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Henry Bedinger "Henry Bedinger, son of the Revolutionary hero, Daniel Bedinger, and Sarah Rutherford Bedinger, was born at Bedford, near Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in 1812. After receiving a liberal classical education, he studied law and practiced his profession in Shepherdstown and in Charles Town. In 1845, he succeeded his partner and brother-in-law, George Rust, as representative in Congress and was re-elected for a second term. He was an eloquent speaker, and an exceptionally able debater, and was called the Eagle of Harpers Ferry. In 1853, he was appointed charge d'affaires to Denmark, and was later resident minister. He was instrumental in securing the Skager Rack and Cattegat Treaty, by which Denmark agreed to abolish sound dues. Throughout his distinguished career as a diplomat, he thought longingly of his home and his friends in his own country, and it was with great personal satisfaction that he laid aside his public duties and returned to Shepherdstown. In his honor the citizens of the town gave a great demonstration, one of the features of which was a barbecue. Only a short time after he received his welcome home, he contracted pneumonia and on November 26, 1858, after an illness of only five days, he died at his home in Shepherdstown." [Source: Ella May Turner, Stories and Verse of West Virginia 70 (Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Mennonite Publishing House, rev. ed. 1925)(1923)] Bedinger "did not receive University training, probably on account of the expense. At the age of twenty, he began the study of law in the Charlestown office of his brother-in-law William Lucas. To perfect his public speaking he joined a debating society, and for relaxation he tried his hand at poetry. One of his poems, a macabre piece entitled 'The Curse of the "Betrayed One" -- A Fragment,' appeared under Bedinger's pen name, Hugh Blair, in the September 1835 issue of Southern Literary Messenger. Bedinger's poem shared the page with a prose piece written by a young Messenger staff member, Edgar Allan Poe." [Bedinger Family History and Genealogy <website>] We have yet to learn whether Bedinger's penchant for poetry continued in his later life. Henry
Bedinger Bibliography: Articles & Essays Alexandra Lee Levin, Henry Bedinger of Virginia: First United States Minister to Denmark, 29 Virginia Cavalcade 184-191 (Spring, 1980) Research Resources Bedinger-Dandridge
Family Papers, 1763-1957 [My thanks to Doug Bedinger who provided important corrections on this web page.] |
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