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The ancient name of Bedehan finds its origins with the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It comes from a name for a person hired to pray for another's soul after his death. The surname Bedehan is derived from the Old English terms bede, which means prayer, and man, which means man. In medieval England, there were also beadhouses, or almshouses for the poor, where the inhabitants were required to pray for their benefactors. In a publication by Skelton in 1528, he wrote of Other smale mynisters, as reders and singers, bedemen and bellringers.
The surname Bedehan was first found in Somerset, where they held a family seat from the Middle Ages.
Lawrence Bedeman or Stevine (fl. 1372-1410), was a supporter of Wycliffe who appears first, in 1372, as a scholar of Stapeldon Hall. He was ultimately rector, holding this office from 1379 to 1380. After this he was made rector of Lifton, in Devonshire, and held this benefice as late as 11 June 1410, when he was licensed to preach in Latin or English. 1
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bedehan research. Another 200 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 1327, 1372, 1381, 1410, 1500, 1659 and 1793 are included under the topic Early Bedehan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Bedehan family name include Beadman, Bedman, Bedeman, Bedemon, Beadmann and many more.
Another 42 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bedehan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Bedehan surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Elizabeth Beadman who arrived in Virginia in 1650.