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The Agony of New York

When I first envisaged creating a website devoted to the Hedgecock family I had the idea of including a newsletter. I never thought that the first article which appeared would be of such a dramatic nature as a reference to such a dreadful incident as the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September.

During the first decade of the 20^th.century, five of the children of Peter Hedgecock, a railway worker in the suburbs of Liverpool who was born in Warrington, emigrated to the U.S.A. and settled in New York. Several of their descendants still live in the State of New York. I am pleased to be able to report that all are safe but probably the lives of all of them have been touched by the loss of personal friends.

Among these descendants is Annette Witoshynsky, the great granddaughter of Joseph Henry Hedgecock, the eldest of the five children who emigrated to the U.S.A. Both Annette and her husband Eric serve as officers in the

New York Police Department. They were both off duty when the World Trade Center was attacked but were subsequently called in for duty. We salute their courage and the courage of all the police and firefighters who risked their lives that day and many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Lillian Newton, the daughter of Elizabeth Hedgecock, married William Harold Johnson and emigrated to the U.S.A. in the 1940s. She and her two sons Robert and Paul now live in Buffalo in New York State. Paul tells me that his company had eight of his colleagues visiting the World Trade Center that day on the 78^th.floor. In his words “All made it out. Thank God.”

I am sure that my words will be echoed by members of our family throughout the world when I say that our prayers and thoughts were with the people of America on 11 September and we will never forget the atrocity that occurred on that day

Ellis Island

Paul Hedgecock in Pennsylvania has been searching the new Ellis Island web-site and has learned that his grandparents, Joseph Henry and Mary Ellen Hedgecock, first arrived in the U.S.A. in 1904. They went over again with their eldest son, Joseph, in 1906 on the Umbria and Paul's grandmother, Mary entered through Ellis Island a third time with the two children Joseph and John Herbert in 1910 on the Cedric.

The Ellis Island web-site also contains records of the entry of three other children of Paul's g.grandfather, Peter Hedgecock, namely Charles Herbert, Esther Jane and John Ernest.

The Umbria

Grave Spotting

Corinne Hedgecock together with Allan Entwistle visited Hill Cliffe Baptist Cemetery in Appleton, Cheshire which is a few miles from Warrington in order to view and photograph two gravestones of members of the family. Allan is related to the Baxter family mentioned below.

The one shown is of Peter Hedgcock (spelled without a middle "e" this time) and members of his family. Peter married Betty Baxter in 1815 in Runcorn and after her death in April 1820 married her sister, Mary, within two months. As such a marriage was not permitted by the Church of England he travelled to the nearby parish of Farnworth for the marriage where presumably he was not known.

The inscriptions name Peter himself who died in 1867, Betty who died in 1820, Mary who died in 1843 and Peter, the son of Mary, who died in 1851. Of particular interest is the inscription which occurs after the name of Betty, "Rachel, their daughter, died young". We knew that Peter and Mary had a daughter, Rachel, but but it was thought that Betty had only one child, Thomas, who was born in 1816.

The other gravestone is that of William Hedgcock, the son of Peter, and of his wife Elizabeth. It also includes a Mary Carruthers who died in 1935 and is clearly the married daughter of William. There is also a David Robert Murray who died in 1929 aged 2 days, presumably a grandchild.

Our Brave Boys

Another Sibling?

At the time of the French Revolution and before the Napoleonic Wars started it was feared that Napoleon would invade England. In consequence volunteer forces were established in many towns throughout the country in 1798.

The Warrington Volunteers were raised at this time and the muster roll for 1807 shows that three members of the family had volunteered, namely Richard Hitchcock, smith, John Edgecock, glass cutter, and John Edgecock, soap boiler. Despite the variations in spelling these are clearly Richard and John (the soap boiler) sons of Richard Hitchcock and their (presumed) cousin, John (the glass cutter) son of Peter Hitchcock)

The Orderly Book of the Warrington Volunteers shows that their annual pay for training was 20 shillings. There was an annual exercise at which they received the same pay as members of the militia. Also if they were inspected by a general or field officer they would receive as privates one shilling. During their service they would be called on to attend parades usually about once every two weeks in 1807.

One great advantage of being volunteers was that they gained exemption from serving in the militia. Our brave boys were not stupid.

We have known of Richard Hitchcock and Peter Hitchcock for nearly forty years and four years ago discovered the marriage of Elizabeth Hitchcock. It has been assumed, although there is no definite proof that the three were siblings. Despite years of research neither the births nor baptisms of any have been found.

A recent Data CD produced by Ancestry.com however lists the marriage, at the Chapel of Hale in the Parish of Childwall in Lancashire, of Robert Bennet of Hale and Jane Hitchcock of Warrington on 14 August 1775. Hale is on the bank of the River Mersey as is Warrington but about 10 miles downriver on the way to the major port of Liverpool.

The contemporaries of Jane in Warrington were Elizabeth who married in 1771, Richard who married in 1776 and Peter who married between about 1776 and 1781. It certainly seems possible that Jane was a fourth sibling. Unfortunately the evidence is from the Bishop's Transcripts of the Chapel of Hale and contains little detail. Jane could have been a widow. Also it appears that the original parish register may have been destroyed.

Joseph the Hairdresser

Lyn Bradley in Adelaide, Australia, has recently obtained the photograph below which she has kindly sent to me. The photograph is of Joseph Hedgecock standing outside his hairdresser's shop at 7 Irlam Street, Warrington, around 1888.

Joseph, the son of Thomas Hedgecock and Betty Harrop was born in 1845 and in 1865 married Hannah Morton. They had a single daughter, Margaret, in 1866. Hannah died in 1875 and the following year Joseph married Mary Jane Bunting. They had two boys, James Harrop Hedgecock in 1878 and Harry Bunting Hedgecock in 1880. The photograph includes Joseph, Mary Jane and their two sons.

Margaret was Lyn's great grandmother. She married Albert Bodle in Warrington in 1888 and shortly afterwards the family emigrated to Australia and there are now five generations of their descendents "down under".

Joseph Hedgecock, Harry, Mary Jane and James.

I hope to produce further newsletters and would welcome articles from members of the family.

Photographs would be particularly interesting.

All contributions to David Hedgecock