Pioneers of Old Monocacy
The Early Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland
1721-1743
by Grace L. Tracey & John P. Dern
Copyright ) 1987 by the
Historical Society of Carroll County [Maryland]
All Rights Reserved
Published by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.
Second Printing, 1989
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 86-83226
International Standard Book Number 0-8063-1183-5
The Hedges Family
Pages 106-110
     A number of the early settlers along the Monocacy
came originally from the upper reaches of today's New Castle
County Delaware or from neighboring Chester County in
Pennsylvania. Typically representative of these was the
family of Joseph Hedges
     Joseph Hedges was English, but-- notwithstanding
elaborate claims to the contrary-- no substantiated tie has
ever been established to a marriage in England or to his
antecedents there. He first appears in American records in a
warrant dated September 8, 1702 and its certificate of
survey of April 4, 1703 for 100 acres located on Red Clay Creek
in Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County. Some fifteen or twenty
years later he and his wife Catherine moved to the London
Tract in London Grove Township, Chester County,
Pennsylvania. Then although now well advanced in years and
with a family nearly grown, Joseph Hedges on April 22, 1730
sold his Pennsylvania land and moved on to Maryland.
     On July 1, 1730 Joseph Hedges had 258 acres
surveyed in Maryland on the Monocacy River some five miles
north of today's downtown Frederick. The land bordered the
river, extending north and west from what was soon to be
known as Biggs Ford.
It also supposedly bordered the northeastern line of
"Tasker's
Chance." Hedges named his land "Hedges Hogg," and this has
puzzled historians ever since. They are unable to ignore the
notation that Hedges' first land in New Castle County was
"at
the head of a tract formerly taken up on new rent by George
Hogg" or that when Hedges and his wife Katherine in Chester
County sold the New Castle land on August 17, 1725, George
Hogg was one of the witnesses to the deed. Even more
mysterious is the question who or what encouraged Hedges to
come to Maryland and why he settled where he did.
     Although his residence on "Hedge Hogg" proved to e a
focal point for nearby parcels of land surveyed or rented
by his
children, all of whom came to Maryland with him, his own
Maryland chapter ended almost as soon as it began. Joseph
Hedges received his patent for "Hedge Hogg" on August 25,
1732. Two weeks later, on September 6, 1732, only two years
after his arrival and almost exactly 30 years to the day
after
his initial warrant for land in Delaware, Joseph Hedges "of
Manaquicy in Prince George's County" wrote his will. It was
probated on November 29th. In the will he named no wife,
though she survived him. His eldest son Solomon Hedges was
to inherit "the 258 acres on Manaquicy Creek," while sons
Charles and Joshua were each to receive 200 acres at Opeckan
in Virginia-- obviously already purchased for them. More
significantly, Solomon and Charles as executors, one of whom
seemed slated to stay on Maryland while the other was to go
to Virginia, were instructed to purchase an additional 400
acres at Opecken to be divided equally between sons Jonas
and Joseph. The executors were also directed to purchase 100
acres at Manaquicy for son Samuel. Personalty was to go to
daughters Ruth, Cathren and Dorcas and to sons Joseph and
Samuel. All nine children and Joseph's wife were to divide
the
remainder. Chidley Matthews, Thomas Hillard and John
Hillard witnessed the will and on February 27, 1733 Robert
Jones and Henry Ballenger inventoried the estate.
     It would appear that a move to Virginia was
contemplated for at least some of the family almost before
roots could be established in Maryland. Presumably none of
the children was yet married, and Joshua was only seventeen
years of age. The purchase of Virginia land, both actual and
contemplated, was being made by Joseph Hedges himself for,
but mot by his children. Thus the Question is posed, how
permanent did he view his family's stay in Maryland? Unless
we are plagued by positive hindsight which he did not have,
why also would he want his family to desert an area where
all
about him lay good choice land almost theirs for the
asking? It
was not a wholesale commitment, however. He did provide for
two of his children to stay in Maryland. And so our
curiosity
turns to how the future actually did unfold.
     At first the family seems to have stayed put. In the
year after his father died, Solomon Hedges had "Hedges
Delight" surveyed-- 192 acres near Tuscarora Creek some
three miles southwest of "Hedge Hogg" and near the Monocacy
road which was soon to carry the bulk of those settlers
going
to Virginia. In 1733 he was listed as a taxable in Monocacy
Hundred, and in the June Court of 1734 Solomon declared
that he had paid Robert Jones and John Tredane a debt of 15
pounds for Flower Swift. who had been a Constable for
Monocacy Hundred with John van Metre in 1732. Also in 1734
Solomon's name appeared on the list of those not burning
their
tobacco properly, and in 1735 he himself was named Constable
for Monocacy Hundred, replacing Thomas Doudith, possibly a
relative, who was incapable of duty. About this time Solomon
married John van Metre's daughter Rebecca, and the
connection with that family made it only a matter of time
before they joined the move to Virginia. This occurred about
1738. They sold their farm animals, which they had purchased
from Rebecca's father, to John House and moved to Patterson
Creek near present-day Keyser, West Virginia. This area was
then a part of Orange County, Virginia, where the November
2, 1739 bill of sale for livestock showed Solomon Hedges was
then residing. George Washington in 1748 at the age of 16
"traveled up ye Creek to Solomon Hedges, Esq., one of his
Majesty's Justices of the Peace for ye County of Frederick."
The family was still there in 1753 when Hampshire County
was formed, but by 1778 had moved on to Buffalo Creek in
Ohio County in the [West] Virginia panhandle. There Solomon
 edges is alleged to have lived and died after the turn of
the
 century at an age over one hundred.
     Jonas and Joshua Hedges settled next to each other at
Hedgesville on Tulisses Branch in today's Berkeley County,
West Virginia. Jonas married Agnes Powelson about 1738, and
in 1743 Joshua married Elizabeth Chapline. The fate of
Samuel Hedges is unknown. Presumably he died shortly after
his father, sometime in the 1730's still in the Monocacy
area
and probably unmarried. What became of his has sister Dorcas
is also unknown. But Ruth Hedges married Abraham van
Metre brother of Solomon Hedges wife and they, too, moved to
[West] Virginia, settling in Berkeley County.
     This leaves Charles and Joseph Hedges, both of whom
according to their father's will were destined to go to
Virginia.
Neither did. Nor did their sister Catherine, who stayed on
in
the Monocacy area with her two husbands, Jacob Julien and
Joseph Wood. Joseph Hedges became a tenant on the
Monocacy Manor, married and had but a single child Rebecca
before he died in 1753. His widow Mary, later the wife of
John
Wilson, and his brother Charles Hedges were Joseph's
executors. Joseph's will provided that. should his daughter
Rebecca die before coming of age, half his land should go
to the
children of his brother Charles Hedges. She did not die, but
was raised by Charles Hedges and in storybook fashion
married her first cousin Charles Hedges Jr.. As a result,
they
together inherited the 150-acre lease to Lot No. 10 on
Monocacy Manor!
     So it was that Charles Hedges, alone among the nine
children who came to Maryland with their parents, continued
the Hedges story in Frederick Coaunty With his brothers
Solomon and Joshua, he was listed as a taxable in Monocacy
Hundred in 1733. In 1736 he journeyed all the way back to
New Castle County where at Old Swedes Church in
Wilmington on February 12th he married a Mary Stilley, The
daughter of Jacob Stilley. In the same year he was appointed
by the Prince George's County Court as overseer of the road
from Mill Branch to Monocacy Manor. On may 8, 1740 he
purchased "Hedges Delight" for fifty pounds from Solomon and
Rebecca Hedges, who then were residents in Virginia. On the
same day Solomon and Rebecca transferred title to "Hedge
Hogg' to Jacob Nafe (Neff), blacksmith, for #127/10 "for his
own use and no other purpose." Charles Hedges witnessed this
deed and collected the alienation fine of 10sh 3d. The
amount
paid for the land at a time when land was free or only a few
pennies an acre probably indicates that considerable
improvements had been made by the Hedges family after their
arrival in Maryland. For a blacksmith, its location must
also
have been important, suggesting considerable growth in the
neighborhood and the importance of the road junctions
nearby.
     The hypothesis is quite plausible that Catherine
Hedges, widow of the original Joseph Hedges and the mother
of  Charles Hedges sometime after Joseph Hedges' death in
late 1732 married Isaac Bloomfield as her second husband.
There are no records of surveys or patents in Frederick
County for him, but in 1739 he had been a witness to six of
Susannah Beatty's deeds. The November Court of 1743
appointed him Constable of Linganore Hundred. He witnessed
the will of Jacob Julien, who three years earlier had
married
Charles Hedges sister Catherine. Isaac Bloomfield died
shortly
before December 27, 1748, the date of his Inventory as
presented by Robert DeButts, his administrator. As
administrator, DeButts was sued by Charles Carroll. DeButts
in turn sued Joseph and Charles Hedges on November 1751
for a debt of #12/19/8 due from them  to Isaac Bloomfield's
estate. Catherine Bloomfield died in 1749. Joseph Hedges,
Jr.
(d 1753) and Joseph Wood signed her Inventory as near of
kin.
Charles Hedges was her executor and in his administrative
account of 1751 accounted for payments to Thomas Douthitt,
John Bell, Joseph Wood and Stephen Julien. He also recorded
debts due the estate from Allen Farquhar, Daniel Pepinger,
Jacob Barton, John Biggs, William Hedges, Jonas Hedges,
James Head, Mary Martin and others, all known to have been
living in the immediate neighborhood of "Hedge Hogg."  In
1751 Thomas Douthitt "swore for Isaac Bloomfield" in the
probate of the 1743 will of Jacob Julien.


The Hedges Family
Pages 110-114
     On November 15, 1743 Charles Hedges had a tract
surveyed just south of "Hedges Delight" which he called
"Charles and Mary." In 1749 by patent he acquired "Whiskey"
which had been surveyed for Peter Stille. Its 100 acres lay
adjacent to "Hedges Delight." He then followed this on
February 18, 1754 with the survey for "Yellow Springs,"
named for those springs traditionally known to the Indians
for
their great healing power. Though he now owned four parcels
of land well west of the Monocacy River, Charles Hedges
apparently tenanted, rather than owned, Lot No. 11 on his
Lordship's Monocacy Manor directly across the river from
"Hedge Hogg." John Biggs was a near neighbor on the Manor
and to the two of them on 1754 Robert McPherson and John
Beard mortgaged their livestock and household items. In 1759
Charles Hedges was named Constable for Monocacy Hundred.
     Charles Hedges' wife died in the mid-1760's. His family
was nearly grown. Still, a new wife seemed desirable and in
April 1769 Charles Hedges married Isabella Wirk. She was at
least 35 years his junior and was destined to outlive him by
over 30 years. By an antenupial agreement, in order to bar
her
rights of dower, Isabella was to receive only one-third of
"Yellow Springs." Actually they each received far more, she
in
property, he in children. To the eight children of his first
marriage, six more were added in the second. Altogether they
included Jacob, Moses, Joseph, Absalom, Rachel, Susannah,
Charles, Shadrack, Isaac, Samuel, Ruth Margaret, Hannah
and Dorcas. Some of these, or their immediate families,
moved
on to the Middletown Valley, Greene and Washington
Counties in Pennsylvania, the West Virginia Panhandle,
Belmont and Seneca Counties in Ohio and Bourbon County in
Kentucky.
     Though he did not die until December 1795, Charles
Hedges wrote his will in 1790. His wife Isabella was to get
"Hedges Delight," "Yellow Springs" and "Charles and Mary."
After her death these tracts were to be divided equally
between Isaac and Samuel Hedges, sons of the second
marriage. Later surveys, including "Johnson's Level" (150
acres), "Leddy" ("Leeds" 50 acres) and "Hedges Chance" (50
acres), were to go to son Shadrack Hedges after he made
compensatory payments to Charles Hedges Jr. and their four
half-sisters from their father's second marriage. The other
children had already been provided for, with, for example,
the
parcel "Whiskey" going to son Jacob Hedges in 1765 before
Charles first wife died.
     The subsequent history of the original "Hedge Hogg" is
clouded with uncertainly. Although the land was transferred
to Jacob Neff in the year 1740, there is a question whether
he
was actually living there when on October 2, 1750 he wrote
his
will. The language is stilted: Wife Catherine as executrix
"is to
dispose of this place which I live on and pay my debts now
named 'Durnah' and all my goods and chattels."    She was to
receive 100 acres of land "betwixt mountains which I bough,"
50 acres from Daniel Dulany and 50 acres from Nodley
Thomas, "for my wife to live on or dispose of." There is no
reference to "Hedge Hogg" even though subsequent deeds
indicate that the parcel was still known by that name as
late
as 1809. Yet the witnesses to the will, Stephen Julien,
Charles
Hedges, Adam Stull and John Stoner, all were living near
"Hedge Hogg" at the time, and the estate's inventory, made
by
Charles Hedges and Adam Stull, included blacksmith tools,
indicative of Jacob Neff's trade when he purchased "Hedge
Hogg" in 1740. Moreover, the inventory shows Notley Thomas
as a creditor.
     The mystery thickens with the sudden appearance of a
William Hedges whose relationship to the first Joseph Hedges
has mot been determined. William wrote his will on August
11,
1742 and died relatively young, before its probate on
January
29, 1743. Calling himself a farmer of Prince George's
County,
he provided that his wife Ann should "live on my estate
during
life of my son" Joseph who was to get to get all of the land
unless an expected posthumous fourth child was a son, in
which case the two sons were to divide the land equally. Ann
was to serve as executrix. Robert Baker and Jacob Neff
witnessed the will, but only Robert Baker was present for
its
probate. Co-sureties on Ann's bond were Charles Hedges and
Pilip Kinss. The inventory of March 6, 1743, made by John
Middah and Robert Jones, was signed by a single creditor,
Jacob Neff, and by kin Charles, Joseph and Andrew Hedges.
In none of these documents is the named or otherwise
identified. But there are clues to help: Stephen Julien
became
Ann Hedges' second husband on July 14, 1743 and together
they prepared the estate accounts. In the account of June
12,
1747 they took credit for a payment to Jacob Neff on a debt
owed by William Hedges but paid by Stephen Julien on bond
#22/5/6 plus interest.
     The posthumous child referred to above did turn out to
be a son. He was given the name William Hedges Jr. and,
because he was born late in 1742, should have expected to
inherit his father's land, whatever it was, when he reached
majority in 1763. By then Jacob Neff has died. But our
attention is directed to a deed dated March 15, 1763 from
his
son "Jacob Kneff, heir at law to Jacob Kneff Kneff of Prince
Georges County, deceased," which transferred to Joseph and
William Hedges, sons and heirs of William Hedges of Prince
George's County, a 258-acre parcel called "Hedge Hogg."  The
conclusion seems obvious: Whatever his origins and whatever
his relationship to the other Hedges who preceded him,
William Hedges sometime between 1740 and  1742 had Been
purchasing "Hedge Hogg" from Jacob Neff. But he died before
the transaction could be concluded and it took until the
youngest son reached majority for title finally be
established.
As proof of the pudding, it will be noted that Stephen
Julien
paid taxes on "Hedge Hogg" from 1753 to 1773 and early in
that period was shown as "in possession." In 1772 Joseph and
William Hedges divided "Hedge Hogg" between them. Five
years later they both died, and their wills were probated on
the same day, May 6, 1777. Again there were heirs who had
not reached majority. But the land remained in the Hedges
family well into the next century. The 1873 Atlas, for
example,
shows the home of Eneas Hedges (1800-1873) still on "Hedge
Hogg."
     No relationship has been found between Jacob Neff
and Johann Henry Neff of "Trasker's Chance," p. 296 below.
Jacob's widow Catherine Neff wrote her will in 1776, naming
her children as John, Jacob, Henry, Francis, Adam,
Margarette and Esther Neff. Peter Bainbridge, Bartholomew
Booker and John Arnold were witnesses to he will.
     No survey or patent records exist for brothers Stephen
and Jacob Julien, both of whom were associated through
marriage with the Hedges families. They were sons of the
immigrant Rene Julien who lived on Eastern Maryland early
in the eighteenth century and who later went with most of
his
sons to the Winchester area of Virginia. Only Stephen and
Jacob lived in today's Frederick County area, where they
first
appeared in 1743. Stephen's first wife Allatha, the mother
of
all his children, was buried April 6, 1743 according to All
Saints' Church Records, and, as noted above, he married as
his
second wife Ann, the widow of William Hedges. There were no
children in the second marriage. Stephen died some time
after
1760 when he witnessed John Biggs will.
     Jacob Julien married Catherine Hedges, daughter of
the first Joseph Hedges, on Feb. 2, 1743/44, but died
shortly
thereafter. All Saints Church records note his burial on
March
26, 1747, the day after he wrote his will. The will was not
probated, however, until August 30, 1751. It had been
witnessed by Rene Julien, Isaac Bloomfield and James Beard,
and it divided most of his estate between his wife Catherine
and his only child Rachel Julien. Rachel Julien was born
June
26, 1746, but did not live long. She was buried April 25,
1751.
Catherine Hedges Julien married Joseph Wood as her second
husband on September 11, 1747. He died in 1782 and she
survived him.
     There is one other tie between the Hedges and Julien
families. On June 3, 1770 Isaac Julien by his first wife,
married Susannah Hedges, daughter of Charles Hedges Sr.
and Mary Stilley. Susanna died before her father's will of
1790, but Isaac Julien lived until 1839, having served in
the
Revolution and lived in both Greene County, Pennsylvania
and Miami County, Ohio.
     Like the Hedges family, the Stilleys also had origins in
New Castle County, Delaware. Jacob Stilley, yeoman of
Christiana Hundred, New Castle County, and his wife Rebecca
Springer had a sizable family, most of whom are named in his
will of September 14, 1771. Although he did not leave New
Castle County himself, several of his children did.
Reference
has already been made to Mary Stilley, born June 22,1715 as
Maria, daughter Jacob Stelle and wife Rebecca. She married
Charles Hedges in 1736 and came to the Hedges area north of
today's city of Frederick. Her brother Peter Stilley, born
March 8, 1717, also came . He had "Saplin Ridge" surveyed
for
100 acres on January 15, 1742. It lay "near Chidley
Matthews'
land" just north of Rock Creek and today's forks of U.S.
Highways 40 and 40-Alternate by the golf course. On May
20,1749 Peter Stilley resurveyed his tract to increase its
size
to 295 acres, and in 1793 his son Peter Stilley, Jr. added
65
acres more, calling the whole "Neighbor's Agreement."
     According to the Moravian missionary August
Spangenberg, Peter Stilley in 1748 was a vestryman and
"Vorsteher" in the English church who, because of his
friendship with neighboring Moravians, had been called to
account. He was Constable  of Middle Monocacy Hundred in
1778. In his will of July 25, 1765 Peter Stilley devised his
plantation to his son Jacob, but also provided for sons
Peter
and John. His wife Mary also left a will dated September 30,
1784, which named daughters Estelle, wife of John Kennedy,
and Rebecca, wife of Benjamin Ogle.
 
============================================== 
 
Listed below are persons researching
surname Hedges:
 
Hedges, Dennis
3702 Sierra Dr.
Georgetown, TX 78628
email: denhed@tab.com
 
Hedges, Linda
2137 Oakridge Ave.
Madison, WI 53704
email:' lindah@ssec.wisc.edu
 
Snow, Perry
-403-288-4477
329A 4935 40th Avenue N.W.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada, T3A 2N1
email: 75247.66@Compuserve.com
 
Hedges, Brian
-615-315-9822
753 E Woodlawn TR.
Nashville, TN 37211
 
Hedges, Robert
email: rhhedgz1@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
 
Hedges, Jon
8 Blackberry Dr.
Hudson, OH 44236
email: 71611.3263@compuserve.com
 
Hedges, Peter
101531.3330@compuserve.com
 
Pyle, Becky Kenton
becky@mail.4you.net
 
Jensen, William N.
74664.2645@compuserve.com
 
The Sociable Cyber Genealogist
email: ay724@yfn.ysu.edu
Robert H. Brother
1149 Shadowridge Dr.
Niles, Ohio 44446-3561
(330) 652-2347
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