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 Abt 1612 - Bef 1670 (~ 58 years)
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| Name |
William HEDGE |
| Title |
Captain |
| Born |
Abt 1612 |
Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, England  [1] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
Bef 05 Jul 1670 |
Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts [1] |
| Person ID |
I461 |
Sturgis |
| Last Modified |
12 Jun 2005 |
| Married |
Abt 1640 |
Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts [1] |
| Children |
| | 1. Mary HEDGE, b. 24 Feb 1648/49, Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts |
|
| Last Modified |
14 Oct 2018 |
| Family ID |
F49 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
-
| Notes |
- From: The Great Migration Begins:
ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1633
FIRST RESIDENCE: Lynn
REMOVES: Sandwich 1638, Yarmouth by 1643
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Lynn church prior to 14 May 1634 implied by freemanship.
FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 [ MBCR 1:369]. Oath of fidelity at Sandwich, 1639 (as "Mr. Will[ia]m Edge") [ PCR 8:184].
EDUCATION: Signed his will.
OFFICES: Essex petit jury, 27 March 1638 [ EQC 1:7].
Chosen Yarmouth constable, 4 June 1650 [ PCR 2:153]. Committee to lay out highway from Sandwich to Plymouth, 24 February 1652[/3] [ PCR 3:61-62]. Plymouth grand jury, 7 June 1659 [ PCR 3:162]. Coroner's jury, October 1659 [ PCR 3:172].
In Yarmouth section of 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms (as "Will[ia]m Edge") [ PCR 8:194]. "Mr. Will[i]am Hedge" chosen ensign of the Yarmouth military company [ PCR 3:38]. Ordered to exercise military company at Yarmouth, 7 August 1655 [ PCR 3:87]. "Ensign Will[i]am Hedge" appointed to colony council of war, 2 October 1658 [ PCR 3:153]. Appointed captain of the military company of Yarmouth, 2 August 1659 [ PCR 3:169], and again on 3 June 1662 [ PCR 4:15].
ESTATE: On 16 April 1640 "Mr. Edge" received fourteen acres in the court-ordered division of meadow at Sandwich [ PCR 1:149].
On 29 August 1643 concerning "the difference betwixt Mr. Hedge and Richard Hore, of Yarmouth, for the meadow ground at Yarmouth, first given to the church there, the Court doth order that the said six acres shall so remain to the church according to the first grant, and that Mr. Hedge may take his remedy against him or them that sold him the same, being formerly disposed of to the church as aforesaid" [ PCR 2:62].
In his will, dated 30 June 1670 and proved 11 August 1670, "William Hedge Senior in Yarmouth ... being weak of body" bequeathed to "my beloved son Abraham Hedge this now my dwelling house with all the household stuff ... and all my land that belongeth to my dwelling house, and also all my lands, both upland and meadow that I have in the Prime Field"; to "my beloved son Elisha Hedge my neck of land and meadows belonging thereunto provided that he pay his brother, my son William, ?5"; to "my beloved son William ?40 in debts and my best suit of clothes and my best hat"; to "my beloved son John ?50 and my next suit of clothes and my brass musket and my rapier and belt and two mares and two colts"; to "my beloved son Elemuell ?50 and two mares and two colts"; to "my beloved daughter Sarah Mathews" ?5; to "my beloved daughter Elizabeth Barnes" ?5; to "my beloved daughter Mary Sturgis" ?40; to "my beloved daughter Marcye" ?50; "to my beloved sister Brookes ?30 that is of mine in Virginia that is due to me from Brother Brookes, deceased, likewise it is my mind and will that my sister Brookes shall have her livelihood amongst my children so long as she continues a widow"; "my beloved son Elisha" sole executor; "my beloved friends Mr. Thomas Thornton, Mr. Edmond Hawes and Richard Tayler" overseers; "whereas Blanch, my wife, hath dealt falsely with me in the covenant of marriage in departing from me, therefore I do in this my last will ... give her 12d. and also what I have received of hers my will is shall be returned to her again" [ MD 18:252, citing PCPR 3:20].
Administration on the estate of "Captain Will[i]am Hedge lately deceased" was granted to Elisha Hedge on 11 August 1670 [ PCR 5:47]. The inventory of the estate of "Captain William Hedge of Yarmouth late deceased" was taken 15 July 1670 and totalled ?487 16s., including no real estate [ MD 18:252, citing PCPR 3:21].
BIRTH: About 1612, son of Elisha and Ann (Ward) Hedge (his parents married Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, 12 July 1610 [ NEHGR 111:319] and the immigrant was admitted to freemanship on 14 May 1634).
DEATH: Yarmouth between 30 June 1670 (date of will) and 5 July 1670 (court order to bring in will and inventory [ PCR 5:43]).
MARRIAGE: (1) By about 1640 _____ _____; she died after about 1658 and by about 1667.
(2) After 1667 Blanche (_____) Hull, widow of Tristram Hull; she deserted him before 30 June 1670.
CHILDREN:
With first wife
i ABRAHAM, b. say 1640; named in father's will, 30 June 1670; sued by Francis Baker, 27 October 1680 [ PCR 7:230; see also PCR 5:111]; no further record.
ii ELISHA, b. about 1642 (d. Yarmouth 17 May 1732 "in his 91st year" [ YarVR 809]); m. by 1666 Mary _____ (eldest child b. 30 November 1666 [ YarVR 6]). (Mary is said to be daughter of Edward Sturgis, but see COMMENTS below.)
iii SARAH, b. say 1645; m. by about 1668 James Matthews (although the birth dates of his children, and therefore his approximate marriage date, are quite uncertain).
iv ELIZABETH, b. Yarmouth 21 May 1647 [ PCR 8:3]; m. Plymouth 4 January 1665[/6] Jonathan Barnes [ PCR 8:31], son of JOHN BARNES .
v MARY, b. Yarmouth 24 [February?] 1648[/9?] [ PCR 8:7]; m. (1) by about 1667 Samuel Sturges; m. (2) Yarmouth 1 October 1679 as his third wife John Coggeshall [ YarVR 17], son of JOHN COGGESHALL . Mary died Newport 22 August 1731 in her 83rd year.
vi WILLIAM, b. say 1651; m. by 1682/3 Elizabeth _____. (Elizabeth is said to be daughter of Edward Sturgis, but see COMMENTS below.)
vii JOHN, b. say 1653; named in father's will, 30 June 1670; no further record.
viii LEMUEL, b. say 1655; named in father's will, 30 June 1670; no further record.
ix MERCY, b. say 1658; on 4 July 1673 Plymouth court authorized Lt. Thomas Howes of Yarmouth as guardian of "Marcye Hedge" [ PCPR 5:124]; no further record. (Some sources state that Mercy married first Elkanah Watson and second John Freeman. In 1935 George Ernest Bowman demonstrated that the widow of Elkanah Watson did marry John Freeman, but he could find no evidence that she was Mercy Hedges [ MD 33:100-14].)
ASSOCIATIONS: Sister Brooks, mentioned in his will, is not otherwise named in Yarmouth records, but may be the "Rebecca Hedge, daughter of the said Elisha," named in the will of Elisha's father, Thomas Hedge, citizen and merchant tailor of London [ Waters 140-42].
The marriage at Boston on 20 December 1657 of Tristram Hedges and Anne Nickerson is an intriguing one [ BVR 62]. William Hedges did not have a son Tristram, but his second wife was widow of Tristram Hull. Although the marriage took place in Boston, Anne Nickerson was daughter of William Nickerson of Chatham, and therefore a near neighbor of William Hedges on Cape Cod. This conjunction of names may be mere coincidence, but deserves further investigation.
Several of the marriages of the children of William Hedges are difficult to substantiate, and this is in part a consequence of the connections with the Sturgis family, which is very poorly documented. In his will William Hedges named a daughter Mary Sturgis, and she is identified as wife of Samuel Sturgis principally because there is no other available Sturgis with wife Mary; in addition, Mr. Elisha Hedge is one of those who was supposed to assist the widow Mary Sturgis in settling the estate of Samuel Sturgis [ PCR 5:160]. Most sources claim that Elisha and William Hedges married Mary and Elizabeth Sturgis, but there is no direct evidence for this, and the known marriage of Mary Sturgis to one of the sons of Edward Sturgis is sufficient to explain other associations between the two families [Roger Faxton Sturgis, Edward Sturgis of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, 1613-1695 and His Descendants (Boston 1914), pp. 10-18].
COMMENTS: Pope has assigned the 1634 record of freemanship to William Hedges of Taunton, but this was a different man, who was made free in Plymouth Colony on 5 June 1651 [ PCR 2:141, 167]. William of Sandwich and Yarmouth was consistently called "Mr.," while William of Taunton was not.
On 28 March 1637 in Essex Quarter Court, "Wm. Hedg" had a suit against Ensign Walker and Mr. Edward Tomlins [ EQC 1:5], both of the latter being early settlers of Lynn.
Savage includes this note in his account of William Hedge: "A soldier in the Pequot war, with this surname, whose name of baptism is not found, either in Vincent, Underhill, or Mason, the narrators, who served with him, is very well mentioned and the first writer (who probably spoke with confidence), calls him a gentleman of Northamptonshire" [ Savage 2:400]. All the particulars of this description fit William Hedges of Lynn, Sandwich and Yarmouth.
On 5 November 1638 "William Edge, gent.," assigned to Thomas Prence "all his right and interest in the service of Rob[er]t Wickson [ PCR 1:102]. On 4 December 1638 "Mr. Hedge" was one of eleven Sandwich men pre~sented at Plymouth court "for keeping swine unringed" [ PCR 1:107].
On 6 March 1648/9 "Mr. William Hedge, of the town of Yarmouth," was presented for "letting an Indian have a gun, and powder, and shot," and "the wife of Mr. Hedge, of Yarmouth," was presented "for receiving of stolen goods" [ PCR 2:137]. On 6 March 1649/50 "Mr. William Hedge, of Yarmouth," successfully sued Robert Nash of Boston [ PCR 7:47]. On 5 October 1652 "William Hedge, of Yarmouth," was presented "for selling wine and strong waters without license" [ PCR 3:17].
On 2 October 1658 "Mr. Will[i]am Hedge being presented for threatening to have the blood of Edward Sturgis, upon some small difference betwixt them, the Court do censure him to pay to the country's use the sum of ten shillings" [ PCR 3:150].
On 9 August 1662 "Mr. Hedge" brought into Yarmouth "about fifteen gallons of liquors, ten pounds of powder, and half an hundred of lead," and on 19 September he brought in another ten gallons of liquor [ PCR 4:28]. He imported more liquor and ammunition in 1663 [ PCR 4:52].
On 6 April 1674 "Quachattasett, sachem of Manomett [Chatham]," sold to "Will Hedge or Webaquequan of Koomasabunkawitt" land at Breakheart Hill [ PCR 12:226-27]; the grantee may have assumed the name of Mr. William Hedge of Yarmouth. [1]
- WILLIAM, Lynn, freem. 14 May 1634, rem. to Sandwich, thence to Yarmouth, had Elizabeth b. 21 May 1646; Mary, 1648; beside Abraham, Sarah, Elisha, William, John, Mary, and Lemuel, all liv. to be nam. in his will; but this may not be the order of their b. His sec. w. was Blanch, and had been wid. Hull. Elizabeth m. 4 Jan. 1666, Jonathan Barnes; Mary m. a Sturgis; and Sarah m. a Matthews. He d. 1670, when some of these ch. were young. His will of 30 June in that yr. ment. that his w. to wh. he gave only twelve pence, had brok. covenant and separat. from him. A soldier in the Pequot war, with this surname, whose name of bapt. is not found, either in Vincent, Underhill, or Mason, the narrators, wh. serv. with him, is very well ment. and the first writer (who prob. spoke with confidence), calls him a gent. of Northamptonsh. [2]
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| Sources |
- [S45] Great Migration Begins, Anderson, Robert C., (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).
- [S94] Savage, Savage, James.
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