SAMUEL BIEDELMAN, the subject of this sketch, married ELIZABETH HESS.
Samuel Beidelman and his wife first took up their residence at the west end of the village of Springtown, Pa., on the property which afterwards became the Conrad Hess homestead, now owned and occupied by Jacob B. Pearson. Samuel was a potter by trade, and the pottery where he was employed stood on a site near the road, immediately south of Pearson's front yard, now occupied by the vegetable garden of the adjoining property. Subsequently, Samuel moved to his brother Adam's place, formerly owned by his father, Elias Beidelman, known of late years as the William H. Graver homestead, about one and one-half miles south of the village of Springtown, where he started a tannery. Being a shiftless kind of a man, he left the hides to rot in the vats, and in the course of a few years he failed. He then rented a farm in Northampton county, near Easton, and subsequently took possession of a tract of 278 acres owned by his father, Elias Bedelman, located in what was then Lower Smithfield Township, afterwards Chestnut Hill Township, in Northampton county, now a part of Monroe County, Pa., which he purchased from the estate in 1783. During the latter period of the Revolutionary War, Samuel joined General Sullivan's army of over 3000 men, when that command marched from Easton, Pa., in August 1779, against the "Six Nations," or Iroquois Indians, to drive them from the Wyomiing valley region, where they had perpetrated the dreadful massacre the year previous.
The Indians and tories under their ferocious leaders, Johnson, Colonel Butler and the half breed Indiana, Brandt, had abandoned the Wyoming region, then known as "Kingston Flats," and advanced into the Chemung Valley in the state of New York, and there fortified themselves by throwing up an extensive entrenchment along the Chemung River, at a point ow known as Lowmans, about seven miles southeast of "Newtown," now Elmira, where Sullivan attacked them, and after more than two hours' fierce fighting, the terrified saages were completely routed, and fled in disorder to the forests. General Sullivan's army utterly destroyed al their villages, forty in number, burned a great quantity of corn, leaving no trace of vegetation behind. The valley, which before was a veritable Eden, now presented a desolate wilderness. Several days afterwards the army returned over the same route, which led through the Wind Gap, known to this day as "Sullivan's Road," reaching Easton, its starting point, October 13, 1779, where a thanksgiving service was held October 17, when General Washington congratulated the army on General Sullivan's success. A rude stone monument having an interior stairway leading to the top, stands on the summult of a high hill north of Lowmans overlooking the valley where the battle occurred. A huge granite boulder was erected in the village of Lowmans in 1907 by the Battle Chapter sons of American Revolution, inscribed Newtown Battlefield - August 29, 1779.
Samuel Beidelman, evidentally charmed by the beautiful country, emigrated to Chemung Valley, five years afterwards, 1784, and settled near the scene of his adventure with the Indians, where with the aid of his children, who grew up and were industrious, he ultimately accumulated considerable property. It has been stated that Mr. Beidelman claimed no credit for his success in life, and was frequently heard to remark, that "it was not by his own industry that he ever became possessed of any means," but attributed it all to his industrious children. He was one of the earliest settlers in the Chemung Valley, and on August 13, 1793, purchased a tract of 183 acres on the banks of the Chemung River, near the village of Chemung, in Chemung County, New York, about three miles east of the battle-ground, for the consideration of $1875.00. The farm remained in the Beidelman family for more than a century, having passed from Samuel to his son, Jacob, in the year 1812, then in succession to his grandson, Henry, and great-grandson, James F. Beidelman, who owned the portion on which the old homestead is located, until the year 1906, when it passed to the ownership of one John Stermer. Another portion was owned by Samuel's son, John Beidelman, who sold it to his brother-in-law, Henry Snell, and is now owned by Fletcher W. Snell, a great grandson of Samuel Beidelman. A third portion was owned by Samuel's two daughters, Elizabeth and Rosanna Beidelman, both single, after whose death it became the property of Henry Snell's son, Gordon Snell, and is now owned by one Emmet Westfall.
Samuel Beidelman died April 16, 1836, aged 85 years, 6 months and 7 days; his wife preceded him, her death having occurred November 28, 1833, aged 82 years, 6 months and 11 days, as inscribed on their tombstones in Riverside Cemetery, which is beautifully located on Chemung River road, about one-quarter mile from their homestead.
