Biography by her great-grandson, Bryan S. Godfrey:

Bessie was the seventh of the nine children of Amon Updike II and his second of three wives, Isabella White. Her parents were third cousins through the John West family of King William County and Campbell County, Virginia. At the time of her birth, her parents were probably living on a farm at the crossroads of Mentow in the Southside of Bedford County, near where her mother was born and raised. Bessie's maternal grandfather, George White, who died shortly before her birth, was a blacksmith and a large landowner at Mentow. Bessie's mother had a sister Mattie whose husband, June Lacy, ran a country store at Mentow, located at the present-day site of the Minute Mart where Route 43 intersects with Route 626. About two miles east of Mentow was the former post office village of Laughon, named for Bessie's maternal grandmother's family. Bessie's great-grandfather, Isham Laughon, owned over a thousand acres of land here which bordered on the Campbell County boundary. According to tradition, Isham Laughon's wife, Nancy Hackworth, was the granddaughter of an Indian chief who lived on King George's Mountain a few miles south of this area. It is likely that the Indian connection was farther back, for when I, Bryan Godfrey, did a Family Finder DNA test in 2014, the ethnic breakdown showed I am 100% European, and so do my and my mother's Ancestry.com DNA results. When Bessie was three years old, her mother died of kidney disease as a result of giving birth to her youngest child, Walter, six months earlier. Isabella was only 34 years old at the time of her death and had already given birth to nine children, the first when she was about 18. Either before or shortly after this event, Bessie's father moved a few miles north of Mentow to a farm near New London, the former county seat of Bedford, where he and his children were tenants on the "Read Moor" farm belonging to the Thomas Gilmer Read family, who were very distant cousins of Bessie's future daughter-in-law, Ella Pearson Overstreet, my maternal grandmother, through the Callaway family of New London. Amon's home here was located on present-day Route 711 a short distance south of where it intersects with U.S. Highway 460. "Read Moor" is still standing as of 2014, but I do not know whether Amon and his children lived in it or another house on the property.

After their mother died, Bessie's eldest sister, Sue, helped their father raise the younger children. Sue became crippled as a result of scarlet fever and was partially paralyzed for the rest of her life. Around 1903, she disgraced her family by having a son out of wedlock. She named him Frederick or Fred, and he was also mentally challenged, which, like illegitimacy, was severely frowned upon and hushed up in those days. As was customary in those days, Aunt Sue sent Fred to an institution in Lynchburg. The family tried to hush up the circumstances of Fred's birth as much as possible. She and Fred are buried in unmarked graves in the same plot as her father and stepmother in Bedford's Oakwood Cemetery.

Bessie attended New London Academy, where she received her education to teach school. Founded in 1795, this has been called the oldest secondary school in Virginia.

In 1903, Bessie's father married his first cousin once removed, Elizabeth R. Harris (August 23, 1869-November 2, 1934), who was known as Cousin Betty to her stepchildren and stepgrandchildren. He had no children by her. Around this time he moved to the City of Bedford and lived at 104 Judd Street. He worked in the woolen mill here and lost his right hand in a piece of machinery. Afterwards, he continued working there as an elevator operator.

Bessie taught school for two years before her marriage in 1907. She taught at Glady Branch Schoolhouse. Her teaching contract for the 1905-1906 term reads as follows:

ARTICLE OF AGREEMENT
Between the School Board
of
Otter District
and
Bessie B. Updike
Teacher of Public School No. 10 for the
term beginning Oct. 2, 1905

This Article of Agreement Between THE SCHOOL BOARD of Otter District Number 10 of the County of Bedford Virginia of the one part, and Miss Bessie Updike, of the other part:
Witnesseth, That the said Bessie Updike, under the supervision and direction of the said Board, but subject, nevertheless, to the visitation and lawful authority of the Division Superintendent, agrees to teach in Glady Branch schoolhouse for the term of Six months at a compensation of Twenty-four dollars per month, for a lawful school, with a lawful average daily attendance of pupils; provided that any failure on the part of the said teacher to report correctly the daily average, as required, to the Superintendent shall vitiate this contract--the said amount to be paid on the last day of each calendar month, according to the number of days taught during the month, or as soon thereafter as a proper voucher can be forwarded to the clerk of the Board by the Division Superintendent, the Board reserving the right to dismiss the said Bessie Updike at any time, for cause, paying her for her services in accordance with this agreement to the date of her dismissal.
It is also agreed that the said Bessie Updike shall keep the prescribed school register (to be furnished by the Clerk of the Board of School Trustees), open school at 9 o'clock in the morning, give 60 minutes at 12 o'clock, _____ minutes at ______ o'clock, and _____ minutes at ______ o'clock, and close the school at 4 o'clock in the afternoon (a school day shall consist of 7 hours and _____ minutes, and a school month of four weeks of five school days each); obey all school laws and regulations, make monthly and term reports to the Division Superintendent according to the forms furnished, and return the school register to the Clerk of the Board of Trustees at the end of the term in good order. For the loss or abuse of the school register, or any failure to make a monthly or term report to the Division Superintendent within three days after the expiration of the month or term, the said Bessie Updike shall be subject to a fine, at the discretion of the Board, of not more than five dollars. The fine, in all cases, to be retained out of the teacher's pay, and to go into the funds of the district for the pay of teachers.
It is further agreed that the fire shall be made, or caused to be made, and the floor shall regularly be swept or caused to be swept by the said Miss Bessie Updike the Board providing the fuel, brooms, and brushes therefore; and that the actual possession of the schoolhouse shall be considered by both parties as remaining and being at all times in the said Board or their successors.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties having hereunto set their hands and seals, this 28 day of August, 1906.

(Signed)
W.I. Fuqua, Clerk of Board A.J. Gillespie, Chairman of the Board
Bessie B. Updike, Teacher

The roll of students shows that Bessie taught many family members of hers and Herbert's, including his brothers and sisters. All the children, regardless of age or grade, sat in a one-room schoolhouse and learned reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and hygiene. Bessie apparently taught for only two terms, as teachers could no longer teach in those days after they got married. Bessie was married at the age of 20 on April 24, 1907 in the home of her father and stepmother in Bedford.

Within 27 years she gave birth to eight children. Interestingly, her youngest child, Isabelle White Overstreet, was born when she was forty-eight years old, just a few months after she became a grandmother when her son Cecil became the father of Joyce Lee. Bessie intended to name Aunt Isy White for her mother, but somehow her name was spelled Isabelle instead of Isabella on the birth certificate.

Bessie was an avid cook and reader all of her life. She was highly regarded for baking cakes from scratch. Cooking Sunday dinner almost became an obsession for her, as in her later years she often missed church just so she could have extra time to cook. She enjoyed reading and was a fan of Ernie Pyle's World War II memoirs.

In her later years, Bessie suffered from osteoporosis and was forced to use a cane. Her health declined after Herbert's death in 1967. She was placed in Bedford County Memorial Hospital for congestive heart failure and died at the age of 83 on December 15, 1970. Her and Herbert's funerals were handled by Updike Funeral Home, owned by distant cousins of theirs, with burial at Quaker Baptist Church.

The following is Great-Grandma Overstreet's obituary from the "Bedford Bulletin-Democrat":

MRS. H.C. OVERSTREET

Mrs. Bessie Updike Overstreet of the Chestnut Fork neighborhood died Tuesday night, Dec. 15, in Bedford County Memorial Hospital after a short illness at the age of 83.
Mrs. Overstreet was born in Bedford County, the daughter of Amon Updike and Mrs. Isy Belle [incorrect--Isabella] White Updike. She was a member of Quaker Baptist Church.
She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Gladys Laing, Mrs. Mabel Hawkins, and Miss Isabella Overstreet, all of Bedford; four sons, Cecil Overstreet, Bernard Overstreet and Rudolph Overstreet, all of Bedford, and Ray Overstreet of Newport News; twelve grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. [The obituary inadvertently omitted a surviving sister, Lillie Updike Overstreet of Huddleston, Bedford County].
Funeral services were scheduled for two o'clock Thursday afternoon, Dec. 17, in Quaker Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Gilbert M. Proffitt, with burial in the church cemetery.

Below is a caption about the Overstreets' wedding printed 50 years later in the 25 April 1957 issue of "Bedford-Bulletin":

50 years ago--A quiet but pretty marriage took place at the home of Walter Updike, yesterday on Piedmont Hill, when Herbert C. Overstreet and Miss Bessie B. Updike were made man and wife, Rev. S.J. Battin performing the ceremony. Elegant refreshments were served.

Comment: Walter Updike, her brother, was only 16 years old when Bessie married Herbert, so the reference to "home of Walter Updike" must be a misprint and no doubt the writer intended to say "home of Amon Updike," her father and stepmother.