Robert Hedges (VII) purchased a 259.5 acre tract on the Salt River, from the Welch and Boone Entries in May, 1830, based upon a three-year mortgage to McClure, which contained flat cropland, several springs, and low rolling hills and was priced for $4.23@ acre. Here he erected a log home flanked by two massive stone fireplaces. This house has been the home of Robert and Eury, sons Robert and Hillery, grandsons Taylor and Joshua, nephew Huston, and great-grandson Houston Hedges. The last family-member who was a long-time inhabitant of "The Hedges" was Taylor who died there in 1954. There have, however, been several overnighters by the later generations during the 1970's.

Robert Hedges (VII) also purchased a second adjacent tract of 98 very hilly acres in 1837, for $7.14@ acre. The price-rise is evidence of the effects of inflation and the wisdom of investing in land. The price of unsettled land in Missouri and Indiana was about $1.00@ acre in this time era, and so the opportunity to own land continued to draw new generations and new immigrants away from this settled area, into new undeveloped territory.

Squire Boone and his band had laid out a survey for 1000 acres on the south side of the Salt river in 1783. James Welch had patented an adjoining tract for 300 acres on 20 August 1786. Squire Boone sold to Bartholomew DuPrey, and his heirs sold to Alexander McClure for $700. Alexander McClure also purchased the 300 acre James Welch tract from his heirs on 20 April 1817, and he then had 1300 acres to subdivide. McClure was a resident of Woodford Co Ky and never planned to settle this land himself.

Robert Hedges VII bought the 259.5 acres most of which falls within Welch's survey, with the balance and the 98 acres purchased later, from within the Boone survey.

Robert Hedges had dealings with M. Straus & Co. on a steady basis. Tobacco, cloth, ribbons, straw hats, Queensware, tea, books, dippers, cups, shoes, lead, spectacles of silver, indigo dye, paper, nails, knives, kettles, plates, Irish linen, crocks, stockings, suspenders, powder etc. were purchases, with barter items of peaches, butter, feathers, ginseng, eggs, hens, potatoes, and tallow.

Robert Hedges date of death has been a puzzle because his tombstone has the date, October 24th 1840, and his will is dated 13 October 1841. As a further complication, the family Bible has a third date, 1844, written next to his name by an unidentified hand. I use the tombstone date of October 24, 1840.

The tax rolls of 1850 give some incite into the financial status of the Hedges in Spencer Co., Ky. Eury Thurman Hedges was taxed at $5,310.00 while Amos Hedges with the original Plantation on Powells Run, was taxed at $2,000.00.

John Wells Hedges, son of John Hedges junr., was present for the estate sales of his father and oldest brother, Robert, and he purchased the distillery equipment, indicating that he planned to continue the tradition of operating a distillery. He moved to Washington County, KY, and married Amanda Bracken, on 15 Feb. 1836, with his new brother-in-law, Thomas Hayes as a witness. He was the earliest-known Hedges to obtain a divorce. John W. Hedges and Amanda B. Hedges were divorced on 27 Feb. 1849. [1848 p. 412, legislative acts] Thomas Hedges, baptized 16 Feb. 1839, at St. Rose, Springfield, Washington Co. KY is the only presently-known child of this union.

Alfred Hedges Esq., eldest son of Robert W. Hedges, was a surveyor of county roads (1860) and a Justice of the Peace (1867) as reflected in the records. He was the largest landowner of his generation in Spencer County. He was heir to part of his mother Nancy's inheritance from the Basye Thurman estate. He was likewise heir to part of the 357.5 acres of his father. He received 235.5 acres from his wife's father in 1857, and he made some purchases. He sold 388 acres to R.H. Shadburne in 1874, 25 ac. to S.T. Lloyd in 1877, 40 acres to Polly Fansill in 1879, part of the 357.5 acre Lilly Rd farm to his "brother", Robert Hedges (VIII) in 1882, 248 acres to A.E. Walker in 1899, and more of the 357.5 acres to his nephew, Joshua Hedges in 1900. He then moved to Terra Haute, Indiana where his only son and many more of the Hedges were living. (See Terra Haute Chapter).

Robert C. Hedges (VIII) was the youngest of his siblings, and he remained at home and farmed for many years, as his brothers moved away one by one. He was an avid hunter, and he kept several hunting dogs for his forays into the forest to gather game for the table. He did the bulk of the farming on Lilly Road, until he passed the responsibility along to his nephews, Taylor and Joshua. He was present for the "battle" with the army worms in 1863, when the trench was dug across the river bottom. He was the member of the Spencer county road committee when a court case to make a road improvement on Powells Run involving $75.00 went to the Kentucky Supreme Court in 1891. (Hedges v Garrett, 17 SW 871, (1891)). He is said to have been a Democrat. He had sold his part of the Lilly Road Farm to Taylor and Joshua in 1906. and reinvested in more land in 1911. Robert C. Hedges sold 9.44 acres in 1913; a lot in Taylorsville on 27 Dec. 1917; and 3.77 acres with a house, 29 acres and 26.61 acres on 15 Mar 1917; Robert and Evelyn's home at Normandy was the location of the Spencer Co. Fairgrounds, and Taylor Hedges was instrumental in the Spencer County Fair preparations each year. Robert C. Hedges moved to 1712 South 2nd in Louisville before the Louisville Directory of 1919 was printed, and is listed as living with Sallie R. Hedges, widow of George Hedges. He married Evelyn Charles Hedges, [Aunt "Evie", daughter of George and Sallie Hedges] and moved to 1525 South 1st in 1920, and is listed as still living with Sallie R., widow of George Hedges in 1922. Houston Hedges live at 1525 South 1st St. from 1920-1923, while attending Manual High School nearby. Robert C. remained at this address until his death in 1930.

Tilford B. Hedges lived on the 357.5 acre farm for several years prior to 1864. He was a participant with Huston Hedges and Robert in the digging of the trench to stop army worms (with three hired hands) in 1863. He moved to Guelph, Canada in March of 1864 to avoid the Civil War draft, and he wrote home about being homesick for the farm work which he didn't really like to do. Kentucky was to maintain an armed neutrality, and the Abolitionists were a problem as early as June, 1861. Tilford wished to avoid the conflicts among neighbors caused by the war. He died in 1865 nonetheless, possibly as the victim of an acute appendicitis.

Legend says that a band of unruly soldiers traversed the Lilly Pike in 1863, and stopped at the Hedges farm to gather victuals. They demanded the keys to the meathouse, but were refused. Grandma Eury then put all hands to work cooking a barrel of flour, and hams and bacon to feed the motley crew. The soldiers languished about the yard, refreshed themselves and their mounts at the springs, ate a hearty meal, and departed without destruction of any of the Hedges' property.

Huston Hedges died in 1866. Eliza M. Hedges was living on the Lilly Pike farm after that, until her mother, Eury, "tossed her out in the street, bag and baggage". She then moved into the "Old Brick", formally the home of her grandfather, Basye Thurman. John M. Hedges and Minerva were by legend the last Hedges occupants of the "Old Brick", before they moved to Texas (see the Texas Chapter). Mary Lloyd, a cousin who had lived next door to the Old Brick until her death, when interviewed in 1976, said she recalled hearing that a bolt of lightening had struck a tree giving shelter to the cattle during a storm, and this loss precipitated the move.

Hillery Hedges moved from the 357.5 acres, first to Humboldt, Tenn. and later to Memphis, Tenn. in 1889. He was a "train man" and he retired from L&N as a car inspector at age 69 in 1894. He returned to Taylorsville to live out his last years.

Hillery's daughter Eury Ella wed first Skeel Glisson from Humboldt, Tenn. and she became a widow in Louisville, Ky. after a man knifed Skeel as the result of a card game. Skeel Glisson was a gambler by trade, and never allowed his "hands to engage in honest toil". She then wed her cousin, Taylor G. Hedges, and settled into the life of a farmer's wife in Spencer Co. and in Buechel, Ky. She was crushed in a motorcar accident in Indianapolis, Ind. Eury Ella, Taylor and Joshua were returning to Spencer Co. with thresher parts, and were struck by a truck, which caused their auto to roll over and toss her out.

Taylor was the youngest son of Huston and Eliza Hedges , grandson of Robert Hedges and Eury . He was a farmer and lumberman, and he was also known for his mechanical know-how and skill with machinery. Taylor Hedges had a sawmill in the early 1900's on the Hedges Farm, and he and a partner had a "farm" of 12 acres in Buechel, Ky, where he retailed his lumber production. This farm was east of the Bardstown-Louisville Pike, and reached from the railcross to the Six-Mile Lane. Houston Hedges was born there in 1904. He also had a small forge, like his great-grandfather John Hedges junr. The age of the machine arrived within his lifetime. He was a Deacon and the Treasurer at Plum Creek Baptist Church, a Justice of the Peace in Waterford Precinct (1913), and a partner in a banking venture in Waterford, Ky. (eventually to merge into the local bank during the depression). He purchased a Case tractor and an automobile while horses were still in vogue, and he lived to see his horse barn no longer filled with the breeding stock of earlier years. This horse barn became the cow barn from 1948-1972. He purchased additional land, but unfortunately not all of his purchases were permanent, however, the Hedges farm reached its maximum size during the years of his management (see map). He willed his half of the Hedges Brothers and Son Farm to two of his granddaughters. He considered moving into the Old Mason's Home in Shelbyville, Ky, but decided to remain in his own home, in the care of a tenant family in his final years, at the cost of $200. a month. He was a 32nd Degree Mason. He died in the north-east log room in 1954.

Amos Hedges' son's, Robert Amos and John M. had purchased a. steam thresher , and this machine was very much in demand in the neighborhood due to wheat being a widespread crop. Taylor and Joshua bought out their cousins and hired threshing crews, when Robert and John decided to give the custom threshing business up.

Taylor and Joshua also traded off some of the stone walls which lined the old Lilly path in return for liming on their fields, as a neighbor had a rock crusher. This atrocity is known as quarrying the stone walls.

Taylor and Joshua were known to take a team of horses into the Salt River and make a path for travel across the ford. The bridge of 1926 put an end to the need for a passable ford. Taylor gave $1,000. toward the relocation costs of the old Smithville bridge, and served on the committee that arranged for the transport and reconstruction of that wooded-floored bridge. The new bridge of 1983/4 replaced the wooden-floored bridge. They had kept a row boat at the river, and sailed across to get to Waterford, during the several months when the water level was greater than a trickle. Taylor also sold windmills locally for water pumps. An unusual crop which was raised near the river was hemp for the Navy to have a steady domestic supply of rope, because sisal fiber from Manila was unobtainable due to it being hostile territory.

Joshua Brown Hedges was Taylor's older brother. He was a farmer and an excellent carpenter. He was also a Mason. He also attended Plum Creek Baptist Church and hunted on occasion. He was the Constable in District #4 at least during the years, 1888-1890, and was Road Overseer in 1905. The record reveals that Joshua and Taylor together sold 725 board-feet of lumber to Spencer County in 1893 for $14.50, so a partnership in the lumber business is revealed here. He never married, but a situation instigated by a lady friend compelled him to deed his half of the Hedges Brothers Farm to his nephew, Houston Hedges. He cosigned for a lady friend's note, and she died leaving him responsible for her debt. He kept a large flock of sheep, and while tending his flock in the rain in 1940, he caught a chill, which turned out to be fatal. He left no will, much to the dismay of some cousins, who looked high and low for that document.

Ann Arpe Hedges was an older sister of Taylor and Joshua, and the only of two daughters to survive to adulthood. She wed George William Reader and moved to Jefferson Co., Ky, and later to Virginia. Two of her granddaughters wed Taylor and Eury Ella's only son Houston, and returned to Spencer Co., Ky.

Amos Hedges had three sons, Robert, John and George W. The latter moved to Nelson Co. and became a doctor. He died young, and his final inventory dated 10 December 1870 lists; case of medical instruments, tooth forceps, medical saddlebags lot of medical books. $14.50

Robert Amos Hedges , brother of the deceased, was administrator and guardian for only child Evelyn C. Hedges, who later wed Robert C. Hedges (VIII).

Serena Marie Tichenor Hedges, the widow of Robert Amos Hedges, and their only surviving child, Elizabeth Jane Hedges Stallard lived in Louisville on Shipp Ave in 1900, and later returned to Spencer Co. and kept the Telephone Exchange in Waterford, Ky for many years. Their home was on the creek side and was the third house west on the Plum Creek Rd., from Plum Creek Baptist Church. This church received that house to be used as a Parsonage. Thus the church was able to hire a Pastor for a full-time ministry, a luxury unaffordable before the receipt of this bequest.

Samuel Robert Hedges, son of Hillery Hedges , also moved to Memphis, Tenn. He was employed by Memphis Elevator Co. and was killed while working at the Peabody Park in 1914 when he suffered a fall into an 80-foot manhole.

Samuel Robert Hedges had four sons and a daughter who are enumerated and sketched here below.

Hillery T. Hedges was the eldest, and he was a "drifter" in its Depression era meaning. He visited the Lilly Pike Farm and stayed on until he overstayed his welcome and was asked to leave by his aunt, Eury Ella, in 1933. He was a musician and was involved with a musical event in Nelson Co. where the receipts disappeared. He sold an Oldsmobile, which he drove from Denver to Taylor, and the auto's title was later disputed. He had lived in Humboldt, Tenn; Denver, Colorado; Jacksonville, Florida, and from 1939 until his death in 1955, in Columbus, Georgia. He retired in Columbus as a laundryman, and had previously been among other things, a restaurateur and a musician.

Samuel E. Hedges next son, was born in Stevenson, Alabama. He was gifted with a singing voice, which he honed as a member of the Episcopal church. He was employed by Dunlop Tire & Rubber in Memphis, Tenn., and he died in 1946 in Memphis, Tenn.

Ella Gertrude wed George R. Tucker of Memphis. George was the proprietor of a plumbing business, which Robert Ollie Tucker, their son, took over upon the untimely death of George in a fishing-trip accident.

Posey Grant Hedges graduated from the Old Southern Law School (now University of Louisville Law School), and joined the Bar Association of Shelby Co. and Memphis, Tennessee. He had a legal practice in the Sterrick Bldg. for forty years. He was Episcopal also, and he died at age 80 in 1969.

Alford H. Hedges, the youngest son who survived, lived in Memphis and later Shelbyville, He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma about 1932, and last in Fairmount, Georgia. He was gifted in mechanical things, and he repaired and instructed other in the repair of office machines. He was Clerk of the town of Fairmount, and missed being elected as Mayor by three votes. He died in 1985 of old age, suffering from both cataracts and emphysema.

Edmonia Bell wed Posey, and Mary Vera Bell wed Alford, each as first wives. Both couples obtained divorces. Neither of the Bell are fully traced as of this date. Edmonia Bell Hedges, was a stenographer and worked for American Life & Accident, BB Almond Co, Vaughn Donahue Co, and later for JC Bennett Auto, as recorded in the Louisville City Directory for the several years in which she is listed. The Bell sisters were grand-daughters of Josephine Brown (buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville) and great grand-daughters of Cynthia Ann Hedges Brown. (See also the Stone Ridge Cemetery for Bell). Both Posey and Alford remarried.

William S. Hedges, proprietor of the Seelbach Billiards Room, lived at 1514 South 1st in Louisville, KY at least from 1915 until after 1930. This is in the same block as Robert C. Hedges. Robert H. Hedges, student, and assistant at Drane & Knight, Civil Engineers, lived at this same address also, as did Cordelia Hedges, and Hillary H Hedges, traveling salesman and organizer for NY Life Insurance. I cannot identify this family. William Hedges showed up at the John Hedges junr sale in 1830.

A John Jones of Bloomfield, was shot by the irregulars of Col. George Jesse, of Henry Co. These troops had camped at the crossroads 2 miles south of Bloomfield to collect horses, and had tried to take a saddle from John Jones, a prominent local planter, who lived but half a mile from the encampment. Col Jesse sent a squad to get a horse and saddle from Jones. They failed to get a horse but got a mule and demanded the saddle. A negro boy told them the saddle was in the house, and they sent the boy in to get it. Jones refused to give up the saddle. They swore they would have it and John Jones shot a man named McIntyre on his porch. McIntyre later died at Elias Hobb's house at Chaplin. Col. Jesse had his men return to shoot Jones, and burn his home. He was shot and his home was partially burned, before neighbors extinguished the blaze. Is this John Jones of the family of Townsend D. Jones, and does the Stone farms south of Bloomfield relate to this situation ?

Executions in retaliation were carried out 7 Nov. 1864. RESEARCH notes for Jones. from Dec. 1990 Acadian

The old " Hedges " farmstead on Lilly Pike in Spencer Co. is "history in the flesh". The examination of a farmstead is the examination of the lives which fashioned a way of life in one spot for so many generations. It is a visible reminder of the hardships of life as our Nation was born and grew into infancy, and it reminds us of the hardships we are still willing to endure today to keep a portion of a way of life.

The buildings were home-logged, home-sawed, and home-built. The old log house originally had two rooms downstairs, and a partial upstairs. The roof was raised in 1870, and tin, which is still in place was installed. The kitchen was located to the southeast of the main dwelling near the garden area, and this separate structure was dragged against the log rooms, and incorporated into the remodeled version. The kitchen had ash tongue-in-groove floors, poplar (3*5) stud walls, with huge hued sills and half-round log joist.

Remodeling was on the agenda again in 1885 , and the second phase was carried out. The result was a house with two staircases, three porches, one small cellar, eight large rooms, and a pantry. A tin roof overhead and weatherboard siding were the visible exterior changes, apart from size increases.

The Horse barn was built in 1885 by Joshua, Taylor and Robert C. Hedges. The loft floor was one huge beech tree from the river bottom. The tin roof was ventilated by a hail storm in 1974, on the day of the many tornados, and Robert Hedges VIIII entirely replaced the tin and repaired the sheathing and bargeboard soon after. This prevented the entire loss of the horse barn.

The granary, meathouse and buggyhouse all seem to be about the same approximate ages, cir 1885. An earlier granary of 1860 was on the site of and gave up lumber to the garage of 1938, which Houston Hedges built. Houston Hedges and Robert Hedges reroofed the meat-house in 1968. The buggy-house was destroyed by John Hedges in 1987.

The original dairy barn, called the little barn, is dated cir 1910, and was used as a dairy barn until the late 1940s. Houston Hedges kept a few cows there and kept the milk in the spring adjacent. The new highway of 1948 made moving the milkhouse necessary. The little barn is now being used as a stock barn by the Foreman Bros, who purchased that tract on the west side of the road.

The east tobacco barn was built in 1926, with direction by "Mr Taylor" and "Mr Jot" (Taylor and Joshua). It got a new metal roof in 1983. An earlier tobacco barn, on the west side of the road, was sold on a small 35 acre tract in the 60s., and is older than the east barn.

The original log barn , on the old Lilly path is now gone. It consisted of two log pens, one broad and one narrow, with a dogtrot, enclosed with siding and a large overhanging roof. (see illustrations on p. 138a). Wooden stave silos were constructed of cyprus next to the log barn and the little barn. A log spring house stood on the spring south of the main house, and this was replaced by the milkhouse cir 1910. The milkhouse was moved in 1948 and demolished by John Hedges in 1981. A new stone foundation has been built on the spring in 1989, by Robert Hedges. The woodshed was demolished by John Hedges in 1989.

The "cabin", a two story frame house of one room per floor, was for kitchen help, and was built cir 1915. This still stands adjacent to the log house today, though the flavor of the era has been lost due to incomplete remodeling by John Hedges.

A tenant house three-quarters of a mile south of the Salt River, and a second tenant house near the top of the west ridge, once a Thurman house, are both gone now, but the springs still gush forth their welcome as if calling to the frequent visitors of bygone years.

Houston Hedges was born in Buechel, Ky on the farm on Bardstown Rd, and he was raised on the Lilly Rd/Salt River farm in Spencer Co. He was an only child, unless you count his half-brother Skeel Glisson jr, who was several years older and moved to Texas while he was young. They shared a passion for a woman called "W Gray", despite his youth at the time.

Houston was deeded one half of the Hedges farm by Joshua, when Joshua believed he could avoid a debt by having no assets. Houston got to pay that debt, which was $2000. in 1917. We can calculate the value of dollars in that year. However, He received only $100. from his father, Taylor's estate, in 1954.

Houston attended the schoolhouse at the top of the Foreman hill, in the old school building which burned in 1990. This was a 1.5 mile walk down the old Lilly path along Hedges Run, shaded by the many mature trees, and decorated by the well built stone walls which once lined the lane.

Houston attended DuPont Manuel High School which was located at Brook and Oak Streets, in Louisville. He lived with grand-uncle Rob, in the 1500 block of 1st St while he attended. He was the class valedictorian of 1925, after sitting out one entire year because of the deadly flu epidemic of 1919. He would hitch a ride from Waterford to Louisville on Sunday, and ride back to the farm after school on Friday. He had to sail across the river each way to or from Waterford and the farm, until the bridge was completed in 1926. He was called upon to design the concrete support for the bridge construction project when the old wooden floored bridge was moved from Smithville. Drafting was one of the classes in school in which he excelled.

He had a small dairy, and said once that he only took off one weekend in twenty years. He was too young for WWI and too old for WWII, so he was never in the military, and he dropped his membership in the Masons. He was never interested in raising horses, because he was once sent back to the house on a horse from the west ridge at lunchtime, and suffered saddlesores as a result. He collected stamps from an early age and also a great many books.

He purchased a used 1929 Ford in 1929, and was offered such a large trade-in that he bought a new 1930 Ford soon after. The depression was not a difficult for those with a farm, and a means to grow food and raise tobacco. There was a twelve acre tobacco crop in those years, and each winter some hills were grubbed to prepare some new land for the tobacco patch.

He married Mary Gimbert and together they had two daughters, and lived in the original farm house with Taylor and Joshua. Mary Gimbert Hedges was a college graduate, [U of Virginia], an excellent singer, known for frequent solos at Plum Creek Baptist, and she was ready to fulfill the whims of a demanding and always present father-in-law, Taylor Hedges. She was said to have seen the world through rose colored glasses, which means everything looked "rosey". Mary was in need of a C-section at her third childbirth, and the painkiller which the doctor used was fatal to her. The male child died the following day, and Houston was a widower. Catherine Gimbert was Mary's youngest sister. She came to Kentucky to care for her nieces, and she stayed. Catherine Gimbert was a frustrated history teacher. She left the U of Virginia after two years because there was insufficient money for both she and Mary to attend simultaneously. She was intent upon having her own children, and care of the two daughters she "inherited" upon the death of Mary. There was a personality clash between Catherine and Taylor Hedges. Catherine wanted a home of her own, and didn't see how she could be a handmaiden for Taylor. Houston moved from the Hedges farm in 1947, after his second marriage, and purchased a home in Buechel, Ky. Houston moved again to Fern Creek in 1949, within walking distance from the local school. The farm was a seventeen mile commute after that time, until 1980, when continuous occupancy was again briefly established by Robert Hedges. Shrubs, roses and flowers which had been transplanted from the farm to Fern Creek were returned and carefully arranged in the yard. A large garden was a yearly project, and home canned food was a constant staple.

The Gimbert family had experienced the more severe effects of the depression, in that they lost a farm which had been a recent purchase during a time of infated prices. This instilled in Catherine a basic frugality. She had a habit of using a sharp blunt knife tip to scrape all the food from kettles, skillets and pans, and this habit causes toxic metals to enter the food supply. She nibbled these scrapings as she worked, and so it was she who was toxified. A case may be made for the safety of cast iron, but the later metals such as aluminum and stainless steel, cannot be scraped without removing metal and opening the surface to leaching of toxic metals.

Catherine was determined to restore the old log house, and was injured in 1975 when she slipped from a ladder and landed on her knee. She remained bedridden for two weeks, but she had lost some of the determination and the belief she was indestructible

Catherine and Houston moved into the new farm house in July 1982, and remained until the final months of their lives in May 1988 and April 1989 respectively. They eventually required transportation several days per week to the bank, doctor's office, grocery, drug store, post office etc., which Robert Hedges supplied from 1986-1988. Fern Creek was their favorite community for these frequent errands.

Robert Hedges had received a Hardship Discharge from the US Army to return home in 1972, due to the untimely secession of the dairy business. The trading of tenants in the dairy in two successive years had put the long term accumulated dairy assets into too many temporary hands and too much fragmentary ownership, and the result was no dairy remained to operate under any tenant in subsequent years. The rule was and remained however, until the sad conclusion, "never sell the land."

The grain industry was sweeping the midwest, but no local farmer in Spencer Co. was planning make the Hedges Farm live up to its productive capability. The capital investment demands a return over and above return to labor, and some new source of cash flow was required to meet the desired return to capital. There was local pressure to sell out, rather than improve and revitalize, and Robert Hedges stepped in as the Hardship Discharge implied, and converted the farm into a grain operation. This required clearing land with a D-4 Cat Dozer, and finding a method to maintain a production from every acre, rather than just a few acres as had been allowed under the previous management. Grain storage was necessary, as was specialized equipment, which was purchased, constructed, repaired or designed, by Robert Hedges.

The duties of management which descended upon Robert Hedges as the fifth generation farmer were: In addition to the grain business,; maintenance of the antique heirloom buildings; removal of trash, litter and junk left by transient tenants; and development of forest product production; there was a need for road building for recent access. The now very elderly Hedges brothers had formally been motivated to work on and with each acre. Certain of the acres had been "abandoned" in 1947 by a tenant who was not motivated. He was a small thinking man with a big job. Access to various tracts was difficult due to the 35 years of scrub tree growth. The reversal of this encroachment by weed trees upon the formally productive acres became a long term project of Robert Hedges with returns of valuable tree growth expected well into the next century.

Robert Hedges decided to begin to build a new dwelling in 1975, anticipating the need for a 'roof' to house a family. Robert inquired as to which corner of the 355 acres would be suitable for this project and Houston Hedges said that he had planned to build when he was young, and was told by his father, that the house there then [the old log structure with additions] was large enough for his family, and he did not need to build another. He said that he had always wanted to build a house and promised that if Robert would help him build his house, he would reciprocate and help Robert build his home secondly. Quid pro quo. Houston Hedges decided at age 70 the day had arrived to begin to build his retirement house.

Houston Hedges, Robert & John Hedges built a new dwelling between 1975 and 1981 near the old log house. The new house contains white oak steps, poplar trim and walnut paneling from the woods, which was logged and [custom] sawed by Robert Hedges. The style was Cape Cod, planned and designed by Catherine. The later additions of the old house were demolished, leaving the four central log rooms with the two massive stone fireplaces. Robert Hedges repaired the roof, soffit, and chimneys in 1989 and it received its last paint.

The story could end here with a happy ending. A fifth generation [sixth if you count Catherine Hedges, granddaughter of Taylor Hedges sister] has begun the care of the Hedges farm. A dedicated occupant with the skills to develop production on each acre, and to appreciate and preserve the historical significance.

Alas, the five siblings of Robert Hedges wanted money, and did not opt for steady employment. They forced the sale and did not permit Robert Hedges to keep any of 355 acres. They did not want to reimburse Robert Hedges for the investment of his time and money over the years from 1972 to the present, nor save the history. They were willing to sell the ashes of Catherine Hedges, which are scattered around not too distant from the old house. They were willing to scatter and dissipate her collected and preserved heirloom artifacts. They were willing to remove antiques remaining from the earlier settlers to other locations. They were willing to steal that "coat of many colors" which their brother Robert Hedges had earned by years of work based upon the rule " never sell".

Robert Hedges is writing a volume on the various factual events, conspiracies, crimes, betrayals, constitutional deprivations, and devious dealings which were required to take all of this unencumbered 355 acre much improved farm from a dedicated history buff, who had planned his life, education, livelihood and future family plans around this location. The facts which will be spelled out in the next volume are not so historically oriented as to be appropriate in the same libraries. Look for this follow-up volume in the Library of Congress, and hopefully in movie script form if you want to know the "rest of the story".