BUILDERS,BANKERS,HATTERS,FARMERS,PATRIOTS,LOYALISTS,IRON MANUFACTURERS,PHYSICIANS,
CLERGYMEN,STONE MASONS, and LIVERYMEN
BUILDERS,BANKERS,HATTERS,FARMERS,PATRIOTS,LOYALISTS,IRON MANUFACTURERS,PHYSICIANS,
CLERGYMEN,STONE MASONS, and LIVERYMEN
The Fourth of July is one of the most significant holidays in American
history. It was on that day, in 1776, that the 13 American colonies
declared their independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson
drafted the Declaration of Independence, one of the greatest documents
in the long struggle of mankind for freedom from oppressive government.
The Declaration contained these words that made it more than just
another political document:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such
principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
The ideas in the Declaration were not new. Indeed, they had been
expressed by British thinkers such as John Locke, and similar
sentiments had been used in Britain to justify rebellion against King
James II in 1688. But Jefferson's words struck a chord across America,
and across the world; they still reverberate today.
Fifty-six American leaders in the Continental Congress stepped forward
to sign the final document, at enormous personal risk.
Tragically, many Americans today have no idea of the great sacrifices
that were made by the Founders to win their freedom.
The story below tells what happened to the men who signed the
Declaration of Independence. The author's name, as far as I know, is
lost.
What Happened to the Signers?
Five signers were captured by the British and brutally tortured as
traitors. Nine fought in the War for Independence and died from wounds
or from hardships they suffered. Two lost their sons in the
Continental Army. Another two had sons captured. At least a dozen of
the fifty-six had their homes pillaged and burned.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-five were lawyers or jurists.
Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers or large plantation owners.
One was a teacher, one a musician, and one a printer. These were men
of means and education, yet they signed the Declaration of
Independence, knowing full well that the penalty could be death if
they were captured.
In the face of the advancing British Army, the Continental Congress
fled from Philadelphia to Baltimore on December 12, 1776. It was an
especially anxious time for John Hancock, the President, as his wife
had just given birth to a baby girl. Due to the complications stemming
from the trip to Baltimore, the child lived only a few months.
William Ellery's signing at the risk of his fortune proved only too
realistic. In December 1776, during three days of British occupation
of Newport, Rhode Island, Ellery's house was burned, and all his
property destroyed.
Richard Stockton, a New Jersey State Supreme Court Justice, had rushed
back to his estate near Princeton after signing the Declaration of
Independence to find that his wife and children were living like
refugees with friends. They had been betrayed by a Tory sympathizer
who also revealed Stockton's own whereabouts. British troops pulled
him from his bed one night, beat him and threw him in jail where he
almost starved to death. When he was finally released, he went home to
find his estate had been looted, his possessions burned, and his
horses stolen. Judge Stockton had been so badly treated in prison that
his health was ruined and he died before the war's end. His surviving
family had to live the remainder of their lives off charity.
Carter Braxton was a wealthy planter and trader. One by one his ships
were captured by the British navy. He loaned a large sum of money to
the American cause; it was never paid back. He was forced to sell his
plantations and mortgage his other properties to pay his debts.
Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he had to move his
family almost constantly. He served in the Continental Congress
without pay, and kept his family in hiding.
Vandals or soldiers or both looted the properties of Clymer, Hall,
Harrison, Hopkinson and Livingston. Seventeen lost everything they
owned.
Thomas Heyward, Jr., Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton, all of
South Carolina, were captured by the British during the Charleston
Campaign in 1780. They were kept in dungeons at the St. Augustine
Prison until exchanged a year later.
At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British
General Cornwallis had taken over the family home for his
headquarters. Nelson urged General George Washington to open fire on
his own home. This was done, and the home was destroyed. Nelson later
died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis also had his home and properties destroyed. The British
jailed his wife for two months, and that and other hardships from the
war so affected her health that she died only two years later.
"Honest John" Hart, a New Jersey farmer, was driven from his wife's
bedside when she was near death. Their thirteen children fled for
their lives. Hart's fields and his grist mill were laid waste. For
over a year he eluded capture by hiding in nearby forests. He never
knew where his bed would be the next night and often slept in caves.
When he finally returned home, he found that his wife had died, his
children disappeared, and his farm and stock were completely
destroyed. Hart himself died in 1779 without ever seeing any of his
family again.
Such were the stories and sacrifices typical of those who risked
everything to sign the Declaration of Independence. These men were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.
Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged:
"For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other,
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
END OF ARTICLE !!
Newark at the breaking out of the war, numbered less than one thousand inhabitants, or about two hundred families. With that number it was necessary for two or more families to occupy one house in some cases, for it was stated in 1777 there were but one hundred and fourty-one houses in Newark. Thirty-eight in the North ward, fifty in the South ward, twenty-eight in the East ward, and twenty-five in the West ward. Among the Newark families pre-eminently true to the cause of America were the Allings, the Balls, the Beaches, the Bruens, the Burnets, the Camps, the Congers, the Condits, the Cranes, the Coes, the Heddens, the Meekers, the Hayeses, the Johnsons, the Macwhorters, the Penningtons and the Wheelers.
Because Isaac Dodd would not act on the duties assigned to him, Joseph Hedden Jr. took on the un-enviable job of confiscating and recording the property and personal items of those loyalists who fought for, and/or, pledged allegiance to, the Crown of Briton. For these deeds he was the target of retribution and on the night of Jan. 25, 1780, a British Company of 300 soldiers and 60 Dragoons, under the command of Major Lumm, guided by loyalist residents of the town, came over from New York through Elizabethtown to Newark where Justice Hedden was sick in bed. The British soldiers burned the Academy(school), surprised the town guards and took several prisoners. Another group of soldiers burst into Mr. Hedden's home dragging him from his bed at bayonet point.
Clad only in his night shirt, and ignoring the pleas of his wife to allow him to dress, they forced him outside into the bitter cold. A neighbor, Eleazer Bruen, awakened by the commotion, was able to push past the soldiers and threw a blanket over Joseph's shoulders to help ward off the freezing cold of the night. Barefoot, as he was, the soldiers forced Justice Hedden to walk across the frozen river ice to the Sugar House Prison in New York some 15 miles distant. His frozen limbs soon gave way to gangrene. After some 200 days, in prison(estimated), and dying, he was released to his family and was brought home by his two brothers David and Simon. Joseph Hedden Jr. died on Sept. 27, 1780, at the age of 52 years.
A monument was erected in honor of Joseph Hedden Jr., Esq.. Inscribed on that monument were these words:
Of the many Patriots during the War of Independence I doubt if any were more brave than the signers of The Declaration Of Independence. This article will give you some insight into their reward for signing.
There were many patriots bearing the Hedden surname who participated in the various wars to protect and preserve life as we know it in these United States of America. Probably those receiving the most notoriety, were the Heddens who participated in the American Revolutionary War 1775 - 1783.
One of the most famous was Joseph Hedden Jr.,of Newark, son of Joseph Hedden Sr., who often proclaimed he had eight sons who fought in the revolution.
He was a firm friend to his country In the darkest of times. Zealous for American Liberty In the opposition to British Tyranny, And at last fell a victim To British Cruelty.
2) History of The City of Newark, by Urquhart, Vol III, Pub. 1913.
John Hedden Jr. of Newark had four sons who fought for the independence of America. Two, who gave their lives to the cause were Josiah, who was captured on a raid on Newark, and died in a New York prison; and Allen, who served in the Canadian Expedition, and died from wounds while there. Zadock the younger of the four served throughout the revolutionary war from 1775 to 1783, and in the Montgomery expedition to Canada. His sufferings were many and great, but he rendered a noble service in the struggle for independence. Mr. John Condit, of Essex Co., New Jersey, gives the following account of the character and sevices of Zadock Hedden under date of Jan. 10, 1818. " I certify that I became acquainted with him and his family early in the revolutionary war; That he and a brother(Allen) enlisted in 1775 and marched to Canada under the command of General Elias Dayton then a colonel in that company. His brother(Allen) lost his life, and after Zadock's term of service had expired, he returned to his father, and with another ** brother joined the militia, who were then almost constantly on the lines.
The British came over from Staten Island by way of Elizabeth town in considerable force, and made a severe attack on the militia an the lines, at which time said Zadock and his brother and a number of others were taken prisoners and carried to New York and there confined in their loathsome prisons where said Zadock lost his other brother(Josiah) and suffered much himself. But after a long imprisonment he was released and returned home again.
As soon after his return from prison and his health and strength would permit, and anxious to be again in the service, he received a commission as Captain of a company. I have always considered him one who has rendered much service and who suffered much in the cause of his country in the Revolutionary struggle."
After the revolutionary war, Zadock Hedden settled on Broad Street, Newark, for a time, but was residing in New York City in the early part of 1818.
2) List of Loyalist Officers from the H. T. Hazen Collection
at the New Brunwick Museum Archives Department in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada ( Box 10, F6A).
Isaac Hedden, went to Staten Island, New York, and joined the Loyalists 1st New Jersey Volunteer Regiment.
*************************************************
Under the heading "Revolutionary Patriots" above, high praise is heaped upon Joseph Hedden Jr. for his
The following articles are from the Loyalist newspaper relating a different story and opinion from some
New-York, January 29.
--The Royal Gazette, January 29, 1780, No. 348.
To the Printer of the ROYAL GAZETTE.
SIR,
Your giving the following account a place in your paper will much oblige your most humble servant,
A JERSEY LOYALIST.
IT would seem incredible to say that human nature could be so deprav'd as to delight in adding cruelty to distress,
--The Royal Gazette, March 18, 1780. No. 362.
New-York, March 11.
Mr. RIVINGTON,
SIR,
Seeing in your paper of the 29th of January 1780, an account of that well known titular Justice Joseph Hedden,
ON the 13th of March 1777, I was seized early in the morning, by a Rebel sergeant named POST, and twelve I was arraigned before Hedden, Burnet, and the Rebel Major Hays. After many speeches being made by Hedden and Hays, and three witnesses sworn against me, Hedden said if I would make an ample confession, it would be better for me; I told him, I had none to make; he again repeated the same words, with this addition, that if I did not, he would find proof to hang me at the next court, being the second Tuesday in April following: I again told him I had no confession to make: he then wrote a mittimus, and committeed me to the main guard, where I was treated with the greatest indignity till the 18th at night, when I made my escape and got to Staten-Island, and during the time he had me in confinement, being from the 13th to the 18th inclusive, there was no refreshment allowed me but water, and very little of that.
I am, Sir, with very great respect, your most humble servant,
A Jersey Refugee.
--The Royal Gazette, No. 360, March 11, 1780.
New-York, February 16.
Mr. RIVINGTON.
SEEING in your last Wednesday's Gazette, an extract taken from a rebel paper of the 2d instant, giving an account of taking and bringing Justice Hedden and Robert Neil prisoners from Newark to this city, treating Mr. Hedden with great cruelty and reflecting on the officer who commanded that party, you may inform the public that the apprehending of Justice Hedden was no part of the object of the King's officers, but that one Walker a volunteer with them, who with many others had been most inhumanly and barbarously treated by Justice Hedden, went with a few of the privates to his house and took him, without waiting long for him to put on his cloaths, which he intentionally delayed, when the officers perceived on their march his want of more cloathing they supplied him with some.
If Mrs. Hedden was wounded, it is what she merited, by her assaulting and opposing all in her power, the carrying away her husband, there was no intent to hurt Mrs. Hedden, but to make her desist in her violence, if any harm happened to her she must blame her own fury. Mr. Hedden and his friends, may, if they have any sense of justice remaining, find that justice hath in part overtaken him, when they reflect on the acts of barbarity, he has frequently committed on many of his Majesty's loyal subjects for not perjuring themselves in abjuring their lawful sovereign and swearing allegiance to the Congress, and to the state of New-Jersey; among many of his persecutions, were imprisonments, keeping some several days without meat, drink, or any fire in the severity of the winter, reducing others to bread and water only, stripping many women and children of their cloathing, beds, and houshold furniture, and then banishing them without the necessaries of life, and seizing and selling the estates of a great number of his Majesty's subjects to his no small emolument.
Robert Neil is also notorious in his way, a bankrupt four years past, since acting under the pretence of a Sub Deputy Quarter Master to the Rebel army, made it his constant practice to take and dispose of, on his own account, to the continental troops, the wheat, corn, and other grain and also the firewood he cut from many valuable lots of land, belonging to those he pleased to call Tories, and enemies to the state of New-Jersey, whereby both Hedden and Neil have amassed large estates with the properties of others, common justice it is hoped will prevent their discharge, till they have made full satisfaction to his Majesty's faithful subjects for the injuries they have done them.
--The Royal Gazette, February 16, 1780, No. 353.
On June 1, 1896, the company was incorporated with V.J. Hedden as president and treasurer; Charles R. Hedden as first vice-president; Louis O. Hedden, second vice-president; Samuel S. Hedden, secretary and Albert Emmet Hedden, superindendent of plant. This company,whose developement and prosperity are largly due to to the business ability of Louis O. Hedden, has been identified wih the erection of some of the most beautiful and costly buildings on the Eastern seaboard.
Upon the retirement of his brother Charles R. Hedden, Louis O. Hedden was picked to fill the position of first vice-president. Because Mr. Louis Hedden's in the construction field was unsurpassed, he was offered positions in many companies. Vice-president, and director of Tri-Bullion Smelting and developing Company of New Mexico, with offices in NY; He also was vice-president of Boston and Alta Copper Co., of Montana, with offices in Boston.
In 1889 he established himself in steel and iron construction work, with offices at 35 Broadway, New York City, NY. In 1892 a plant was constructed at Bloomfield Center, with railroad facilities on the Delaware, Lakawanna & Western railroad, for the manufacture of all kinds of constructional iron and steel. The Company was incorporated in 1903 under the name of Hedden Iron Construction Co., with offices at 22 Clinton St., Newark, New Jersey. The Company was incorporated with an authorized capital of $100,000 and Mr. Hedden was named president.
In 1910 the Bloomfield plant was abandoned, and a new plant was erected on eleven acres at Lyons Farms, on the Irvington branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad. The main shop of the new plant was 110 x 240 feet, and had switching facilities for twenty-three cars on a double end switch. This plant was equipped with the most modern machinery, capable of manufacturing any kind of consrtuction steel.
Many of the finest bridges and skyscrapers in the area were erected with steel from the Hedden Iron Construction Co.
Charles Isreal Hedden was, while in the manufacture of hats, a heavy buyer of fur from New York. During the civil war Mr. Hedden became embarassed financially, but made an honorable settlement and later formed the firm of John H. Myers & Company which continued up to 1868, when they dissolved.
The family moved to Ridgeway, Warren County, North Carolina in the year 1868, and purchased a 1500 acre plantation. By his efforts the tobacco and grain plantation yielded a handsome yearly income. In 1870 Mr. Hedden's wife Matilda died leaving several small children, the youngest just two years old. Mr. Hedden moved his motherless family back north in 1872, the children going to Haydenville, Massachusetts, and Charles Isreal returning to Newark, NJ. After trying several enterprises he enter into a partnership in the manufacture of hats with Philip Hogan in Belleville, New Jersey. The partnership dissolved in about a years time. Somewhere in this time frame Mr. Heddens family returned to Newark and Mr. Hedden formed the firm of W.B. Huey & Company, consisting of Mr. Hedden, William B. Huey and Clarence M. Hedden, with quarters on Adams Street. In 1877 they moved the business to 204-208 Acadamy street, in the old John H. Case baby carriage factory. After a while this partnership also dissolved and the new firm of Charles M. Hedden & Company was formed occupying the same quarters, with Charles I. Hedden as president and his son Clarence M. Hedden , vice president. In 1883 they erected an even larger better laid out factory on Thirteenth Ave. The Heddens by their skill and enterprise became one of the leading and largest manufacturers of the day. The firm at one time employed upward of two hundred workers, with a daily output of one hundred and fifty dozen fur hats. Their trade extended not only in the United States but in South America and the islands of the sea. Upon the death of his father, Clarence M. Hedden, who had worked for his father since he was twenty five years old, took over the reins as head of the company. The Clarence M. Hedden & Company firm was incorporated in 1899. C.M. Hedden became president, his wife, Nellie F. Hedden, vice-president, William H. Fitz secretary and treasurer. C.M. Hedden was active in the manufacturer of hats and an extensive real estate business until his death in 1904.
Thomas Hedden and his wife Sara sold their property in Newark in 1804 and removed to Center Grove, Randolf Twp.
On a piece of Thomas Hedden's property in Center Grove, was a place where the clay was just right for making bricks. Thomas's son Oliver, with the permission of his father went into business manufacturing bricks. The Hedden homestead was built of these bricks. The old home was still standing one hundred years later.
The Liverymen of Plainfield, New Jersey.......Albert M. and Frank Hedden
The Hedden Livery was founded in Plainfield, New Jersey by Albert M. Hedden around 1875 with two or three horses in a little barn on Sycamore Street, about midway between East Fifth and East Sixth Streets. Next he moved to adjoining the site of the Jr. OUAM Hall on E. Front Street. Then he moved to the stables connected with the City Hotel, East Second Street and Park Avenue. Lastly, near the end of the century, he built a brick structure at 118 East Fourth Street, within a couple of blocks of where he first began business. The business was a block square. The carriages went in on Fourth Street and went out on Fifth Street.
When Albert Hedden died on August 14, 1908, he left the livery business to his son Frank and daughter Ella, to share and share alike. Since it was unsuitable at that time for women to be involved in business, Frank ran the business and split the profits with his sister. This continued until her death in 1929.
Frank Hedden was a lifelong Plainfield resident and very well known. He was always considered a good news source by reporters in the territory and earned his spending money as a schoolboy by working in the office of The Daily Bulletin. He held the distinction of being The Bulletin's first printer's Devil, and turned the wheels of the hand press which ran off the first copy of that paper.
He did not remain in the newspaper business very long but never lost his nose for news. Socialites who patronized his livery stable in the days when he kept about 60 horses and scores of phaetons, coupes and buckboards, kept him informed on social functions of the city, which he passed on to the news-thirsty reporters.
The whole bottom floor of the livery was horse stalls and carriages. Each horse had its own stall and own name. There was a blacksmith shop on the corner of the property. Mr. Hedden didn't own it but the man who did worked only for him. There were many types of carriages and each had a specific purpose. He had a wedding carriage which was white, a funeral carriage which was black and even a small carriage for a child's funeral. Above the stalls was a large storage area for the hay and the blankets and harnesses for the horses. He had many beautiful fur lap robes for use in the winter, some white and some black depending on the desires of his customers.
Livery businesses at this time would transport people back and forth to private homes, parties, church and social affairs as well as weddings and funerals. When there would be a large party or wedding in Plainfield, companies called on Frank Hedden for help. He would take a large wagon to the rail road station. Most of the catering companies who worked large parties in Plainfield were New York companies. They would have to pack up everything, the food, ice, dishes, etc. and bring the people who were going to work the party with them from New York on the train to Plainfield. Mr. Hedden would meet the train and load everything into his wagon and take it to the country club or wherever the event was taking place.
One of the things Mr. Hedden would do was to announce the carriages when it was time for the guests to leave. The carriages would be all lined up and one would pull up to the door and he would announce in his wonderful, booming voice "Mrs. Farber's carriage". Then Mrs. Farber would come out and get into her carriage. There were many very wealthy people living in Plainfield at that time besides Mr. Farber and his family.
One of the catering companies that Plainfielders hired quite a lot was Louis Sherry from New York, who was known for the wonderful ice cream molds he made. Mr. Hedden got to be good friends with the caterers and when there was left over food they would not take it back to New York with them so they gave it to Mr. Hedden. He would take home these wonderful ice creams, as they were called, and even if it was 3:00 in the morning he and his wife would wake up their children to enjoy these wonderful treats.
Mr. Hedden enjoyed his business and made a good living until the invention of the automobile. He tried to keep up with the times by purchasing them to transport his customers, but one would assume it became too expensive after the stock market crash. After he retired from the livery business in 1932, Mr. Hedden worked as a night watchman at Ransome Concrete.
He died on February 24, 1945. His widow was Gussie Norman of Long Island to whom he was married almost 40 years. He was also survived by four children: Albert Charles Hedden, Ruth Jane Penrose, Helen Louise Schraga and Jean Elizabeth Kenney and 6 grandchildren. Frank Hedden was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, NJ in the family plot with his parents, sister, and brother-in-law.
The July 27, 1923 Plainfield Courier-News ran an article on Mr. Hedden and parts of it are quoted here:
Only Liveryman in State Still Using Horses
Plainfield, claiming with very good reason, to be among the very first of communities to adopt the newest of everything that comes into use, can equally claim to be the last thus far in New Jersey, to abandon some of the old things, particularly in the line of transportation.
In this day when the horse, the remnant of a species equine which is now almost as scarce as the ichthyosaurus, and automobiles are so numerous that they often have to run upon sidewalks, and climb trees to get out of each others way, Frank Hedden, of 118 East Fourth Street, claims to be the only liveryman in New Jersey keeping horses for the use of patrons. He has six, and the rest of the floor in his capacious livery is occupied by automobiles. Last year he had thirty horses, about half the number kept by him and his father in days before the benzine buggy drove the equine off the highway, but now has only the six as a reminder of the days when men loved prancing steeds, and were proud of handsome equipages.
Mr. Hedden also finds use for these horses for patrons who are nervous about riding in autos, and who like drives along the shady by-roads that are free from the rush of traffic. He probably will keep half a dozen horses for those who like to drive in the old-fashioned way, but so far as he can learn he is the only liveryman in New Jersey keeping this many horses. He was apprised of this fact by a request for a moving picture concern which came to him to get one of his carriages, a landau, for use in staging a movie somewhere. The party had sought elsewhere for such a carriage, and finally tried the little town of Plainfield. There are numerous old carriages around the country blacksmith shops, and in the farm barnyards, cast into the discard, with only the family tradition to assure the observer that: A hansom carriage they called it then, but Mr. Hedden still has a few of the old-time carriages in good condition ready for use.
Sources: 1) The Genealogical and Memorial History of The State of New Jersey, Vol III, Pub. 1913, Lewis;
Although most of the residents of the Colonies at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War were patriots, some 100,000 remained loyal to the British Crown. Surprisingly not all loyalists were English colonists. Some were German immigrants in Pennsylvania, who were at best disliked by the English colonists; Some were black slaves who escaped from the south via the underground railroad and were easy marks for the British recuiters who promised land and prosperity; Some were Iroqois and Algonquin Indians who had fought against the French in the French and English war; Many were North Carolina English Colonists where loyalty to the Queen was never a doubt. Some so called loyalists would not fight for either side due to their religeous beliefs and fled to escape persecution from either faction. By far the larger group was made up of Colonists, who in principle, may have agreed with the policy of the revolutionarys but feared the uprising would fail. Due to their fear of sure punishment, and loss of everything they owned at the hands of the victorious British troops, they signed oaths of allegiance to the Crown and fled to places occupied by the British such as New York and Philadelphia.
Many families fled to Canada after the war was over, and being the defeated army, could not return to their US homes. Several with the surname of Hedden were in this latter group. Two of those seeking asylum, were Zopher Hedden, who removed to St.John, New Brunswick, and
Isaac Hedden, believed to be Zopher's brother.
Isaac Hedden - Lieutenant in 1st Battalion New Jersey Volunteers, c. 1783,
age 26, from America, served Provincial Corps
6 years.
Joseph Barten (Lieutenant Colonel)
Thomas Neaton (Captain Lieutenant)
John Lawrence (Ensign)
Isaac Hedden (Adjutant)
Flaming Colagan (Quarter Master)
Uzal Johnson (surgeon)
Stephen Millidge (Male)
Rubin Hampison (sick serjeant)
Thomas Taylor (serjeant)
Tuckir Tabour (serjeant)
Isaac Tobes (corporal)
John Shephard (corporal)
John Porter (corporal) promoted Aug 11 1778
William Pitcher (drummer)
Muster Roll of Captain John Cougle's Company in the 1st Battalion of New Jersey
Volunteers Staten Island May 177?
Many of these men went to Upper Canada (Ontario) as Loyalists.
John Cougle (Captain)
Isaac Hedden (Lieutenant)
James Moody (Ensign)
John Waddington (sergeant)
William Carrel (sergeant)
James Brown (sergeant)
Christopher Hibler (corporal)
Christopher Brent (corporal)
Samuel Hibler (prisoner with the rebels)
William Pasca (drummer)
Isaac Hedden settled in Fredericton, New Brunswick after the war and is believed to have died in 1802, and was never married.
Zopher Hedden fought with the British 17th artillary Regiment as a gunner's assistant. After the war he was granted lots # 1388 and # 1437 in Parrtown, (an early name for St.John), New Brunswick, as payment for his loyalty to the Crown. He later settled in Mispic, New Brunswick and probably died there.(Still trying to find if there were descendants)
Although many arrived in Canada in destitute shape, the British Crown was very generous with these new immigrants, granting them land, and suppling them with three years of clothing, tools and provisions. The land settlements were based on service to the Crown as follows:
To Loyalists who fought for the Crown:
•To every field officer - 1,000 acres
•To every captain - 700 acres
•To every subaltern, staff, or warrant officer - 500 acres
•To every non-commissioned officer - 200 acres
•To every private - 100 acres
•For each member of their families - 50 acres
To non-combatant Loyalists:
•Every master of a family - 100 acres
•Every person in the family - 50 acres
•Every single man - 50 acres
courageous actions during the war and pity for the way he, his wife and his neighbors were treated by the Brits.
who were there. Question: Was he Martyr or Sadistic Criminal ??
The following are the names of some of the Rebel Officers, &c. brought to town on Thursday last from
Newark--Mr. Joseph Hedden, a magistrate, and commissioner for the sale of the Loyalists estates in Jersey;
Mr. Robert Neil, an acting Commissary. From Elizabeth-Town.--Major Fccles,1 of the 5th Maryland regiment,
Capt. Belt, of the 4th regiment, from Prince George County, Mr. B. Smith, son of Mr. Peartree Smith,
Major Williamson and his brother.
if recent instances did not evince the contrary.
That such as come under the above description may be held in
durance, so as not to have it in their power to repeat such savage acts in future, is the only reason of
this painful detail; of one of the many instances of barbarity exercised by Joseph Hedden of Newark, New-Jersey,
a rebel judge and justice, who, in the heat of summer 1777, issued his mandate to banish a helpless woman
and children, for no crime, except her husband being a friend to his Majesty's government, and accordingly sent a rebel
guard to execute his order; who, when they came to the house of the disconsolate woman, (six miles from Newark)
found her very weak, and unable to travel, having been delivered of twins about fourteen days, which excited
so much compassion in the guard as to cause them to forego their orders and return without the woman,
which only produced a new and absolute decree from Hedden to bring her at all hazards to Newark, and from
thence to be sent to Bergen, and when the rebel captain remonstrated to Hedden that executing his order would
be the death of the woman. Hedden replied, Let her die there will be one damn'd Tory less; and accordingly
the guard was sent the second time and brought her and her children in a waggon to Newark,
although she fainted, (through weakness) on the waggon; when the woman arrived at Newark her deplorable case
drew tears even from the eyes of rebels; and the kind offices of some friends of her sex enabled her the next
day to go through the last stage of her journey to Bergen, where, (soon after) her death, and the death
of her two innocent babes, closed the dismal tragedy.
If any should require satisfaction (as to the truth of the above
narrative) please to call on the Printer.
of Newark, being safely lodged (en Provost). By giving the following authentic narrative a place in the Royal
Gazette, it will not only tend to hold up this man in his proper colours, but very much oblige a number of the
Loyal Refugees.
others, all armed, and brought to the town of Newark, (fifteen miles from my own house) through mud and dirt
the whole way almost knee deep, (my persecutors being allowed to ride).
Sources: 1) The Loyalists of New Brunswick, page 291, Esther Clark Wright
2) Papers from the New York British Hdqtrs.
3) The Revolutionary History of The State of New Jersey, Vol. IV
Some of the finest buildings in New Jersey, New York and other large eastern cities were built by the Hedden Construction Company, one of the largest construction companies operating in Newark in the very early 1900s.. Among the most notable are the magnificent Prudential Building at Newark; the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company Building at Newark; the Howard Savings Bank; the American Insurance Company Building; and many of the station buildings on the Morris and Essex Division of the Delaware,Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
The Hedden Construction Company was started as a partnership between Mr. Viner Jones Hedden(a carpenter by trade), and Mr. J.J. Meeker. It was in this firm that after his formal schooling, Louis O. Hedden, second son of V.J. Hedden, learned the carpenter trade as his father had done. His application of work ethics won for him the title of Superindendent of Business in the firm, a position he held until the disolution of the firm in 1884, on the death of Mr. Meeker. A new Company was immediately organized under the name of V.J. Hedden and Sons.
The V.J. Hedden and Sons Company manufactured every variety of interior finish from the best exotic woods available.
Sources: 1) History of The City of Newark, New Jersey, Urquhart, Vol III, 1913
2) The genealogical and memorial history of The State of New Jersey, Vol III, Lewis Pub., 1913
Eugene Bleything Hedden, son of Viner J. Hedden, president of V.J.Hedden and Sons Construction Co., was in 1885, graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with a degree in civil engineering. He took employment first with The Riverside Bridge and Iron Works of Patterson, New Jersey, where he could study steel and iron construction. After about a year, he accepted a similar position with Wallis Iron Works, of New Jersey.
Source: 1) History of The City of Newark, New Jersey, Urquhart, Vol III, 1913
2) The Genealogical And Memorial History of the State of New Jersey, Vol III, Lewis, Pub. 1913
At the death of his father when he was but two years old, Charles Isreal Hedden was given to his uncle Job Williams, of Orange, NJ., to raise until he reached his manhood. While yet a boy he went to live with his grandfather Stiles in Ohio. It was here that a fall from a tree rendered him lame for the remainder of his life.
As a teenager he returned to Orange and was apprenticed to his uncle to learn the art of hat making.
Upon completion of his apprenticeship, he was employed as a journeyman for several firms.
In 1856 he established his own company in the manufacter of hats in a rented factory that he later purchased. This was a spacious wooden structure, about one hundred fifty feet by one hundred fifty feet on Williams Street.
Mr. Hedden was the Orange pioneer to introduce a steam boiler and a set of pouncing machines in his factory. He was also the first man to take the refuse hat roundings and repick them into hat fur stock. From that time until the present(1913), every part of waste hat stock has been converted into new stock and utilized.
It took many years of apprenticeship and countless hours of back breaking labor to earn the title of journeyman stone mason in the late 1700s. One such journeyman was Mr. Abial Hedden of Newark. Mr Hedden learned the stone cutting trade at an early age. He followed the stone cutting trade along with running his farm as many tradesmen did in these times.
Many of the tombstones in the old Scotland burial-ground were cut and inscribed by Abial Hedden. He cut and laid stone for the of Castle Garden and Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor. Hedden's Stone Cutting supplied many of the foundation stones for the old residential homes in the Oranges. An added interest of Abial Hedden was that of undertaker. The transfer of many of the bodies from the old Presbyterian burial-ground to Rosedale Cemetery was made under Mr. Hedden's direction. His stone cutting business was passed on to his son Uzal, however little is known about the business after the turnover.
The earliest Heddens in the Newark, New Jersey area, were with the Robert Treat Newark Colony from Conneticut. They were for the most part farmers and storekeepers.
Ebenezer Hedden dissatisfied with the Treat Colony restrictions, purchased land from the Indians in the New Jersey wilderness on the east side of the undeveloped, primeval, First Newark Mountain on the East Branch of the Rahway river. The hardships involved seemed to be a small price to pay for the freedom and ownership of the land they had so long desired and finally found in Newark where they multiplied and labored to hew a habitation out of the wilderness.
Little time passed however before their independence was threatened by the greedy Board of Proprietors of Newark who disregarded the Heddens Indian deeds to their land and sent surveyors into the hills to measure off large tracts of land for the purpose of issueing their own land patents.
In spite of all the obstacles thrown in front of him, Ebenezer Hedden had acquired a seventy-two acre land patent and settled on the mountain side with his wife by the year 1740, and, it was here that their children were born.
Through the years many attemps were made to purchase land from the heirs of the original prorietors to no avail. A last endeavor was made on a cold, stormy, December evening in 1770 when Obediah Hedden, son of Ebenezer, traveled the frozen road to meet with a representative of the proprietors to discuss the purchase of lands. Although deeds were drawn, it was not until Obediah had fought courageously and with distinction in the Revolutionary War, that the transaction was finalized. Obediah Hedden was the first of nine buyers to purchase twenty-five acres of land with buildings in March 1787.
Obediah Hedden's house still stands today(1997) in Maplewood, New Jersey. This old home was purchased in 1812 by Mr. Henry Durand who resided there until his death in 1846.
Submitted by Ms. Arlene Dunkum, great-granddaughter of Albert M. Hedden
It was this Mr. Farber who invented the pencil.
Created with the CoffeeCup HTML Editor