BEDELL, MICHAEL (1742-1810). Associator, Huntington, New York. We know that Michael Bedell was born in 1741 or 1742, since records show that he was 68 when he died on June 17, 1810 (as per Cemetery Inscriptions from Huntington, Long Island, New York, compiled by Josephine C. Frost in 1911.) He was born on Long Island, New York, either in Oyster Bay or Hempstead, to Samuel Bedell (1712-1768) and Temperance Johnson, born in 1710, of Hempstead, and he was baptized on June 23, 1744, in Oyster Bay. Documents record numerous spellings of his surname.
Michael and Esther Jarvis were married by the Reverend Ebenezer Prime (see) on March 24, 1767, in the First Presbyterian Church in Huntington, Long Island, according to church records. Esther, born about 1749, was a descendant of some of the first settlers in Massachusetts and Long Island.
The Bedells had many children, all born in the Huntington area, as shown on an Ancestry.com family tree: Lavinah, born in 1768; Incabod (1770-1851); Eunice, born in 1772; Michael (1776-1853); Daniel (1779-1813); Richard (1784-1854); Esther (1787-1830.). Their last child may have been Lewis, who died in 1872, but his date of birth is uncertain.
Expressing his patriotism, Michael was a signer of Huntington’s Articles of Association on May 8, 1775, as listed in Frederic Gregory Mather’s book, The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut (1913), where his name is recorded as “Michael Beadle.” On May 8, 1775, 403 men, most of them Huntington residents who had been outraged by the earlier bloody armed struggle in Massachusetts between patriot Minutemen and British regulars, signed the document. The declaration was seen by both patriots and the British as a step towards rebellion. By signing the Articles, the signers were placing themselves in danger of British retaliation, including imprisonment, seizure of their property, and exile from Long Island, and is considered proof of their patriotic service.
It is noted that “a Waggon (sic) two Horses the Property of Mich’ll Beadle were twelve Days employed in drawing Provisions for the 2d Batt’n Gen’ll Delanceys between December 1776 and 1777,” as affirmed by E. Potts, lieutenant and quartermaster of the 2d Battalion of Delancey’s Brigade. Although this brigade was a British Loyalist provincial military unit and Michael had signed the Articles of Association, many Huntington residents with patriotic beliefs were forced to work with the occupying British. In fact, a Michel “Beagle” was a signer of the Oath of Loyalty and Peaceful Behavior to the British Crown in 1778, as shown in Charles R. Street’s compilation, Huntington Town Records, including Babylon, Long Island, New York 1776-1873, Volume III (1889.) Almost all of Huntington’s heads of households, under threat of losing their homes and other property and becoming refugees, signed this oath.
Esther died in Huntington on September 15, 1789, per Josephine Frost’s cemetery inscriptions compilation, and was interred in Huntington’s Old Burying Grounds.
After the Revolutionary War, the 1790 federal census lists Michael “Beedel” (as already mentioned, Michael’s surname of Bedell was often misspelled) living in Huntington, Suffolk County, New York, as head of household. At the time the census was recorded, there were eight household members, including two free white males 16 and over, four under 16, and two free white females.
Huntington Town Records show Michael’s engagement in local government activities once independence was achieved. On April 6, 1802, Michael “Beadle” was chosen to be pound master for one year. He was reappointed for the same annual position at the meetings held on April 5, 1803 and April 3, 1804.
On June 17, 1810, Michael died in Huntington and was interred in the Old Burying Grounds per cemetery records and Josephine Frost’s cemetery inscriptions compilation. At least two of his and Esther’s children were also interred there.
