54 The Botanical Gazette. (February, 
days, and as some years passed by and Edward Bebb was not 
heard from, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts thought that he had for- 
gotten their daughter, and she was persuaded to marry a 
young clergyman. 
The newly married couple sailed for America, but on the 
voyage misfortune came upon them. A cargo of copperas — 
which the ship had taken on a previous trip had poisoned the 
water, and this unhappy circumstance caused the death of | 
Margaret’s husband and many other passengers. When the | 
ship reached Philadelphia, the young widow made her way to 
her brother’s home in Johnstown, Penn., doubtless intending 
to stay there till she could return to her native country. 
Meanwhile Edward Bebb, seeing his way clear to return to 
Wales for the maiden whom he had not seen for so long, had 
actually started on his way. His route lay through Johns- 
town, and there the lovers met. They were married, and 
over a hilly country they walked for eighty miles to Pitts- 
burg, whence they floated down the Ohio river to the home 
which Edward had been faithfully preparing. For three years 
he had been a pioneer in the Miami valley, in southwestem 
Ohio, clearing up his farm and building his two-storied house 
of hewn logs. : 
In 1802, William Bebb, one of three children, was bora. 
As a baby he ‘‘was often entrusted to the care of the Indian 
women,” belonging to the friendly Miami Indians who had 2 
camp near by, ‘‘and swung from a bough with the rest of the 
pappooses.” His early life was spent on the old place. Af 
rived at manhood he conducted a successful boarding-school, 
less than a mile from his old home in the same county, andit 
was during this time that he studied law and was admitted t0 
the bar. He married Sarah, the daughter of Michael Schuck, 
a German, and by her he had five children, one of whom wa 
Michael Schuck Bebb. | 
He was born on December 23, 1833, in the school building, © 
and was named for his grandfather. In later years he © 
scribed his birthplace thus:—‘‘There was a brick building with | 
two-story barn-like structure for dormitory, and a separatt 
schoolhouse. Besides, the older boys had log cabins which | 
they built for themselves and to which they could retire fof 
quiet study or for little suppers of their own which were prob- 
ably not so quiet!” | 
