Born near Dillon, South Carolina, Bethea went to Wofford College in 1887 and 1888.
Bethea then served in the South Carolina State Senate from 1919 to 1923.
He was an educator and lay preacher in the Methodist church.
He died at his home, Sunset Knoll, in Dillon County, South Carolina, after a long illness.
His grandchildren were Elizabeth Bethea (m. Russell Long), Benjamin Franklin Hardy Jr. (m Jacqueline Allen), Preston Bethea Hardy (m. Mary Rogers), and Clifford Hensley Hardy (m. Louise Crosland).