Elias was likely named for his father's brother, who in turn was named for his maternal grandfather Elias Palmer, named undoubtedly for his maternal grandfather, Elie de Bonrepos. The following biographical sketch, although not completely accurate, gives a good overview of Elias Bedal's life to 1882.: "Elias Bedal was born in Picton, Canada, October 17th, 1822. At the age of 24 he went to Illinois and a short time after to Berlin, Wisconsin where he lived ten years, then came to Olmsted County, Minnesota, where he farmed until 1863. He then enlisted in Company C, Bracketts battalion and was discharged at Fort Snelling in May 1866. He then engaged in the grain trade at Eyota until 1875, when he came to Walnut Grove, built the first grain elevator and has since dealt in grain. He has been president of the City Council. He married in 1846 [sic], Miss Maria Clarke of New York. They have had six children, five of whom are living." ["The History of the Minnesota Valley including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota" by Rev. Edward D. Neill. Published by the North Star Publishing Co., Minneapolis 1882, p. 782] Elias was almost surely born near Bloomfield, Prince Edward County (not far from Picton). He may have moved with his parents to Northumberland County in the early 1840s. It is not clear how he ended up in Truxton, New York, to marry Maria Clark in 1845. But the couple most likely went to Illinois shortly thereafter. Sometime between 1840 and 1850, Maria's parents, Josephus and Abigail (Daley) Clark, moved from New York to McHenry County, Illinois, and it is possible that the young couple lived with or near them briefly. Before 1847, Elias and Maria went back to Northumberland County, Ontario. Elias's first appearance in public records is as "Elias Beagle" on "M. Lawson's place" (i.e., Matthew Lawson on the W 1/2 of Lot 25, Concession B) in the 1846 Murray Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, assessment. He is listed in 26 B (his cousin Isaac J. Bedal's plot) in the 1847 assessment. In the 1848 Murray Township, Northumberland Co., Ontario, census, "Elias Beadall" is listed as a farmer on 27 B (his father Isaac's land). His family was said to be made up of two Baptists and two of no creed or denomination. One of the two boys under five was born in the preceding year. The family was living in a round log house. The box for occupied is not ticked, but neither is the box for vacant. The family was perhaps in Illinois at this time, or more likely had already left for Wisconsin. Elias is listed as a farmer with his family on the 1850 Indian Lands, Marquette Co., Wisconsin Census. In this census, his oldest son is said to have been born in Illinois while the next two were born in Canada. Most later censuses and eldest son Marshall's obituary indicate that Marshall was born in Ontario. In any event, on October 2, 1854, Elias purchased nearly 32 acres in Waushara County, Wisconsin. He is listed again in 1855 in the Berlin, Marquette Co., Wisconsin, Census, next to his father's household. By May 1859 Elias and his family had moved to Olmsted Co., Minnesota, where he continued to farm and was elected as one of the supervisors of Dover Township when it was first organized. In the next few years two of Elias's brothers and two of his sisters and their families followed Elias and his family to Olmsted County, and all settled on adjoining properties of sections 5 & 8 in Dover Township. From August 27, 1862, to October 14, 1862, Elias served as private in the Winona Rangers Citizen Soldiers. On February 29, 1864, he enlisted along with his brother Isaac and his brother-in-law Gabriel Huff in Company C, Bracketts Battalion, Minnesota Cavalry for the $300 bounty to be paid over the course of a three-year enlistment. They probably signed up just after it was announced that the Battallion would not being going back to the South to fight the Rebels, but instead to the West to fight the Sioux in Dakota Territory. At that time of his enlistment, Elias was 5' 10'bd", with blue eyes, light hair, and a sandy complexion. During his time in the army, Elias was frequently in the hospital, first on a steamboat in August 1864, then at Fort Randall the following month, where he stayed till the end of the year. In his brother-in-law Gabriel Huff's disability pension affidavit, Elias states, "along in August or September 1864. It was soon after the fight which we called Smoky Hills [Killdeer Mountain??]. That is not the historical name but I cannot speak it now. We marched 4 or 5 days to Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone River... I went on to Fort Randall on a boat having recd. permission to do so as I was not able to ride. About a month later I met [Gabriel] in Hospt at Sioux City." In his own pension applications, Elias claims that he "contracted rheumatism while in service near Fort Union, on or about August 25th, 1864, [and had] suffered from it ever since." In February of 1865, Elias was in the hospital at Davenport, Iowa [perhaps this was actually Sioux City]. In August 1865 he was on extra duty in the Hospital Department. And from the end of October 1865 through April 1866 he was on detached service at the Battalion Hospital Department in Sioux City, Iowa. Eventually, he was mustered out at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on May 24, 1866. That same year, Elias was elected Chairman of the Supervisors for Dover Township. In 1870, Elias is listed in Eyota, Olmsted Co., Minnesota, as a grain dealer, along with his family. His grain business was doing well enough that a Rochester Post item from July 16, 1870, announces that he and his partner Mr. Blair "have made an addition of twenty four feet in length to their warehouse, to give them greater accommodation for the handling of barley and oats." In 1871, Elias's son Lafayette had moved west to Redwood County, to a place that had been named Walnut Station by the railroad company. Elias followed, and on September 10, 1874, he and Lafayette filed the plat for a new village to be called Walnut Grove. First through Eight Streets ran north and south, and only three streets--Main, Bedal, and Washington, ran east and west. Elias Bedal's claim shanty was the first building built on the site of the new village. On June 19, 1878, Elias completed a homestead application for the NE 1/4 of Sect 34, Twp 110, Range 38. He had lived there since September 13, 1875 in a ten-foot square, one-story house with a board roof and floor and one window and one door. He claims to be the head of a household consisting of his wife and three children. Other than Howard, it is not clear who these children would be, unless they were the daughters of his brother Cornelius. The village was incorporated in 1879, and on March 13, 1879, Elias was elected the first president of the town council. Also elected were Charles Ingalls (father of Laura Ingalls Wilder), Justice of the Peace, and William H. Owens (Mr. Oleson in Laura's books), Treasurer. Elias had transferred his grain business from Eyota, Minnesota, to the new town. He ran the grain elevator, conducted a grain business for a Mr. Vanduzen, and owned a lumberyard. In the 1880 census Elias's occupation is given as grain inspector. Elias appears to have been hard-working and ambitious, and a shrewd businessman. However, his strict discipline seems to have alienated some of his family. For a time his son Lafayette operated his lumberyard. But a transcript from an 1883 trial [Elias Bedal vs. Cyrus B. Spurr, considered by the Minnesota Supreme Court and decided on Feb. 14, 1885] shows that there were problems with this relationship. Elias (or "Old Man Bedal") did not appear to approve of the way Lafayette ran the business or how he kept the books. By July 1880 Lafayette was no longer working for him, perhaps as a result of a falling out. Lafayette was insolvent, a fact that Elias was not aware of. By 1882, Lafayette's family was so destitute he felt the need to move north to Aitkin County to find work. Although the trial took place less than a year after Lafayette's death, Elias did not know exactly when he had died nor his son's age. Elias's youngest son Howard told his daughters that he moved West "to travel and seek adventure away from the strict discipline of his father" ["Two Voices: A History of the Sauk and Suiattle People and Sauk County Experiences," by Jean Bedal Fish and Edith Bedal]. Elias's grandson Leonard, who went to live with his grandparents after his father's death, remembered him as a stern strict man. And Elias's grandson Frank (Bedal) Owens appears to have told his daughter-in-law, Leona Gray Owens, at some point that his grandfather's nickname was "Old Pusher." Elias Bedal was still living in Walnut Grove in 1891, when the first newspaper was published there and at that time was president of the Town Council. Around 1892 he retired, and he and Maria moved to Minneapolis probably to be near their daughter Lucy and family who were moving to St. Paul. The 1900 census says Elias had immigrated to the U.S. in 1845. In 1904, he and his wife moved to Los Angeles with his widowed daughter. At the time of the 1910 census, he was widowed and shown as living at his daughter Lucy Webber's home in Los Angeles, California, (with a nurse living at the home of his daughter, most likely to take care of Elias) but he was also listed as an "inmate" in the Pacific Branch National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Malibu. He died just two months later in the Los Angeles Soldiers Home. 1900 Census for Minnesota, shows Elias' birthdate as 1923.

This editorial was compiled by Stephen Handorf, a descendant of Elias Bedal

Provided by contributor: Sheryl Jo Bedal (46821929) • [email protected]