Peter Paul Bedesem

Born January 21, 1870 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He married June 15, 1898 and worked as printer. He died April 15, 1951 in Methodist Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• As a boy of about thirteen he was given two cases of type by Father Walrath and taught himself hand-typesetting.
• Married Mary on June 15, 1898.

An Orphan's Apprenticeship

Peter Paul Bedesem was born on January 21, 1870, in Philadelphia. After his father's death his mother sent him west to California, where he was raised for a time by the Dominican Sisters in San Rafael and then by a Catholic priest, Father Walrath, in Colusa — work that included planting trees in the town's cemeteries and soliciting funds for a new church. Peter once tried to run away with the priest's nephew, making it as far as Willows, California, before a cook recognized them and turned them in; he was not allowed to return to Father Walrath's household afterward. Around 1883 he learned hand-typesetting after Father Walrath bought him two cases of type, and he apprenticed at the Colusa Sun newspaper, working his way up to compositor under editor Will S. Green. At the Democratic Jubilee marking Grover Cleveland's 1884 election, Peter and a friend set off fireworks stuffed in their pockets and one ignited, severely burning his leg, back, and arms — he was expected to die but recovered.

A Philadelphia Printer and Bowler

Peter returned east and spent the rest of his career in Philadelphia's printing trade — compositor, linotype operator, and eventually, from 1914, proprietor of the Oakdale Composition Company, which he ran first with a partner and later with his son Paul, doing typesetting work that in time included offset forms for Philco Radio. He was a formidable amateur competitor: he placed second in the Philadelphia Newspapermen's shuffleboard tournament in 1898 and captained the Philadelphia Record's “Nonpareils” bowling team in the Morning Newspaper League through the winter of 1903–04, keeping detailed personal scoring records for dozens of matches. He married Mary McCormick on June 15, 1898.

A Return to Colusa

In July 1940, fifty-five years after leaving, Peter travelled alone back to Colusa, California, walking the town to find people who remembered him — including a man who recalled seeing him catch fire as a boy — and visiting the cemeteries to see whether the trees he had planted as an orphan were still standing. He died at Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia on April 15, 1951.