Benjamin Beddome and Anne Steele

In 1742, when Beddome was 25, he sent a written proposal of marriage to Anne Steele. By then Beddome had been pastor at Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds for one or two years. How he would have met Anne is uncertain. It may have been that they met in Haycombe near Bath if and when Beddome preached there. Anne had cousins there (the Gays, her mother's sisters children) and would visit at times. Anne refused the proposal but kept the letter. Beddome went on to marry the daughter of one of his deacons, of course. Another possibility is that they met in Whitchurch in Bristol.