BEDLE, Joseph D., jurist, b. in Monmouth county, N. J., 3 Jan., 1831 ; d. in New York city, 21 Oct., 1894. lie practised law in Matteawan, and subsequently in Freehold, N. J., and in 1865 was apponited a judge of the superior court. In 1874 he was elected governor of the state of New Jersey, making an excellent record. After completing his term he resumed practice.
BEDON, Pedro, South American clergyman, b. in Quito, Ecuador; d. there in 1621. He entered the novitiate of the Dominican order at the age of fourteen, completed his studies in Lima, and was then appointed professor of philosophy in the college of that city. In early life he had cultivated painting, and when afterward he had recovered from a dangerous malady, he resolved to devote his leisure to painting pictures of the Blessed Virgin. Several of his works are in the convents of Quito and Santa Fe, and are said to justify the title his countrymen gave him of the Fra Angelico of Ecuador. He founded the convent of La Peña in Quito, and then went to Rio-Bomba, where he founded another convent, but returned to Quito on learning that he had been elected prior of La Pena. In 1619 he was chosen provincial of his order, which office he held until his death.
BEE, Thomas, patriot, b. in South Carolina in
1740; d. in Pendleton, S. C, 18 Feb., 1812. He
practised law in his native province, and became a
member of the assembly and of the privy council.
He was active in the popular cause at the outbreak
of the revolution, was a member of the council of
safety, and a large part of his property was lost
through the war. He became lieutenant-governor
of South Carolina, and was a member of the Continental congress in 1780-'2, and afterward judge
of the U. S. court for the district of South Carolina, being appointed by Washington. Judge Bee
was president of the Charleston literary society,
and also of the board of trustees of the college of
Charleston. He published "Reports of the District Courts of South Carolina " (1810).—His grandson, Bernard Elliott, soldier, b. in Charleston,
S. C, 8 Aug., 1824 ; killed in the battle of Bull
Run, 21 July, 1861. He was graduated at West
Point in 1845, and served as a lieutenant in the
military occupation of Texas and in the war with
Mexico, being wounded at Cerro Gordo, and receiving the brevet of captain for gallantry at Chapultepec. Pie served as captain on frontier duty in
Minnesota, on the Utah expedition, and in Dakota
until 3 March, 1861, when he resigned and entered
the confederate service. He held the rank of brigadier-general, and commanded a brigade of South Carolina troops at Bull Run. To inspire his men to follow Gen. Joseph T. Jackson, who was leading, he pointed to him and exclaimed: "Look! there is Jackson, who is standing like a stone
wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer."
BEEBE, Bezaleel, soldier, b. in Litchfield,
Conn., 28 April, 1741 ; d. there, 29 May, 1824. In
1758, having joined the army, he was stationed for
some time at Fort St. George. Afterward, as one
of Rogers's celebrated rangers, he was engaged in
the bloody fight where Putnam was captured, and
he was also at the capture of Montreal in 1760.
At the close of the French war he retired to his
farm, but in 1775 was commissioned lieutenant,
and sent to Boston soon after the battle of Lexington. In July, 1775, he accompanied an expedition to man the forts on Lake Champlain. He was
made captain in 1776, attached to Hinman's regiment, and saw active service in New York and New Jersey. He was taken prisoner at the capture
of Fort Washington, and was confined in New York nearly a year, during which time, when on parole, he often met and consulted with his fellow-prisoner, Ethan Allen. After being exchanged, he was made major 13 Aug., 1777, became lieutenant-colonel in 1780, colonel early in 1781, and
soon afterward was appointed to the command of all the Connecticut troops raised for sea-coast defence, with the duties and pay of a brigadier-general. After the war he was frequently a member of the legislature. His son, Ebenezer (major U. S. army), died in service during the war of 1812.
BEECHER, Lyman, clergyman, b. in New
Haven, Conn., 2 Oct., 1775; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 10
Jan., 1863. His ancestor in the fifth ascent
emigrated to New England, and settled at New Haven
in 1638. His father, David Beecher, was a blacksmith.
His mother died shortly after his birth, and
he was committed to the care of his uncle Lot Benton,
by whom he was adopted as a son, and with
whom his early life was spent between blacksmithing
and farming. But it was soon found that he
preferred study. He was fitted for college by the
Rev. Thomas W. Bray, and at the age of eighteen
entered Yale, where, besides the usual classical
course, he studied theology under President Dwight
and was graduated in 1797. After this he
continued his studies until September, 1798, when he
was licensed to preach by the New Haven West
Association, entered upon his clerical duties by
supplying the pulpit in the Presbyterian church at
East Hampton, Long Island, and was ordained in
1799. Here he married his first wife, Roxana Foote.
His salary was $300 a year, after five years increased
to $400, with a dilapidated parsonage. To eke out
his scanty income, his wife opened a private school,
in which the husband also gave instruction. Mr.
Beecher soon became one of the foremost preachers
of his day. A sermon that he delivered in 1804, on
the death of Alexander Hamilton, excited great
attention. Finding his salary wholly inadequate to
support his increasing family, he resigned the
charge, and in 1810 was installed pastor of the
Congregational church in Litchfield, Conn. Here he
remained for sixteen years, during which he took
rank as the foremost clergyman of his denomination.
In his autobiography he says this pastorate
was “the most laborious part of his life.” The vice
of intemperance had become common in New
England, even the formal meetings of the clergy being
not unfrequently accompanied by gross excesses,
and Mr. Beecher resolved to take a stand against
it. About 1814 he delivered and published six
sermons on intemperance, which contain eloquent
passages hardly exceeded by anything in the English
language. They were sent broadcast through the
United States, ran rapidly through many editions in
England, and were translated into several languages
on the continent, and have had a large sale even
after the lapse of fifty years. His eloquence, zeal,
and courage as a preacher, and his leading the way
in the organization of the Bible, missionary, and
educational societies, gave him a high reputation
throughout New England. During his residence
in Litchfield arose the Unitarian controversy, in
which he took a prominent part. Litchfield was
at this time the seat of a famous law school and
several other institutions of learning, and Mr.
Beecher (now a doctor of divinity) and his wife
undertook to supervise the training of several young
women, who were received into their family. But
here too he found his salary ($800 a year) inadequate.
The rapid and extensive defection of the
Congregational churches in Boston and vicinity, under the lead of Dr. Channing and others in sym-
