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View Tree for David HedgesDavid Hedges (b. Jun 15, 1744, d. Nov 08, 1817)

David Hedges (son of Daniel Hedges and Sarah Sandford) was born Jun 15, 1744277, and died Nov 08, 1817. He married Charity Howell.

 Includes NotesNotes for David Hedges:
East Hampton History and Genealogy 1953

"Deacon David Hedges was a remarkable man. He served for 20 years as Supervisor in Southampton Town; was deputy to the 4th Provincial Congress, State of New York, 1776-1777; delegate to the Convention that ratified the Constitution of the US and continued therefor; Member of Assembly, 1786, 87,88,89,1804,06, and 07. In 1807 he was active in securing passage of an act incorporating the Proprietors of Montauk, a complicated business which met with some opposition.

During the Revolution the Bridgehampton Church had no minister; then and often in later life in the minister's absence he would conduct public worship and read a sermon. At the close of the Deacon's preaching on July 2, 1775, John Hulbert gathered the men of the congregation about him at the church door and there enlisted 21 men for one of the first companies organized in the colony for the defense of national liberty.

Quoting Judge Hedges: "He was physically powerful, and capable of great endurance. It is reported that he took a drove of cattle to New York and sold them for a thousand pounds. In those day robberies were frequent and the danger therefrom alarming. To avoid it Deacon Hedges took this large sum in his saddle bags, started on horseback from Brooklyn Ferry before daybreak, and stopping for refreshments only once on the road, arrived at his home in Sagg safely by 9 o'clock in the evening, a distance of 100 miles. Tradition tells that the Deacon was none the worse for it, but the young horse he rode was a long time disabled. There is a tradition that at one time the State government offered a bounty of premium to the man who would raise the most flax. In the hope of procuring the premium he sowed forty acres in one field. He led the company in pulling it and when they got around it, Levi Sandford, one of them nearest to him said, 'Deacon, we have been around the world.'"

Author's Note: [Jeannette Edwards Rattray] Deacon David Hedges built the house on Hedges Lane, Sagaponack -- a street that was once all Hedges houses - which was owned by the late Samuel C. Hedges of East Hampton. Last of the name to live there were the Misses Esther and Ann Hedges, 8th generation. They were cousins of my grandmother, Phoebe Jeanette Osborn Huntting. I often called on them, two jolly little old ladies who wore slat sunbonnets to tend their garden and their chickens. Cousin Ann told me that Deacon David, her great-grandfather, could walk from Sagg to Wainscott on his own land. When he was away at the Legislature, he left his slave to manage the place. He had a big family of slaves, descendants of one Adam who came as a child of 5 from the Congo; five children were born to him on the place and Miss Hedges' father built a house for his son John who drove their oxen when she was a child. The slaves were liberated in 1828, she said, Wilkes Hedges' Bible recorded births of three slaves - John, in May 1801; "Vilet," May 1803; and Kingston July 30, 1805."

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Children of David Hedges and Charity Howell are:
  1. +Wilkes Hedges, b. Jul 21, 1775, East Hampton, NY277, d. date unknown.
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