Bedford County, Pennsylvania was formed from Cumberland County by an Act of Assembly on March 9, 1771. After the formation of Northumberland County (1772), Westmoreland County (1773), Huntingdon County (1787), Somerset County (1795), Blair County (1846), and Fulton County (1850), Bedford County was left with her current boundaries. Due to its unique location,Bedford County over the decades has been a gateway to places further west.

My ancestors are from Bedford County, some arriving from Cumberland, Berks, Bucks, Huntingdon, Lancaster, and York Counties in Pennsylvania; others from Frederick and Carroll Counties in Maryland. The families I am researching include the following: AMICK, BORDER, CLABAUGH, COOPER, DIBERT, FLETCHER, GRUBB, HUGHES, IRONS, KEGARISE, KNEE, LANEY, McDANIEL, MEANS, MILLS, MUNDWILER, NYCUM, O'NEAL, RICE, ROBISON, SPARKS, VON STEIN, WEIMER, WALLICK.

I plan to use this page as a means of communicating with others who think of Bedford County, Pennsylvania as "home," even though they may be, as I, living many miles away and only "getting back" a few times a year.

I don't have an overall "plan" for this page beyond the following few ideas that I hope will be useful. I am very interested in your comments and suggestions.

Want to search the Site for a Surname or Place? Give it a try!    
SEARCH
 (Select Search and then choose a Search Topic)  

 
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP SOLVE OUR NEWEST FAMILY PHOTO MYSTERY? CHECK OUT OUR MYSTERY!
 
FEATURE: The Fletcher Family Cemetery - A Restoration Success Story! & The Jacob Fletcher (1742/43 - 1831) Family Homestead in Monroe Township.
 
MAPS: Bedford County Clickable Map - Detailed Township Maps with Locations of Genealogical and Historical Points of Interest.
 
Bedford County Photos (People and Places) - I've found that when I try to send or receive photos as attachments to Emails or ICQ s, the process (for a variety of reasons) is less than successful. This page will present photos and the option of downloading them with high resolution. It may take a while, but the results should be quite good. This page will include the majority of all submitted photos. They may also appear elsewhere as part of the Cemetery or Historical sections. If you would like to share your photos or would like to have them shown for the purpose of possible identification, please consider placing them on this page.

Bedford County Ancestor Stories - Mailing lists are extremely useful and query pages are great, but perhaps sometimes you don't have the space to present the whole story. I enjoy hearing stories of, and about, my ancestors and their friends, and I like "the details." Also, we all have our "brickwalls" and usually they are complicated enough that they won't "fit" on a mailing list or query page, but they'll all "fit" here. I would like to post your Bedford County Story (or "brickwall" dilemma) if you like.
 
Bedford County Cemetery Locations - There are cemetery lists that include the active cemeteries in any given region; however, there are many small farm cemeteries that are not on any of these lists. I hope to start a listing of some of these small, relatively unknown burial grounds (as well as the larger better known cemeteries). If your ancestor is buried in one of these out of the way locations, it might be very helpful for others to know of it's existence. These cemeteries are listed in their respective townships.
 
Bedford County Historical Names and Locations - I'm sure that you find some of the early Bedford County names and places as fascinating as I do, and I'm hoping that we can share those names and how they came to be. A good place to discover Pioneer Bedford County Family names and where these families settled in Bedford County.
 
Bedford County Schools - One room school houses were constructed in districts scattered throughout Bedford County townships. Some remain standing nearly as they were, others have been made into residences or used for various purposes. This is a place to post pictures, old and new, of the schools and students who attended them. Perhaps a good way to associate ancestors' faces and names, when they were youngsters.
 
Bedford County Pioneer Family Outlines & Lineages - Here's an opportunity to list your Bedford Pioneer Family Information. These family outlines & lineages will be added as they are submitted, or as submitted Family Stories or Historic Places make their addition possible.
 
Bedford County Family Puzzle Pictures - We all have a group of family "mystery" photos that has been preserved by our ancestors. We recognize our ancestors in them, but who are those other people and where was the picture taken, and why? Chances are, if the photo was of Bedford County people and events, then there may be others who have a copy of this same photo which has been labelled. Here's a place to display your "mystery" photo! Take a look at these first photos and help identify these "puzzle pictures".
 
Before Bedford - " Where are you from, neighbor"? Since Bedford County is not located close to any ports of entry, almost all early settlers of this area were previous residents of other parts of our country. This section will list some of those early families and discuss where they lived prior to arriving in Bedford County. Please consider adding your families' names to this list.


 
Great Places to visit in Bedford, PA:
 The Pioneer Library
Bedford County Historical Society
6441 Lincoln Highway
Bedford, Pa. 15522
(814) 623-2011
 Bedford County Court House
Prothonotary Office
(814) 623-4830
Register & Recorder Office
(814) 623-4836
 Fort Bedford Museum
Fort Bedford Drive
P.O. Box 1758
Bedford, Pa. 15522
(800) 259-4284
(814) 623-8891
 Bedford County Court House Annex
Veteran's Affairs Office
(814) 623-4848

"Moving on" from Bedford County - Bedford County was a crossroads for many pioneer families. For a multitude of reasons, some Bedford County family members moved away. The following list of links will include names and locations where Bedford County Family names may be traced as they "moved on".
The links will be to family home pages or county genealogy pages where further information can be found about the Bedford County surname listed.
 
SURNAME LINKS
Fletcher - Richland County, Ohio - https://shelbyohiohistory.com/PioneerFamilies/ShelbyPioneerFletcher.html
Knee - Montgomery County, Ohio - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmontgo/mnpg.html
Mc Daniel - Athens County, Ohio - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohathens/
Mc Daniel - Morgan County, Ohio - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmorgan/index.htm
O'Neal - Ken O'Neal's O'Neal History Page -http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=ken_227
Swartz - Swartz Genealogy Page - http://www.angelfire.com/id/swartzriblet/
Wallick - Holmes County, Ohio - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohholmes/
Wallick - Tuscarawas County, Ohio - http://genealogytrails.com/ohio/tuscarawas/
Wallick - Van Wert County, Ohio - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohvanwer/
Weimer - Athens County, Ohio - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohathens/
 
Please contact me if you would like to add any Bedford County Family Surname and helpful link to this list. If you have a webpage that includes Bedford County Families or their descendants, please ask to add your page to the list! clabaugh@richnet.net

Some of My Favorite Links:
The Bedford Co. Pa. Genealogy Page - http://bedfordpahistory.com/
Mother Bedford - http://www.motherbedford.com/
Bedford Connection - http:// www.bedfordconnection.org
Census Sites on the Web - http://www.census-online.com/index.html
GenForum - Surnames -http://genforum.genealogy.com/surnames/
 

If you've read this far, and you have ancestors from the Bedford County, Pennsylvania area, or perhaps you're researching families from the area, I'd really like to hear your comments and suggestions. Please contact me at
clabaugh@richnet.net
 
 
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