hill covered with jungle growth, no one would dare pass there after dark. Just as we were opposite the woods a most unearthly scream rent the air. For a second we were frozen, I fell my hair stand up and couldn't move, then we all ran for home. I know I flew, my feet only touched the ground every six feet. The next day they found a woman's body in the woods. She was the village drunk called "Mary the tea drinker". She died from delirium tremens caused by too much booze and the scream was her death cry. A few days later I fell out of a tree and was impaled on a picket fence, when I came to I was home and fighting to breath, the picket bent a rib on my left side and the air could not enter the left lung. I remember all the neighbor women trying to help me. The doctor came at 10 o'clock that night and put a plaster around my whole body. Two days later I was back in school.

PAGE 4 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Valentine Seaman was the Town Health officer ..."

Valentine "Tini" Seaman, born August 1839, was living on Eldert Ave (now Beach 67th St.) in 1900. He was a paper maker by trade, and may have worked as the village Health Officer as second job. (Source: 1900 United States Census. Queens Ward 5, Queens, New York; Roll: T623 1150; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 687.) He died at died age 71 on Nov. 20, 1910. (1910 New York City Death Index. Queens #3531.) He was prominent enough a citizen to warrant a mention in Bellot’s History of the Rockaways (p. 106) as one of the notable early settlers of Rockaway Beach.

2. "If a horse died he had a team to drag the body down to the Bay and then tow it to the fertilizer factory at Barren Island now Floyd Bennett field. "

The animal rendering factories on Barren Island in Jamaica Bay (not only dead horses, but dogs, cats, cattle and spoiled fish, too) were the source of noxious odors that wafted as far as lower Manhattan in the summertime. Many of the property owners of the Rockaway peninsula believed the smells were a threat to the health and economic welfare of their communities. Floyd Bennett Field, New York City's first municipal airport, was opened there in 1930, as the last of the factories were closing down. Today, Barren Island is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, managed by the U.S. Park Service.

"Inky" Boerum (Charles) and I decided to go to Cuba and be pirates, his father had a fishing station at Sea Side and rented boats and sold bait, etc. there was a small sloop with a cabin, it was just what we needed, and we decided to seize it and sail for Cuba on Sat. as there was no school. We had a whole week to get food to take and we had about six cans of beans and a couple of loaves of bread and some coffee. We were all excited, after school Friday we made our plans to leave at high tide next morning. at 9 o'clock. We wore there on time, but during the night the boat had sunk and all we could see was the mast sticking out of the water. We were Pals all our lives until we got married. I often wonder if he is still alive, no one seems to know.

PAGE 5 ANNOTATIONS:

1. 'Inky' Boerum (Charles) and I decided to go to Cuba..."

Charles "Inky" Boerum was probably Charlie Boerum, son of John and Sarah Boerum of Rockaway Point. He was born in February 1885, two months before Alfred James. (Source: 1900 United States Federal Census. Queens Ward 5, Queens, New York; Roll: T623 1150; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 687.)

2. "We were Pals all our lives until we got married."

Alfred James Bedell was married on February 13, 1907 at age 21. His bride was 15-year old Adelaide Celeste Sprague, the daughter of bartender James B. Sprague from Ireland and his wife Alice M. Place. "Addie" died of cancer in 1944. Alfred's second wife was Frances Slater.

Here's an early photo of Addie Sprague Bedell dressed in her Winter finery:

Click Here to Enlarge

Captain Baldwin made hot air balloon flights every afternoon at 3 p.m. They had a pit in the ground with a big pipe leading to the balloon. They made a huge fire in the pit and this inflated the bag and when it was full it rose into the air. The Capt. did stunts on the trapeze on the way up and at 1000 ft. He cut loose a parachute and floated to the Bay if the wind was south, or the Ocean if the wind was north. People in row-boats used to race to pick him up in the bay as they would get a reward of $10. If he landed in the ocean the life-guards raced for him for the $10. One afternoon the balloon caught fire as it left the ground and he had to cut loose at 600 ft. He landed safely, but the bag fell on the roof of Collin's hotel and set it on fire. The next day it had a big white patch where it was burned, but he made the flight OK. Later he took up his little Boston bulldog who had a red-white & blue chute, he let the dog go first and then he jumped. Both landed OK but he was arrested by the A.S.P.C.A for cruelty to the dog.

PAGE 6 ANNOTATIONS:

"Captain Baldwin" was no doubt Thomas Sackett (T.S.) Baldwin (1854-1923), a world famous balloonist, aerial daredevil, and the father of the modern parachute. After his daredevil days were over, he designed the first (1908) U.S. Army airship and served as a Captain of the Signal Corps in World War I. Read more about his career at Who's Who of Ballooning. Known also as "Professor" Baldwin, he was the Evel Knievel of his day..

T.S. Baldwin performs for a crowd (date and place unknown).

One of the performances Alfred James described in his memoirs is very similar to an earlier incident reported by the New York Times on August 20, 1887.

BALDWIN JUMPS AGAIN
This Time He Falls 600 Feet Into the Water

"Prof. T.S. Baldwin made another leap from his balloon at Rockaway yesterday afternoon and a great crowd assembled on the beach to see him do it. The balloon left its moorings behind the museum at 4:30 o'clock. The gas was very poor and the aeronaut told the people present that he doubted he could get up, but that he would try. He then cut loose the basket and made the ascent, sitting in a loop of rope handing from the netting. The wind, which was blowing briskly from the northward, carried the balloon out to sea, diagonally from the beach. The parachute was detached from a height of about 600 ft., two minutes from the time the balloon was released, and after a drop of 34 1/2 seconds Baldwin struck the water about 1,000 yards from the shore.

At first the fall was very rapid, the great umbrella not spreading out as it should. Gradually it filled however, and, swinging from side to side, floated like a feather downward into the water. During the last few feet, however, it dropped with great speed, and the Professor plunged feet foremost into the sea In a moment her appeared on the surface and clung to his parachute. Ten minutes later, William Smith, Life Saver No. 4, reached Baldwin in his life-raft and the jumper clambered on board.

Baldwin was very soon dressed and appeared in public. He said he felt well with the exception of a slight headache. The fall had been the most rapid he ever experienced on account of the trouble he had at first with his parachute. He had collapsed the balloon before leaving it, and that had hastened his departure so that the ropes of the parachute were tangled, and a rotary motion caused.

The Professor made $1,500 by his leap, but that cannot be a circumstance to what was garnered by the hotel keepers and the railroad. His next ascent will be made in Syracuse in about two weeks."

Mother took me to the Barnum Circus in Brooklyn. What a thrill it was too, watching the trapeze act and tight rope walker I decided it was for me. I took a broom stick and some of my Mother's clothes-line and made a trapeze and hung it on a tree. It was lucky our yard was white birch sand and soft. It looked so easy to hang by your knees and then the toes, I mastered the one but in sliding down to the toe hold, I forgot to twist my feet and landed on my head. I kept it up and after a while I could do pretty good. Then the tight rope, I used my Mother's clothes pole for a balancing pole and did quite well, until I tried to stand on my head as the Man did. I didn't know he had a head piece with a groove in it to fit on the rope. My head must come to a point, as I tried the stunt my head slipped off the rope and I nearly lost my ear. I had enough, no circus for me.

In school come to think of it, I had to take part in every graduation exercise. I always had to learn a piece it seems either [to] recite by myself or in a group. It was the same in church and Sunday school. I took part from the early days until I was eighteen years old and ended up in a Xmas play.

As a boy I played all the games in vogue at the time: baseball, hockey and basket ball. We had a junior fire Co. with a small fire truck and uniforms and took part in the Volunteer fire parades. We camped in the woods in Spring and Fall, built huts and dug caves, and owned boats and swam all Summer. Later on I worked in Holland's grocery store all Summer and made enough to buy my Winter clothes and have some spending money.

I graduated in June 1900 and started high school in Sept. It was the first time they had a high school in Far Rockaway and I had to go. I went there for 3 years. Took Algebra, Botany, English, Drawing, German and book keeping. No regrets. Ms. Beard our English teacher made us write Poems. Most were cruel, talk about Poetic license.

PAGE 8 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "We had a junior fire Co. with a small fire truck and uniforms and took part in the Volunteer fire parades."

The local volunteer fire department was the the Oceanus Hook and Ladder Company, established in 1886.

2. "I graduated in June 1900 and started high school in Sept. It was the first time they had a high school in Far Rockaway and I had to go."

Alfred James attended Far Rockaway High School, which opened its doors in 1897.

3. "Took Algebra, Botany, English, Drawing, German and book keeping."

Far Rockaway High School was once an exemplar of good public education. It produced three Nobel Prize Winners and two notable mathematicians -- a proud achievement for a relatively small neighborhood school. In December 2007, it was announced the 100-year old school would close its doors due to slumping graduation rates and poor scholastic performance, a byproduct of the poverty and violence that now plagues the community.

4. "Later on I worked in Holland's grocery store all Summer..."

Holland's grocery, W.C. Holland & Son, established about 1891, was owned by William C. Holland (1848-1908). He was a close friend of Alfred James' father, and the families lived across the street from each other on Bayview Ave (Beach 90th Street). Holland was the son of Michael Price Holland and Fannie R. Brush, pioneer settlers who arrived at the Beach in 1857. The Hollands were related to us by marriage through our Hughson line, and I am preparing a page about them for future publication.

I bought my first motorcycle in 1903, a used Thomas Auto-bi, it made all of 25 M.P.H. It had no springs and as the roads were rough, it shook your kidneys loose and every two miles you had to stop and sit on the curb on hold your belly. Three of us had cycles and on Sats. at low-tide we raced on the beach seven-miles each way, it was hard and smooth. "Inky" Boerum bought an "Indian cycle" and it was fast as 50 M.P.H. The first New York City motor-cycle cops all had "Indians". Then "Chick" Coppelston bought a French Orient cycle which beat us all. I had trouble with dogs, this noisy cycle was something new to chase, and when they heard me coming they ran out of the yard and hit my front wheels and over the handle-bars I went. Captain Dunbar had a big Saint Bernhard dog named "Dewey", after Admiral Dewey, he was heavier than I was and one day he ran out, grabbed me by the hip and pulled me off the cycle. I sold this cycle and later got a heavy "Marsh-Metz" cycle.

Dr. Tingley had the first auto in Rockaway, it was a two-seater "Locomobile" and ran on steam. It burned kerosene, you had to light the burner under a small boiler and when you got steam up it puffed along about [cut off] M.P.H. It was a buggy, had bicycle wheels and steered by a lever, a real horseless carriage. I saw the birth of the bicycle, the auto, the so-called flying machine, also the motor boat. They called them naptha launches because they burned it to generate steam and then the real motors were used. My boss in the grocery store bought a "Cadillac" in 1903, it had a single cylinder engine under the body [and] you had to crank it on the side to start it -- the price was $900. He had money and as the cars improved he bought new [ones] -- later they went to four cylinders and [had] the engine under the hood. I think the first Vanderbilt Cup race for cars was in [ctt off ] they raced on the regular roads just [cut off] other side of Queens Village, the course was about 8[cut off] around. It was a yearly even and I saw [cut off] of them. I think the last race was in 1913. 9 people were killed and they stopped the [race].

PAGE 10 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Dr. Tingley had the first auto in Rockaway ..."

Physicians were among the earliest adopters of automobiles.. They weren't just a luzury -- faster mobility could mean the difference between life and death. "Dr. Tingley" was undoubtedly Hilbert Black Tingley (1865-1903). More about him and his untimely demise on page 17.

2. ".. it was a two-seater "Locomobile" and ran on steam."

Read more about the Locomobile at Wikipedia.

3. "My boss in the grocery store bought a "Cadillac" in 1903, it had a single cylinder engine under the body [and] you had to crank it on the side to start it -- the price was $900."

1903 Cadillacs. His boss was grocer William C. Holland (see page 8, above). Bill Holland's fortune didn't come from selling milk and bread -- he was one of the largest property owners in the area and also a beneficiary of the wealth amassed by his mother, Fannie R. Holland, in the previous century. The Holland Trust was administered by his brother, Michael P. Holland Jr., also a wealthy man.

4. "I think the first Vanderbilt Cup race for cars was in [cut off ] they raced on the regular roads just [cut off] other side of Queens Village, the course was about 8[cut off] around. It was a yearly even and I saw [cut off] of them. I think the last race was in 1913."

The first Vanderbilt Cup was held in Nassau County in 1904. The last race in New York took place in 1911. Read more facts about the Vanderbilt Cup at Wikipedia.

I saw “Monte Christo”, “Way Down East”, “East Lynne”, “Cape Cod Folk” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in The Academy of Music on 14^th St. in New York, at the time it was the largest theatre in the City. Now, I am ‘stage struck’. I sent away for a book “How to become an Actor”, just as if it was easy, it was as reasonable as “How to grow tomatoes on a tin roof without fertilizer” or “Take back your heart; I ordered liver.”

In high school, I took a business course. My teacher was Albert G. Belding. We had a bank, and offices where we bought flour, wheat and other products; each day we had to buy and sell to each other and keep the books. Each one had to run the bank for a week, we had fake money which looked real. My turn came in June and I took some of this money and on the open trolley on the way home, as we passed the gates at the RR crossing, I tossed some of the money to the man. He thought it was real and chased the money down the track. I was real funny until I checked out $1000 short at the bank. I told Belding what happened and he was real mad, he said it wasn’t so funny. That was the end of high school and I was glad.

That Summer [1903] I took my my job in Holland grocery as usual and I intended to look for a job in the fall as they didn’t need extra help in the Winter. Mrs. Holland was going to have a baby, so I stayed on for the Winter, and in the Spring I got a job with Fred Bell. He had several contracts to paint houses and as he was on the list for Post Office clerk and would be called to work for the Summer, I helped him out. The following Spring {1904] I took the civil service exam and topped the list for carr[ier] and was appointed immediately as a su[supervisor? the rest is cut off].

I joined the Oceanus Dramatic Society that fall and studied under Sol G. Frost for about one year; he was a well known ac[tor]. To gain experience we produced plays for Churches, hospitals, Synagogues and orphanages. Then later we formed a stock company and toured L.I. on one night stands. The people were starved for entertainment and it was easy to fill the theatres. We had a comedy drama called “A Jersey Romance: Or What’s Next?” I worked with Johnny Hynes, a small “Jackie Gleason”. I helped in his routines. Our music was from “Babes in Toyland” by Victor Herbert. The movies were just becoming popular and easy to reach, so that was the end to show business. The whole cast has passed away except Flo Smith our leading lady who is in Hollywood [the rest is cut off].

PAGE 12 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "...in the Spring I got a job with Fred Bell..."

"Fred Bell" was probably Frederick J. Bell, son of blacksmith Frank Bell and his wife Annie. They lived on Washington Ave (Rockaway Blvd.) in 1900. Fred was born in England in June 1882, making him three years older than Alfred James. (1900 United States Federal Census. Queens Ward 5, Queens, New York; Roll: T623 1150; Page: 14B; Enumeration District 687.) Fred didn't stay with the Post Office. He moved to Buffalo before 1910 and became a blacksmith like his father.

2. "The following Spring {1904] I took the civil service exam and topped the list for carr[ier] and was appointed immediately..."

Unlike Fred Bell, Alfred James Bedell had a long career at the Oceanus (later Rockaway Beach) Post Office.

3. "I joined the Oceanus Dramatic Society that fall and studied under Sol G. Frost for about one year; he was a well known actor."

Sol G. Frost, of Irish descent, was born about 1869. He later became a music teacher in Brooklyn. (1910 United States Federal Census. Brooklyn Ward 9, Kings, New York; Roll: T624_960; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 181; Image: 647.)

My Father drew the plans for our first Church and his name is in the minutes of the first meeting of the founders (1888). He also drew plans for Holland’s store and home, Kespert’s store, a house next door to us, and several other neighbors all free of cost. I remember him coming home from work on the Long Island R.R. where he was foreman of bridge carpenters, and as soon as he ate his supper he would get out his drawing board and work on his plans. He retired about 1925 and his hobby was raising beautiful and rare flowers, our yard was covered with plants, and in the Summer the city people used to stop an say “Ooh and Ahh” in admiration. Pop was real proud. He was a good father, strict with us but loving and good humored. He could play the violin and mandolin real good but only by ear and always sat in the dark when he did so. He and Bill Holland who lived across the street were real pals too. The Hollands had 13 children, 6 girls and 7 boys, and had a three story house with lots of bedrooms. Mrs. Holland’s maiden name was Brower and she was from Woodmere L.I. The daughters were Ella, Dora, Maud, Carrie, Hazel and May. The boys William, Charles, Frank, Thomas, Henry, Arthur, and Martin.

PAGE 13 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "My Father drew the plans for our first Church and his name is in the minutes of the first meeting of the founders (1888)"

Though Alfred James' father worked as a bridge carpenter, was more than a carpenter -- he was a builder and architect. The "first Church" was the First Congregational Church of Rockaway Beach. The original church building, designed by him, was dedicated in 1889. Rockaway historian Emil Lucev recently posted a 1905 photo of the Church, before it was remodeled.
(The Wave, Historical Views of the Rockaway, April 6, 2009.)

2. "... our yard was covered with plants, and in the Summer the city people used to stop an say “Ooh and Ahh” in admiration."

One of the plants grown in the Bedell garden was the night-blooming cereus, a flowering cactus.

3. "He could play the violin and mandolin real good but only by ear ..."

Alfred James may not have known it, but his father's maternal grandfather, Jacob Foster, was also a violinist.

4. "The Hollands had 13 children..."

The Hollands actually had more than 13 children (as many as 16?) but some died young.

5. Mrs. Holland’s maiden name was Brower and she was from Woodmere L.I.

Mrs. William C. Hollland was Margaret Brower (1851-1936), the daughter of Charles Brower and Mary Doxee.

.

I can remember a private mansion on Bruce Place, which was a private road the in the rear of our house. It was occupied by a family by the name of Redwood, they had two children: Hazel and Elsie. We all played together and in the Winter we played in their home. I recall fire places in every room and it was real cozy with the grates glowing red. Years later I was visiting in Lawrence L.I for a week end and went to a birthday party for the minister’s daughter. I was astounded to meet Hazel at the party, it must have been ten years since they left Rockaway, and we enjoyed talking of old times.

We had our first colored family on the Beach by the name of Jackson, they were very poor but were well received and the people hired the father for odd jobs. I forget how many children there were, but a girl about seven years old died, and all the neighbors donated money for the funeral, and everybody attended the services in our church.

PAGE 14 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "I can remember a private mansion on Bruce Place... It was occupied by a family by the name of Redwood, they had two children: Hazel and Elsie. "

The head of the Redwood family was Theodore Redwood, an electrical engineer. His daughter Hazel was Alfred James' age -- born October 1885. "Elsie" was actually Alice Redwood (he misremembered her name), born in April 1888. (1900 United States Federal Census: Hempstead, Nassau, New York; Roll: T623 1079; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 708.)

2. "We had our first colored family on the Beach by the name of Jackson..."

Unfortunately, Alfred didn't provide any context to help us identify the Jackson family. The 1900 census lists no black families named Jackson in or near Rockaway Beach -- only a married house servant named Cecelia Jackson from Virginia.

But ten years later, in 1910, there were a number of African-American Jacksons in and around RB, including one Albert Jackson, a 30-year old handy-man working in the household of Garrett Schenk in the Holland district. He was a married man but no wife or children are listed with him. There was also an Abraham Jackson, a 59-year old janitor who lived on Carlton Ave. (now Beach 71st Street in Arverne). His wife Margaret stated she'd given birth to 3 children, but only 2 were still living.

There were two small stores on the Boulevard and Eldert Ave next to Henne’s bakery. Two friends came from Germany, a tailor whose name was Schnitzler and a shoe-maker by name of Snigelfritz. Each had a store side by side and when they were not busy they played cards, and one afternoon they got into an argument, and the tailor stabbed the shoe-maker with a pair of scissors and killed him. The whole village was horrified, as at that time one murder a year in the whole country was a calamity. I remember looking in the store window and saw the body on the floor covered with a sheet. Tim Jones was the constable and he had to arrest the tailor and put him in an iron cage about 4 o’clock, then take him hand-cuffed on a train to the regular jail in Long Island City. We could look in the window at the fire-house and see him in the cage, and to us children he seemed to be a demon!

Later a man’s body washed ashore on the Beach, his arms were bound and he was shot in the head in both temples. He lay on a piece of old matting for hours waiting for the coroner and I saw this too.

PAGE 15 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Rockaway’s first murder:"

Was it really, though? I can't find any articles about a homicide involving two German immigrants or anyone else matching the descriptions of these men. Schnitzler is a plausible surname, but Snigelfritz sounds like a cartoon character.

2. "Tim Jones was the constable..."

Timothy F. Jones, my great-great granduncle, was born in September 1844 to Asa Jones and Mary Jane Falkenburg of Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Tim and his wife, Lydie Herbert of Pennsylvania, had eight children.. He arrived in Rockaway Beach about 1878 and went on to became a Deputy Sheriff of Queens County, assigned to the Beach as a constable. Tim retired in 1898 (the year Rockaway Beach was annexed by New York City) and went to live in Washington D.C. for a while. He died in Brooklyn on April 24, 1923 at the age of 78. The Joneses and Bedells were related by marriage. See A Scandal in the Rockaways.

3. "Later a man’s body washed ashore on the Beach, his arms were bound and he was shot in the head in both temples."

The discovery of the body of a well-dressed man in his mid-30s, with probable bullet wounds in his skull, was reported on August 20 & 21, 1894 in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. However, there was no mention of his arms being bound. Constable Jones (see above) was among the first on the scene. It's quite plausible that nine year old Alfred James Bedell and many other locals caught a glimpse of the corpse before it was removed to Henry Klopper's hotel, pending autopsy. This was by no means the first mysterious body to wash ashore at Rockaway Beach, nor the last.

There was a roller coaster in Sea Side which had been abandoned; several cars were on the tracks in a tunnel and on Sats. we used to take a car and push it up to the top. Then we got in the car and coasted to the end. It was a lot of fun, but hard work pushing the car to the top.

Charlie Holland had the contract to keep the street lamps in condition, they burned kerosene. He had to light each light before dark and put them out each morning. [and] clean and fill them for the next night. He had a four wheeled cart for the work, pulled by a team of donkeys “Barney and Jenny”. His brother Marty and I used to ride them bare back, they would let us get on their backs and as soon as said “gidap” they would spill us over their heads.

There was a clam digger Sid Seamon, and every time he got drunk he would go to the lot and try to ride the donkeys too. He would talk nice to the animals and pet them, they seemed to enjoy it too, but the minute he got on, over he went. It was real funny.

PAGE 16 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "There was a roller coaster in Sea Side which had been abandoned"

By 1888, there were two small roller coasters in Seaside, which were then called "toboggan railways" or "switchbacks". Both were destroyed in the fire of 1892. After Seaside was rebuilt, C.N. Grant ran his "Automatic Toboggan Switchback" at Henry Street (Beach 102nd St.). Read more in Rockaway Beach historian Emil Lucev's article about early roller coasters. (The Wave, Historical Views of the Rockaways, August 5, 2005)

2. "Charlie Holland had the contract to keep the street lamps in condition, they burned kerosene."

Charlie and his brother Marty were two of the many children of grocer William C. Holland.

Right after President McKinley was shot and killed, our Village doctor Tingley tried to get on a moving train at Holland Station and fell under the train and was killed, his both legs were cut off. I just missed seeing the accident as my trolley coming from high-school was right in back of the train. They took his body to our church and kept it there for the funeral, as in those days there were no funeral homes.

In my early school days out principal was Mr. Candy, he was a little man and had red hair. He liked to drink, and he used to fix the school clock so it would stop around 11 A.M., then he would say “hmm the clock stopped” Then he would put on his coat and say “I had better go out to the R.R,. station and get the right time”.. It was a short walk but he had to pass Chas. Frey’s saloon, he would sneak in the side-door and have a couple of drinks before he came back to school, you could smell the whiskey on his breath. This was a daily routine, he didn’t fool any one as the board fired him after one year.

PAGE 17 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Right after President McKinley was shot and killed, our Village doctor Tingley tried to get on a moving train at Holland Station and fell under the train and was killed, his both legs were cut off."

In actuality, President McKinley was assassinated on September 5, 1901 and Dr. Tingley was killed 16 months later on January 14, 1903. That being said, Alfred's version of the Rockaway Beach physician's death corresponds closely enough to the story published in the newspaper the next day. "[He] was killed at the Holland Station crossing of the Long Island Railroad yesterday afternoon. While attempting to board a west bound train his foot slipped and he fell beneath the wheels." (New York Times, January 15, 1903).

The victim's full identity was Hilbert Black Tingley, born on October 21, 1865 in New Brunswick, Canada. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1887, received his M.D. degree in Baltimore, and made his way to Rockaway Beach in 1893 -- only to die there ten years later at the age of 37. His family must have regretted the good doctor choose to travel by train instead of Locomobile (see p.10) that particular day.

Click Here to Enlarge

A detailed biographical sketch and portrait (reproduced above) of Dr. Tingley was published in The History of Long Island from its earliest settlement to the present time. / by William S. Pelletreau. New York & Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co, 1903. Vol. II, p. 96-97.

2. "In my early school days our principal was Mr. Candy ... He liked to drink...he didn’t fool any one as the board fired him after one year. "

He means Mr. Candee, whose first name I haven't discovered.. According to Bellot's History of the Rockaways, (p. 44) Mr. Candee's career as schoolmaster was much longer than Alfred James remembered. He was hired in 1881; his career ended by the time William Gilmore took over the school in 1894. Alfred may have heard rumors about the schoolmaster's drinking habits from his pal Charlie Frey, whose father owned the saloon that Mr. Candee was said to frequent.

Charles Frey’s Bayside House was the name of the hotel. Mrs. Frey was the sister of Louis A. Phillips who owned and ran the Bushwick theatre in Brooklyn, a first class vaudeville house, and in the Summer had a hotel and dance floor on the ocean front at Holland Ave. Chas. Jr. was one of our gang, and one Sat. we had had our camp in the woods, and decided to have a mock Battle, the Blues and the Grays. We had home made cannons we created with two wheels and sewer pipes and put fire cracker in them. Mr. Frey had an antique collection of guns from the Civil War period, so Charlie sneaked about six muskets and several shotguns, all muzzle-loaders, to play with. They had to have small brass caps to fire them but they were not to be had.

Well, along about two P.M. our battle was going fine, when Mr. Frey came running up and yelled to drop the guns. We had been snapping the hammers and some of the guns were loaded since the Civil War. He gave Charlie the devil, took all the guns and threw them in Jamaica Bay. He made the mistake of doing it at high tide. When the tide went out I got a double barreled gun and sold it for 15 cents to Fred Jones., the constable’s son. The Frey’s had four children Emma, Charles, Mamie and John. Later, Mamie joined show business, she was very talented.

PAGE 18 ANNOTATIONS:

1. "Charles Frey’s Bayside House was the name of the hotel. "

The Frey family, headed by Charles Frey, Sr., lived on Holland Avenue (Beach 90th St.) Their hotel stood at the end of the Holland Avenue Pier. Emil Lucev has an old photo of it here.
(The Wave, Historical Views of the Rockaways, April 10, 2009.)

Charlie Frey Jr. was born in February 1886. in New York. (1900 United States Federal Census. Queens Ward 5, Queens, New York; Roll: T623 1150; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 687.) He went on to become a bank clerk. Given his interest in firearms, it's a wonder he didn't become a bank robber.

2. "Chas. Jr. was one of our gang, and one Sat. we had had our camp in the woods, and decided to have a mock Battle, the Blues and the Grays."

The Civil War was not ancient history to these boys. It was as close to their era as the Vietnam War is to children of today, and they most likely knew some Civil War veterans personally. Alfred's maternal uncles, Joseph and Benjamin Shaw were among the many local men who served in the War. .

Thus end the memoirs of Alfred James Bedell. Over the course of the next 75 years, he married twice, fathered a daughter and two sons, and continued to work at the Post Office until 1945, when he he retired to Tivoli, Dutchess County NY, He died in Poughkeepsie in 1979, three months shy of his 94th birthday.

Received your letter. I never saw a bible at our house that as a rule old timers kept all the family’s births and deaths recorded. There was a large album tho’ full of pictures and might have had some of the records, but Mint had it last and after she died I am sure Willis took it. I wrote to Ella after he died and never got an answer. Alfred Curtis Bedell was born in East Rockaway in 1853 [sic, more likely 1852] and he had two sisters Mary, Kate and later a step-sister [sic, half-sister] Libby. His father died at 32 years of age, and relatives took the 2 girls in to live with them and my father went to live with Abe Johnson whose wife was a “Cornell”. Father learned to be a carpenter and an architect from Abe in “Woodsburgh” which is now Woodmere. He went to Sunday School and was educated there and played with the Hewlett boys whose father owned the property that is now Hewlett. My father’s only relative that I knew was a cousin Charles Bedell, so his father must have had a brother. My mother Georgianna Shaw was born in “Fosters Meadow” which is now Springfield about 1868 [sic, she was born 1855/1856]. She had three sisters Betsy, Harriet and Ruth Ellen, three brothers Benjamin, Joseph and William, all “yankees” with a grandmother who was a pure “Montauk” Indian. It was 74 degrees here yesterday, and all the snow is gone, hope Freddy is OK and won’t need surgery.