HARRY BEDFORD, farmer; P. O. Shawhan. Soon after the settlement of
Lexington and Boonesborough, a family came to this county from Caroline
County, Va., by the name of Bedford, the head of which was Benjamin, his
wife's maiden name being Tabitha Clay; they settled in the then wild
country and reared a large family; one of the sons being named Benjamin F.,
born in December, 1799, who received a very fine education, especially in
mathematics and surveying. Benjamin F., like his father, gave his whole
attention to the development of his farm; he married Miss Eleanor Buckner,
who came with her parents from Virginia; she died abut 1836, leaving a
family of ten children; he married the second time and died in his
seventy-fifth year. Harry, the subject of this sketch, was born April 10,
1826; in his 20th year he began clerking, but the Mexican war being
inaugurated, he enlisted in the service, and served throughout that
struggle, when he return to Bourbon County and clerked in a store in Paris
five years; he then engaged in the grocery business until 1856, when he was
elected Sheriff, and after serving his term in that position, commenced
farming, at which he has continued since; when the late war broke out, he
espoused the cause of the South, first being in the secret service, and
afterward Captain of Co. C., Fifth Cavalry, being in the service three
years. He was married in March, 1853, to Miss Mary Ewalt, daughter of
Samuel Ewalt, of Bourbon, and has nine children: Elizabeth W., Thomas,
Ewalt, Anna Pagh, Harry, Wm. B., Benjamin, Mary H. and Eleanor B.; he is
a Mason and a Democrat.
