The murder-suicide of 1898 affected the family

The April 7, 1898 edition of the Freeport Daily Bulletin stated that after Emma's murder on March 26, 1898, Emma Bedford's two sons were to be raised by their grandmother Trickel, who was “a wealthy citizen of Browntown,” according to the census , that Emma's mother, Mary Trickel, 50, lived in Browntown, but none of her grandchildren lived with her. However, a 55-year-old widowed servant lived with her at the time. Mary E. St. Clair Trickel died on October 19, 1905 in Browntown. She was buried between her husband and Emma in Franklin Cemetery.

Thomas Wesley Bedford, who was 13 when he witnessed his mother's murder, was listed as a servant (probably a farmhand) living in Sylvester Township in 1900 with Albert, 36, and Mary, 25, Bunt. He was then living in Gratiot in 1905 with James, 29, and Margaret, 22, Terry. Both men were hairdressers and the couple had a one-year-old daughter. Five years later, Wesley (listed as TW) was living in Cadiz Township with Frank, 33, and Lorinda, 30, Flannery and their 9-year-old son. Wesley worked as a farm laborer.

It appears that ten years later Wesley was living with George and Grace Olson and their five children in Minneapolis, where he worked in a restaurant. In 1940 he was 55 years old and living with his wife Bertha, 31, and their seven-year-old son William Wesley in Lorance Township, Bollinger County, Missouri. At the time, he was listed as a laborer for the WPA drainage project. He died on January 8, 1957 in Cape Giradeau, leaving behind a son and a grandson. He had farmed in this area for nearly 30 years before retiring three years earlier.

His younger brother Edward, who was 10 at the time of the murder, was adopted by Michael, 42, and Maggie, 41, Meighan. In the 1900 census he was listed as her adopted son. Mr. Meighan was a blacksmith in Grant county and had been married 16 years. In 1910, Edward was living in Chicago with his wife Margaret and their newborn son John. They lived on Laflin Street, where Edward worked as a laborer in the stockyard. In 1920, the family of five, including daughters Marie, 18, and Anne, 2, lived on S. Bishop Street, where Edward worked for the city's electric department and John worked as a salesman for a radio company; Marie was a stenographer in a shoe store. Ten years later the family, Edward, Margaret, Ann, Marie, her husband Charles and their one-year-old daughter Marjorie, lived at 7650 S. Bishop Street. Edward was a laborer on the city farms and his son-in-law ran a gas station. Edward died on March 25, 1963 in Chicago.

Emma's death certificate stated that she was born in Clarno Township on December 23, 1867, making her 30 years old when she was murdered. The death certificate also said that she was divorced, but not that she had been divorced twice. The marriage certificate shows that she was first married to the boys' father, Ellis Stover, on November 9, 1884 in Martin by E. Van Horn. Witnesses included DD Tyler and Rachel Van Horn. At the time, Ellis, 24, was a farmer in Cadiz Parish and Emma was 18. Their son Thomas Wesley had already been born on August 28th. When Edward was born on February 15, 1888, Ellis was working as a farmer, railroad worker, and the family lived in Browntown. It is unknown how long it took the couple to divorce after this.

Stover was living in Browntown with his brother John at the time and was working as a laborer in 1900. In 1905 he was living with Edward and Emma McGuire in Cadiz Township, where he was listed as a farm laborer. In 1910 he was again listed as a wage laborer for the same family. He died of cardiac decompensation at the Green County Asylum on May 25, 1922.

Emma is believed to have married James Bedford in 1896, although no records have been found. The marriage may not have lasted very long, as the newspaper reported that they were divorced at the time of her murder in March 1898. James, 23, was already married to another woman, Lizzie, 18, when the census was taken in June. In 1900 they had an 8-month-old daughter, Ella. His widowed father, Thomas, an immigrant from England, also lived with them on the farm in Cadiz Township. Ella died later that year and two more children were born before moving to Afton Township, Sanborn County, South Dakota. Two more children were born there before the 1910 census. Two more children were born within the next five years, and in about 1922 another son was born. James was still active in the same community listed alongside his son Elmer in 1930. James died on May 5th at the age of 60. 1937 in Davison County, South Dakota.

The rest of the story is now told about the two boys and the two ex-husbands after the tragic murder-suicide in the small village of Browntown in 1898. The only question I still have is whether the young men ever had anything to do with their father after they lost their mother.

— Matt Figi is a Monroe resident and local historian. His column appears regularly in the Times on Saturdays. He can be reached at [email protected] or at

608-325-6503.