For a period of twenty years Mr. Bedford has been identified with the legal fraternity of Northern Illinois. He came to this county with his parents in 1855, locating first at Warren, where he sojourned until 1874, then removed to Galena, of which he has since been a resident. He was graduated from the law department of the Michigan State University, March 25, 1868, being at the same time admitted to the bar, and later to practice in the Supreme Court of the State. Officiating at that time and upon that occasion were Judges Sidney Rees, P. H. Walker and C. B. Lawrence, celebrated jurists of the State, now deceased.
He was elected State’s Attorney for this county in 1876, which position occupied his time for the four years following, during which he acquitted himself with great credit. At the expiration of this time he was accorded a vote of thanks from the County Board of Supervisors, for the faithful manner in which he had discharged his duties. In connection with this, a local paper remarked that “but few men of his age could show as good a record.” At a meeting of the Bar Association of Illinois in 1888, Mr. Bedford, who was absent, was awarded the unexpected honor of being elected Vice-President, there being a Vice-President for each Supreme Judicial District.
A Republican politically, Mr. Bedford has been of signal service to his party in this section of the State. At the County Convention which convened at Galena in the spring of 1888, there was passed a unanimous resolution instructing the delegates from the county to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Convention, to be held at Freeport, to present the name of Mr. Bedford as a candidate for Circuit Judge – the circuit embracing seven counties. This fact is mentioned as indicating the position which he occupies among his fellow-citizens and as a lawyer. He has been a close student and an extensive reader, also an industrious worker, and may be denominated a successful man in the best sense of the term.
Jefferson County, N. Y., was the native place of our subject, his birth occurring Sept. 15, 1844, near Cape Vincent. His father was John W. Bedford, a native of the township of Marysburg, Prince Edwards District, now Province of Ontario, Canada, and born of American parents, his father being a native of Ulster County, New York. He was a well-educated man, but fond of country life, and while following the profession of a teacher, also carried on farming. He was possessed of more than ordinary genius in connection with mathematics, and was the author of Bedford’s Arithmetic, which was generally adopted in the public schools of Northern New York.
The father of our subject came to the States soon after the close of the war of 1812, with his parents, settling in Jefferson County, N. Y., where he was married to Miss Mary, sister of Prof. L. C. Cooley, of Vassar College. This lady was born in Steuben County, N. Y., of parents who were natives of New England. The elder Bedford emigrated with his family to this country in 1855, and settled in Warren Township. His death took place in Warren March 12, 1880, when he was past sixty-nine years of age. He was a sound Republican politically, as well as a Prohibitionist, a man of decided views, and one respected. The wife and mother, still living, is now seventy years of age, and makes her home with her only daughter, Mrs. Judge Rogers, of Denver, Col. She is a well-preserved old lady, bright and intelligent, and has hosts of friends wherever she has been known. To the parents of our subject there were born four children: Ellen A., wife of Judge Rogers; Edward L., and two, deceased, passed away at a tender age.
Mr. Bedford spent his boyhood days in this county, and was trained to habits of industry and economy, which he does not now regret, for that early experience was probably the best schooling which could have been given him. Upon reaching man’s estate, he was married, in Steuben County, N. Y., Nov. 8, 1871, to Miss Ellie Evans, who was a native of that county, and born Oct. 8, 1850. Her parents were Clinton and Mary (Deuel) Evans, and the father, a trader and merchant, died in Steuben County, in the prime of life. The mother is still living, having remained a widow, and continues her residence in Steuben County, being sixty-five years old. Mrs. Bedford was reared to womanhood in the county of her birth. She is a very intelligent lady, and Nature has conferred upon her an unusual talent, that of a sculptor, in connection with which she has done some creditable work in plaster casts and similar things. She is also quite skillful as a painter, and their snug home is decorated with many evidences of her taste and skill. To Mr. and Mrs. Bedford there was born one child only, a son, Claude, who died when an interesting lad of fourteen years. It is hardly necessary to say that this was a severe blow to the parents, and they received the deep sympathy of many friends. They are favorites in the social circle, and Mrs. Bedford is a regular attendant of the Presbyterian Church. The following is an article on the “Sudden Death of Claude E. Bedford,” which appeared in the Galena Gazette of April 8, 1887, and shows the high regard the young man’s comrades had for him:
“The numerous friends of Attorney E. L. Bedford and wife received, with sorrow, this morning, the sad news of the death of their only child, Claude Evans Bedford, who breathed his last at 6 o’clock this morning, at the age of fourteen years, six months and fifteen days. Claude was taken ill on Sunday evening, and it soon became apparent to his physician that his disease was cerebro-spinal meningitis. The symptoms, however, did not assume a serious aspect until last evening, when the attendants became alarmed by the patient’s delirium and other alarming symptoms. He grew worse during the night, and it became evident that the end was near.
“Claude was a bright, studious boy, and possessed traits of dignity and manliness far beyond his years. He was a student in the German-English College, where he stood high in his class, and was greatly esteemed by the faculty for his manly conduct and studious habits. This sudden taking off of an only child, and one so full of promise, brings a crushing weight of affliction to his fond parents. They have the heartfelt sympathy of the community.
“The faculty and students of the German-English College gave expression to the following to-day:
“Upon hearing of the sudden and unexpected death of our highly respected and dearly beloved friend, pupil and schoolmate, Claude E. Bedford, we, the faculty and students of the German-English College, of which he was an honored member at the time of his death, having endeared himself to all by his gentleness, generosity, honesty and courage in the discharge of his duties as student, meriting in death such tribute of respect and expression of regret as will manifest our appreciation of the irreparable loss we have hereby sustained, unanimously adopt the following resolutions:
‘’ ’First. That the example of Claude’s life and untimely death is full of lessons for the young, which we will, with Divine Help, earnestly observe.
‘’ ’Second. That we deeply lament his loss, and tender our heartfelt sympathy to his afflicted parents, reminding them in this, the saddest hour of their lives, of the consolation offered by the knowledge that in the faithful discharge of his obligations towards God, and his responsibilities toward his parents, teachers, schoolmates and friends, he has earned for himself an everlasting repose from the trials of life and ills that flesh is heir to, commending them in their sorrow to the Giver of all Good, “who doeth all things well.’ “
“ ’Third. That we attend his funeral in a body.
“ ‘In behalf of the faculty and students.
Transcribed & Contributed by Carol Parrish Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889), p. 735
“ ‘Emil Uhl, President.’ “
