He was affectionately called "Cap" in the family.
Born near Hallstone/Skipwith, Mecklenburg County, VA, in 1826. He moved with his parents (William Howard Dedman and Elizabeth D. Haile Dedman) and siblings in mid-1830s to the Leatherwood Creek area just NW of Williamsport, Maury, Tennessee. His father took assignment of a Revolutionary War land grant in eastern Hickman County on the old Williamsport to Charlotte Road. His father managed the Weems Springs Resort near Bon Aqua in the late 1830s.
After his father's death in 1846, he moved with his younger sister Jane Catherine Dedman and younger brother Marcus Lafayette Dedman to Selma, Dallas, AL where he operated a blacksmith shop and did auctioneering.
He enlisted with the Twentieth Alabama Infantry Regiment and was assigned to the "Dallas Reds" company as an officer. He was wounded at Vicksburg (captured and paroled) and Nashville. He became Commander of the Twentieth Alabama and served through the battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga, the Carolinas Campaign, and served as rear guard keeping Sherman's troops across the Congaree River from Columbia, SC, and the Battle of Bentonville, NC, where Gen. Johnston (CSA) surrendered to Gen. W. T. Sherman. After the surrender, he signed an oath of allegiance to the United States, and he was released.
He returned to Selma to his wife Mary Ann Scarff, the sister of his brother M. L. Dedman's wife Martha Louise Scarff. He became owner of the St. James Hotel in Selma and the resort at Shelby Springs, AL. He was elected Mayor of Selma largely on the support of newly enfranchised former slaves. He had been Town Marshal before running for Mayor, and the Selma Times and Messenger endorsed him on December 18, 1870, noting "Dedman protected his negro policemen when Marshal, and made white and black respect their authority, and he will keep negroes on the police."
His children were Mamie Dedman (died in childhood), Joseph Marcus Dedman, and Dr. James Edwin Dedman. His wife, Mary Ann Scarff Dedman, died in 1925 in Columbia, TN, where she was living with her older son, Joseph Marcus Dedman. (Dedman Institute)
He was affectionately called "Cap" in the family.
Born near Hallstone/Skipwith, Mecklenburg County, VA, in 1826. He moved with his parents (William Howard Dedman and Elizabeth D. Haile Dedman) and siblings in mid-1830s to the Leatherwood Creek area just NW of Williamsport, Maury, Tennessee. His father took assignment of a Revolutionary War land grant in eastern Hickman County on the old Williamsport to Charlotte Road. His father managed the Weems Springs Resort near Bon Aqua in the late 1830s.
After his father's death in 1846, he moved with his younger sister Jane Catherine Dedman and younger brother Marcus Lafayette Dedman to Selma, Dallas, AL where he operated a blacksmith shop and did auctioneering.
He enlisted with the Twentieth Alabama Infantry Regiment and was assigned to the "Dallas Reds" company as an officer. He was wounded at Vicksburg (captured and paroled) and Nashville. He became Commander of the Twentieth Alabama and served through the battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga, the Carolinas Campaign, and served as rear guard keeping Sherman's troops across the Congaree River from Columbia, SC, and the Battle of Bentonville, NC, where Gen. Johnston (CSA) surrendered to Gen. W. T. Sherman. After the surrender, he signed an oath of allegiance to the United States, and he was released.
He returned to Selma to his wife Mary Ann Scarff, the sister of his brother M. L. Dedman's wife Martha Louise Scarff. He became owner of the St. James Hotel in Selma and the resort at Shelby Springs, AL. He was elected Mayor of Selma largely on the support of newly enfranchised former slaves. He had been Town Marshal before running for Mayor, and the Selma Times and Messenger endorsed him on December 18, 1870, noting "Dedman protected his negro policemen when Marshal, and made white and black respect their authority, and he will keep negroes on the police."
His children were Mamie Dedman (died in childhood), Joseph Marcus Dedman, and Dr. James Edwin Dedman. His wife, Mary Ann Scarff Dedman, died in 1925 in Columbia, TN, where she was living with her older son, Joseph Marcus Dedman. (Dedman Institute)
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