Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-09
GREAT HEDGES.
How the Fortune Left in l7i4 Has
Grown.
History Of the FamiIy-RemOYaI to Ameaica
formation Of the Associa!o1-The
Amount MentiOn-Local Heirs.

MI lAlilltllHF AOflAAltt alilOuuJlh9
with interest To over $3.50, OOO, 900, is now
lying in the Bank of England, belong
ing To the Hedges family in America.
This fortune was left by Sir Charles
Hedges, who died in liza. Sir Charles
Hedges, one Ofthe Doctors Commons,
was an English Tory politician of note,
who graduated at Oxford in 1919. He
was appointed Secretary of State by
King William III, in li0O-being Judge
of Admiralty place of Earl of Jer-
sey, and was returned to Parliament
about the same time. While there he
drew up and presented the bill to en-
force the ADMIRATION Act, which for
ever set at rest the claims of the Preten-
der, and established Anne's succession
by the Earl of Manchester. In 1902
Queen Anne assembled the throne, and.
80. Charles Hedges.
was again appointed, Secre-
tary of State. for which
place he was pressed by the Earl of
Nottingham, who declined to serve in
the Cabinet unless Sir Charles was re-
appointed, giving as q reason why he
should be restored, that he had lost his
place by reason of a conscientious vote
in the House of Commons. In lIO6 he
was appointed one of the commissioners
on the part of England to settle the
terms of the Union of the English and
Scottish kingdoms. He remained Sec
rotary of the State until 1907, when,
owing to the power of the Duke OF
Marlborough, and influence and intri-
que of the Duchess Marlborough, to-
gethcr with the threat of their son-in-
law, GOdOlphin, Lord Treasurer, to re-
sign, and pressure brought to bear
BY Prominent wings.
then getting into power, the
Queen was impelled to pro-
vide place IN her cabinet for another
son-in-iaw of Marlborough, the Duke of
Sunderland, and with the utmost reluc-
lance she appointed him in place OF
Sir Charles. lie died in TIA, Charles
Hedges, Gent, who died in loo, leaV-
ing a son and four daughters. The son
was named Joseph Hedges, and he emf
grated To America about this time and
settled in Maryland. He died in
Monocacy, Md, in 1872. Joseph
Hedges left several sons and daughters,
all of whom settled in Prince George
and Frederick counties, Md, and in
Becklley and Brooke cOuntie', Va.
The DecendentS-
of these children then moved
to Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri,
Louisiana and other States, and when
ever found are amongst the most enter
prising and influential people of their
locality. There is an Association OF
the Hedges Heirs in the United States
with headquarters in Kentucky, DIR. I.
w. Hedges, Cynthinia, President.
There was a Well-attended meeting OF
this association i'm May, 1881. 1t is not
vet known when and where the next
meeting will BE- held. There are also
several State associations in various
States, auxiliary to the United States
association. An editorial in a recent
New York Evening Post, in reference
10 this fortune says:
The Hedges Family.
(which like so many other
families, is said 10 be scattered
all over the United States
has recently learned that there is nice
little property of S250,0O0,OOO in Eng
land, ready to be devided among all
Hedges who can prove decent from
a common ancestor who died some
century or two ago in England. He
did not leave behind S25O,0OO,OOO, but
his unclaimed property has been accum-
ulatinC ever since his death, and has
now reached the very respectable figure
we have given. Ii is of course in the
Bank of England, where all unclaimed
sums of this sort accumulate, but how 1t
is invested does not appear. Invested
funds, il is well-knOwn, double every few
wears or so, and if the Hedges meet, as
they probably will, some obstacles in the
way of effecting distribution, the delay
will, after all, only make the family
richer. In 1890 the fund ought to be
about -
mand by the beginning of next
century $1,000, 100000, and however
large the family may he, the
division of sums of this magnitude Will
make perceptible difference not only in
their private fortunes, but in the nation
al resources themselves. The sudden
transfer Of 81, 600, 100000 or even $500
OOO, 900 from the vault of the Bank OF
England to a foreign country would q
hundred years ago have been regarded
with alarm by all statesmen, and
though modern political economy has
taught Us now adays to regard such
transfer without national terror on one
side or exultation on the other, even
the economist will probably concede
that the sudden enrichment ola large
number of citizens by such transfer
increases, and spreads a general feeling
of contentment and prosperity among
them and their creditors which must
reinforce the general national vitality
and energy, and indirectly increase the
ratio Of progress made by the nation it