Mrs. Regina (VALE) TEDFORD of Mount Ayr was born at Bonaparte [IA], November 4, 1876, the daughter of Benjamin Rex VALE and Julia BIDDLE VALE. Her grandfather, Jacob G. VALE, was state senator for two terms and her father was state senator for four terms, representing the same district. Her father's mother's ancestry is traced from morganatic marriage of George III of England, hence the family name REX.

She received her classical education at Monmouth College and at the State University of Iowa. Her musical education was obtained at New England Conservatory of Music, Boston.

At her home in Bonaparte [Van Buren County, Iowa], on June 4, 1902, she was married to Howard TEDFORD, of Mount Ayr, editor of the Mount Ayr Record, son of James Harvey TEDFORD and Elizabeth (ROWEN) TEDFORD. His father has been an Iowa newspaper man since 1870. His mother was a native of New York, a descendant of the ROWANS, who were noted patriots and who rendered valiant service in the war of the Revolution.

Mr. TEDFORD was for three terms [IA] state binder and was clerk for the Interstate Commerce Commission (1895-96) of which Col. W. P. HEPBURN was chairman. From this committee the Panama Canal bill was first recommended for passage by Congress.

Mrs. TEDFORD is in religious faith a Presbyterian. A member of the P. E. O., she has served her chapter as president and been a delegate to both state and national conventions. She is one of the organizing regents of Iowa D. A. R. She has traveled all over this country; been to Cuba, Panama and through Europe She is a woman who has had every advantage, birth, education, travel association with cultivated people, and the result is a woman of very high type.

Anne "Regina" VALE's father Benjamin Rex VALE was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, on June 3, 1848, and died April 3, 1915, Bonaparte, Van Buren County, Iowa. In 1850, Benjamin and his family moved to Lee County, Iowa, then on to Harrisburg Township of Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1856. Here he lived until moving to Bonaparte, Iowa, in 1914. Benjamin was educated at the Birmingham Academy, Birmingham, Iowa, and then obtained his A.B. and later his A.M. degrees at Monmouth College in Illinois. Benjamin was one of the leading Van Buren County farmers and stock breeders, introducing and improving thoroughbred cattle and hogs, in particular Chester White swine. Upon the organization of the Farmers and Traders Bank at Bonaparte in 1882, Benjamin was made president, holding this position for the remainder of his life. He was also president of the Mt. Sterling Savings Bank. In 1887, Benjamin was elected as the senator from the Van Buren-Jefferson district to the 22nd General Assembly, serving two terms. Benjamin married Nancy Van "Julia" BIDDLE, daughter of Dr. BIDDLE of Kirwood, Illinois, was born in Pennsylvania, November 1849, and died in Bonaparte, Iowa, on May 31, 1923. Benjamin and Julia married Februray 12, 1874, and Regina was the eldest of their four children. Their daughter Mrs. Margaret EMMA (VALE) ROBERTS wrote the history of Van Buren County for the 1940 publication "Who's Who in Iowa.

Hon. Jacob Garretson VALE, father of Benjamin Rex and grandfather of Regina, was born in York County, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 1821, and died in Lee County, Iowa on February 17, 1875. Upon the death of his father when he was two months old, Jacob resided with his maternal grandfather who died when the boy was nine-years-old. Then, Jacob resided with his uncle Daniel GARRETSON. After spending a year in the Mt. Pleasand boarding school managed by the Society of Friends in Jefferson County, Ohio, Jacob taught school and later was the principal of the Smithfield public school for twelve years. He also studied law under Edwin M. STANTON, Secretary of War serving under President Abraham LINCOLN. Jacob was admitted to the bar in 1844, Jefferson County, Ohio, and was an 1847 candidate for the State legislature. He lost by twelve votes. He married Anne (REX) VALE, the daughter of Benjamin REX who was born in Jefferson, Greene County, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 1823, and died in Bonaparte, Van Buren County, Iowa, on January 17, 1904. Jacob and Anne came to Iowa in 1850, settling in Van Buren County in the fall of 1869. He won the Iowa State senate seat in 1869, the only independent Senator inthe 13th General Assembly. Benjamin Rex VALE was Jacob and Anne's oldest child of seven children.

Henry "Howard" TEDFORD was born in 1870, Indiana, and died in 1943. He was the son of James H. TEDFORD, born circa 1834.

Regina (VALE) TEDFORD died testate on April 14, 1964. Her will, executed on December 10, 1953, was probated on May 1, 1964. The provisions of Mrs. TEDFORD's will gave her niece Jessie M. LESAN the farm valued at $30,000 and the remainder of the estate, after death and inheritance taxes were paid, to her brother Bruce Rex VALE. When the will was contested, Miss LESAN and Mr. contested that Mrs. TEDFORD's will and the circumstances clearly indication where the tax burden should be placed. The Iowa Supreme Court heard the case, found no error in the judgment of the trial court, and affirmed the decision that the inheritance taxes should be paid by the residuary estate.

SOURCE:
REEVES, Winona EVANS, compiler & editor. The Blue Book of Iowa Women: A History of Contemporary Women. p. 184. Missouri Printing & Publishing Co. Mexico MO. 1914.

The Annals of Iowa Vol. 12. No. 1. p. 389. Des Moines. April, 1915.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren counties, Iowa p. 574. Lake City Pub. Chicago. 1890

In the Matter of the Estate of Regina VALE TEDFORD, Deceased; 258 Iowa 890; 140 NW2d 908

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2009