Cornelia Foster (1832-1919),
wife of Benjamin P. Bedell,
in her mid-80s
1. Benjamin P. BEDELL was born in 1828/1830 in New York. He died in March 1860 in Hempstead, Queens County, New York.
OCCUPATION: Benjamin was a farmer at the time of his death and had possibly also been a fisherman.
RESIDENCES: He was a resident of "Rockaway" at the time of his marriage (1851), and was married by the pastor of the M-E Church of Lawrence, which suggests residence in the present-day Five Towns area of Nassau County or in Far Rockaway, Queens County.. His son Alfred and daughter Catharine were reportedly born in East Rockaway and Rockville Center, respectively. Both villages were once part of the area known as Near Rockaway, which may have been where he and his wife Corneilia made their home after their marriage.
DEATH: Benjamin died of cancer at age 30-32. No published death notice has been found, nor has his burial place been discovered.Note on estimated birth date: According to the 1850 federal census mortality schedule of Hempstead, Benjamin was 30 years old when he died in March 1860 (i.e., born 1829/1830). In a memoir written in the late 1970s, more than 110 years after Benjamin's death, his grandson Alfred James Bedell stated he died at age 32 (i.e., born 1827/1828), probably based on information passed down through the family. As of yet, no obituary, death notice or gravestone has been found to provide us with a more accurate date of birth.
Benjamin married Cornelia FOSTER daughter of Jacob Foster on 22 Oct 1851 in Rockaway, Hempstead, Queens County, New York. The marriage was performed Rev. E.O. Bates, pastor of the Lawrence Methodist-Episcopal Church. Cornelia was born on 22 Feb 1832 in Queens County, New York. She died of natural causes at age 87 on 8 Sep 1919 in Broad Channel, Queens County, New York. She was buried on 11 Sep 1919 in Rockville Cemetery, Lynbrook, New York. (Burial place per her death certificate, but no gravestone has been found.)
RESIDENCES: Born probably in the town of Hempstead (Fosters Meadow) or nearby Springfield, Jamaica. Her father, Jacob Foster, a butcher and grocer, died in 1841 when she was 8 years old, and she may have been sent to live with relatives afterwards. At the time of her marriage in 1851, she was a resident of Rockaway. She and her first husband, Benjamin P. Bedell, probably lived in Near Rockaway, where their first two children were born. She and her second husband, Benjamin Rhinehart, probably lived in Far Rockaway, where their daughter Elizabeth Jane was born. She and her third husband, Robert Craft, lived in Inwood, then called Westville. After Craft's death, she moved to the Brooklyn Hills section of Jamaica (present-day Woodhaven/Richmond Hills). Near the end of her life (circa 1910) she lived with her daughter Catharine (Bedell) Seaman in Rockaway Beach. The place of her death was Broad Channel, Jamaica, possibly in the summer home owned by her other daughter, Mary (Bedell) Whelen.
MARRIAGES: She married twice after Benjamin's death to: (1) Benjamin Rhinehart in 1861 and (2) Robert Craft of Inwood, about 1865/1866.
ISSUE: She had seven children in all: 3-4 with Benjamin Bedell (see below); 1 daughter (Elizabeth Jane) with Benjamin Rhinehart; 2 daughters (Adelaide and Lucinda) with Robert Craft.
Cornelia's Find-A-Grave record.Benjamin and Cornelia had the following children:
+ 2 M i Alfred Curtis BEDELL was born on 22 Nov 1852 (range: 1851-1853). He died at age 79 on 1 Apr 1932. + 3 F ii Mary L. BEDELL was born in Mar 1854. She died at age 82 on 19 Oct 1936. + 4 F iii Catharine A. (Kate) BEDELL was born on 2 May 1856. She died at age 78 on 29 Mar 1935. 5 M iv possibly William BEDELL (unverified). If so, he died young.
NOTE to the Velardis: We are descended twicefold from Benjamin P. Bedell: (1) through this son Alfred Curtis Bedell, the grandfather of our grandmother, Elsie Ritter Bedell, and (2) through his daughter Catharine A. (Kate) Bedell, the grandmother of our grandfather, Rowland Seaman Pinkham.
Additional notes and speculation about the origins of Benjamin P. Bedell:
The surname BEDELL has been in Hempstead since the mid-1650's, when an early settler named Robert Bedell first arrived in the town. At this time, we don't have sufficient information to link our Benjamin P. Bedell family to him, though the connection seems likely. However, we are descended from Robert Bedell through other old Hempstead families, as presented here.
The most plausible candidates for Benjamin's parents are William Bedell (1786-1864) and his wife Jemima Pearsall (1798/99-1864), who lived in or around the villages of Near Rockaway (now Rockville Centre/East Rockaway) or Pearsalls (now Lynbrook) in Hempstead town, New York. They are buried in Rockville Cemetery, Lynbrook. Our theory is based on the following evidence:
- The 1850 federal census of Hempstead town enumerated a Benjamin Bedell, age 18, in the household of William and Jemima Bedell. There is no further record of him after that census. All the Benjamin Bedells in Queens County of roughly the same age as our Benjamin (born 1827-1832) have been accounted for in subsequent censuses or through other genealogical sources, except for the son of William and Jemima Bedell.
- The 1860 Hempstead census (taken a few months after our Benjamin's death) enumerated a child, Alfred C. Bedell, age 8, in the household of William and Jemima Bedell. The child was too young to be the old couple's son (they were in their 60s and 70s at the time), but could very well have been a grandson. We believe the boy was Alfred Curtis Bedell, our Benjamin's son, who according to family lore was sent to live with relatives after his father's death.
- Alfred Curtis Bedell had a cousin named Charles Bedell. William Bedell and Jemima Pearsall had a grandson named Charles W. Bedell, who might conceivably have been the cousin.
- Speculation only: did Benjamin's middle initial "P" stand for Pearsall?
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