1262 | i. | Major Edwin Elzaphan / Eliaphron BEEDE was born on 8 January 1837 in Sandwich, Strafford, New Hampshire.472 He was illegitimate and changed the spelling of his name to Bedee so to make it harder for people to discover his illegitimacy. His mother never married and his father remains unknown. He appeared in the census in 1850 in Sandwich, Carroll, New Hampshire. Age 12, born New Hampshire. Living with mother in grandfather's household. Name Eliaphron Bedee. He died on 13 January 1908 at the age of 71 in Plymouth, Grafton, New Hampshire.472 "Major Bedee received his education in Sandwich and Meredith, where he was brought up by his grandfather." [Early Meredith - Bicentennial] "He was a printer before the war, enlisting first from Albany, NY, in the first three months' regiment as orderly sergeant, and was promoted to second lieutenant. Later he was appointed messenger in the citizens' corps, and on the expiration of his term of service he returned to Meredith [NH] in time to join the Twelfth Regiment. He enlisted in this regiment as sergeant major, and was repeatedly promoted until he reached the rank of major, which rank he held at the time of his muster-out." [12th New Hampshire Volunteers] "He enlisted Aug. 18, 1862 and was mustered on the 20th as a Sgt. Major, made 1st Lt. Co. G., on Dec. 22, 1862. Wounded May 3, 1863 at Chancellorsville, Va., wounded severely June 4, 1864 after having been made Capt. May 12; captured and made prisoner Nov. 17, 1864 at Bermuda Hundred, Va. He was paroled Feb. 22, 1865 at James River, Va., made Major May 26, 1865, mustered out June 21 as Captain. He was an eyewitness to the assassination of Pres. Lincoln and was entrusted by Mrs. Lincoln with Pres. Lincoln's private papers. Major B. cared for and stayed with Lincoln until Lincoln died. the papers were delivered to the Secretary of War soon after the death of Lincoln, but through the error of someone in the War Department it was supposed they had not been delivered to the proper authorities and Beede was arrested, but he was soon released when they realized their error and was given a public apology by the Department. After the close of the war, Beede went to South Africa and made a fortune in the diamond fields. In seven years time he sold out his claims and came back to Boston where he set up as a diamond broker for several years. In 1892 he gave Meredith a marble and granite memorial to perpetuate the memory of the boys who enlisted in the Twelfth Regt. of Volunteers. This statue of a C. W. veteran in uniform cost several thousand dollars and stands on the lawn between the Town Library and the Baptist Church. He died at Plymouth, N. H. in the Pemigewassett house, Jan. 13, 1908 after a brief illness resulting from a shock and is buried in the Meredith Village Cemetery." [Early Meredith] "I think some of which has been written about Bedee has been exaggerated to some degree by Bedee himself. Everyone seemed to claim at the time they were in Ford's Theater the night of the assassination - people in those days were really caught up in their own self-importance and frequently blew themselves up bigger than they were, simply because many considered you a nobody if you weren't in the upper class of society at that time." [Fremont Town Historian, 29 Nov 2000] |