Bedsworth Family Reading Room
Bedsworth Family Newsletter
2006
Edited and Published by Bobby D. Bedsworth
The Bedsworth Family Reunion will be held at the Red Top Christian Church Fellowship Hall on Sunday, July 30, 2006.
To get to Red Top Christian Church take Highway 124 one mile west of Hallsville. When you get to State Road U turn right (north). The church is on your left about 100 yards after turning onto State Road U.
The Reunion begins 1:00 p.m. This is a change this year because the sanctuary is under construction. The building is air-conditioned. Bring a covered dish. Drinks and table service are provided.
A short business meeting will be held after lunch and then those who want to may join us in a automobile caravan for a tour of White Cloud Church, White Cloud Cemetery and the Bedsworth Farm may do so. Please note the only restroom facilities at the church are of the outdoor verity. We will also swing by Milers Creek Cemetery on the way home. Those who want to stay at Red Top may do so as long as you like. The caravan will return there sometime between 5 and 6 p.m.
President Pat Dickens asked every Bedsworth family member attending this year to bring a guest that has never been to a reunion or not been in a long time.
She also requested each family bring pictures for all to see and enjoy and possibly copy with your digital camera..
This Newsletter is edited and published by:
Bobby D. Bedsworth
10281 Hwy OO, Hallsville, MO 65255
(573) 696-5581 - bbedsworth@centurytel.net
Note the change in e-mail address.
The WEB PAGE has been discontinued due to lack of time and expertise. BUT Pat Dickens has a web site with Bedsworth Geneology records on line go to patriciaspatchwork.com for information.
Minutes of the July 31, 2005 Reunion:
The Bedsworth Family Reunion was held July 31, 2005 at Red Top Christian Church near Hallsville. Fifty people attended.
David Taff gave the benediction.
After a huge carry in lunch, Steven Stephens conducted the business meeting.
The following officers were elected for 2006: President Pat Dickens, Vice President Larry McGraw, and Secretary/Treasurer Bob Bedsworth
Families introduced each other. The oldest present were Ruby Wallace (89), and Kathryn Bedsworth, Majorie Zumalt and Delores Foote (all 80).
Bill Bedsworth made a motion to appoint Bobby Bedsworth to represent the family on the White Cloud Cemetery Board. Pat Dickens seconded. The motion carried.
It was decided to conduct tours of White Cloud Church, White Cloud Cemetery and the Bedsworth homestead next year.
Kendall Bedsworth gave the benediction.
Financial Statement.
As of July 31 2005
Income
Money on hand……………… $309.77
(Includes $60 that was transferred from the WEB Page Account to the reunion account after closing the web page.)
Money collected today…………..… 5.00
Total Money on Hand………… $314.77
Expenses:
Print Newsletter ……………… $ 37.84
Postage to mail Newsletter ….. 30.71
Paid to Red Top for Rent…….. 40.00
Tea, lemonade…………… … 5.00
Total Expenses …………………. $113.55
Balance on hand …………….... $201.22
(Excerpts from last year’s newsletter)
White Cloud Presbyterian Church
White Cloud Church is located on Highway F four miles east of Millersburg and 6 miles from Fulton. The Noah and Martha “Patsy” Bedsworth farm and the Thomas and Rachel Baker (Martha Baker’s parents) farm are located on the north side of the road just a short distance east of White Cloud Church.
Noah and Martha and many of their descendants probably attended church services here and are buried in the adjoining cemetery.
The White Cloud Presbyterian congregation began meeting in 1831 in a log cabin. Then it moved into a white clapboard building constructed in 1844 with wood from Missouri’s first circular sawmill. The church still meets in this building today.
There is no plumbing in the church. An outhouse still serves as the toilet. Two pot-bellied stoves located on either side of the sanctuary heat the building.
Church is still held the first and third Sunday of the month with five or six members in attendance. Many more attend on Sundays where food is served.
Each year the Sunday before Memorial Day there is a Basket Dinner/Homecoming/Church Service/Cemetery meeting. The Bedsworth family usually is well represented at this annual meeting.
Bedsworth and Baker Homesteads.
Thomas and Rachael Baker moved to Missouri from Kentucky in 1825. Their daughter and son in law Noah and Martha “Patsy” moved to Missouri after their first child was born on August 27, 1825. They settled on adjoining farms.
Thomas Baker died in 1840. It is not known when Rachael died. They are both bruied on the Baker family farm. The plat books show that a T. J. Baker owned the Baker homestead in 1876 and in 1897. I do not know how Thomas and T. J. are related. They were probably father and son. Thomas and Rachael Baker are buried in a family plot on the Baker farm.
Noah Bedsworth died in 1851. Martha “Patsy” died in 1849. They are both buried in White Cloud Cemetery. Martha Bedsworth’s actual death date is September 14, 1849 not the date listed on her large red granite tombstone.
When Noah Bedsworth died William James, his oldest son, obtained the homestead and added onto his holdings over the years. William Bedsworth’s youngest son Noah Bedsworth acquired acreage north of and adjacent to Williams’s holdings some time between 1876 and 1897.
Zetta Bedsworth Burks was born October 12, 1916 in the house that was on the William Bedsworth farm. She remembers the house sitting back off of what is now Highway F quite a ways up a narrow lane. Frances Stephens says that the house burned down in the early 1900’s.