Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 311
ISAAC F. BEDSAUL

Isaac F. Bedsaul, a farmer living on section 29, township 80, range 43, within Magnolia Civil Township, came to Harrison County with his parents in the spring of 1854. They settled at the village of Magnolia just after the town was platted. The father brought a general stock of groceries from Indiana, and continued to sell goods until 1857, when he sold out and bought a tract of wild land on section 28, the same consisting of one hundred and sixty acres. Our subject remained at home until August, 1862, when he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry and was mustered into service at Council Bluffs in October of that year, and in short time was found at St. Louis, and a little later at Helena, Arkansas. He took part in eleven battles and skirmished, including Shell Mound, Miss., in February, 1863, Helena, July 4, 1863, where he was taken sick and sent to Keokuk, Iowa where he remained five months and then returned to his regiment. In 1864 he went with Gen. STELLE, under Gen. Banks on his Red River expedition, and was in the last battle that was fought -- the Siege of Mobile. He was discharged at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., September 18, 1865, after which he returned to Harrison County, Iowa. Soon after coming out of the service he bought a farm on section 23, township 80, range 43, of Magnolia Township, which he improved and lived upon until 1870, and then moved to Magnolia, and for four years ran the mail route to Logan. For one year after leaving the stage line, he lived on his farm and then sold out, lived one year on his father's farm, after which he formed a partnership with S. L. Berkley, and constructed a steam flour mill. A year later he sold to his partner and bought the farm he now resides upon; the same being one of the oldest and best improved farms in the county, one which William Cooper, an early pioneer had entered.

Mr. BEDSAUL was born in Marion, Grant County, Ind., November 25, 1840. When a small boy his parents moved to Wabash County, of that State and remained until 1854, and then came to Iowa stopping for a short time in Council Bluffs, where they were just building the first brick house in the place. The family soon moved to Magnolia.

Our subject was married July 28, 1867, to Miss Minerva AKERS and they were the parents of two children -- Bertha W. and Frank H. The mother died December 3, 1870, and in 1872 Mr. BEDSAUL married Miss Ada STEBBINS, by which marriage union Lewis R., was born. His mother died January 22, 1875. September 18, 1888, our subject married his present wife, whose maiden name was Ida M. LaFERE, and they are the parents of two children, Gracie L. and Oliver Pern.

Politically Mr. BEDSAUL is identified with the Republican party.

Of our subject's father it may be said that he was born in Grayson County, Va., December 24, 1799, and when a small boy his parents removed to Panther Springs, Tenn. From this point his father, in company with two other gentlemen, started for a trip into Western Tennessee, and were both killed by the Indians, and his wife died near Panther Springs, when Isaac BEDSAUL, father of our subject was eight years old. He was bound out to a man by the name of JONES, who was a great slave owner, and when Indiana came into the Union, he went to that State, but it was declared a free State, JONES returned to Tennessee, taking young BEDSAUL with him. But the next year, which was 1816, he in company with two other young men, ran away and came to Henry County, Ind., where he worked at clearing up timber land and was one of the first to enter the wilds of that county. He went to Indianapolis, when it was first platted as a town, and took a claim near there, but on account of sickness, he left his claim and returned to Henry County, and peddled among the Indians, continuing for three years. He built one of the first houses in New Castle, and went into the general merchandising business. When he first opened up his stock, three clapboards would hold all his goods. Coon skins were the general legal tender of that day. He prospered in his business, and at one time owned twenty-one hundred acres of land, his whole property amounting to $97,000. He moved to Marion to Lagro, on the Wabash and Erie Canal, where he built a large pork packing establishment, which did not prove a success, and in consequence of which he failed. This was in 1849 and a year later, he took ten men with twenty-one head of ponies, and packed across to the plains to California, his eldest son, Oliver, accompanying him. They built a sawmill, which they finally sold, and bought a provision store, ran that awhile and then came back to Lagro, Wabash County, Ind., arriving in the spring of 1853, and in 1854, came to Council Bluffs and took a claim near where the Union depot is now situated. But being convinced that Magnolia was a better country for stock purposes, he located there and died in 1886. The mother of our subject, Mary (CARY) BEDSAUL, was born in Springfield, Ohio, in1807, and her parents moved to New Castle, where she lived until the date of her marriage. Her father was in the Revolutionary War, and also in the War of 1812. Her grandfather was also in the Revolutionary War, and Mr. BEDSAUL's great-grandfather, on the father's side, was one of Gen. BRADDOCK'S soldiers.

Isaac BEDSAUL, our subject, is a member of the Masonic and Grand Army of the Republic orders, and is a member of the Congregational Church, while his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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