Fresno County, California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


ELWOOD C. HEDGES.� An interesting representative of both a 
pioneer family of California and another of Oregon, with just such a winning 
and convincing personality as one would expect to find in an American whose 
forefathers had "been through" an experience or two, is Elwood C. Hedges, 
whose grandfather, the hero of storms and shipwreck, was for many years a 
purser in the hazardous coasting trade. Elwood C. was born at Albany, Ore., 
on April 20, 1892, the son of Joseph W. Hedges, a native of Philadelphia, 
from which the grandfather, Benjamin F. Hedges, came to California in 
early days. While purser on the Czarina, it was his lot to be wrecked on the 
Coos Bay Jetty, when he and two others hung to the rigging over night. They 
were Captain Dugan and a Mr. Millis, and they all fought valiantly for their 
lives, but in the morning they were washed away and lost ; only one was 
saved out of a crew of nineteen. 

Joseph W. Hedges arrived in San Francisco on St. Patrick's Day, 1876; 
and having in time learned the machinist's trade, he followed it there and in 
Oregon, where he married Sarah E. Howard, the daughter of R. V. Howard of 
Cleveland, Ohio, who crossed the plains with ox teams in 1852, and had become 
a pioneer in Oregon. There he married Jane Smith, a native of St. Louis, 
who crossed the continent with her parents in 1851. Mr. Howard was a 
farmer and died at Molalla, Ore., in 1915, survived by his wife who died in 
June, 1919, at Albany. Joseph W. Hedges returned to San Francisco, where 
he still follows the trade of a machinist, and has recently given Uncle Sam 
a lift as a machinist in the United States Transport Service. Mrs. Hedges 
is also living, the mother of three children, two of whom have grown to ma- 
turity. 

The eldest of the family, Elwood C, was brought up in San Francisco 
and there attended first the common and then the high schools. In 1908 he 
was apprenticed to a sign-painter in San Francisco, and after completing the 
trade, worked for the well-known firm of Riordan & Swan. In 1914 he re- 
moved to Phoenix, Ariz., where he established himself as a sign-writer; but 
not liking the climate, he returned to San Francisco eight months later and 
was employed by the Western States Advertising Company, until they sold 
out. Then he became traveling salesman for the Sontag Commission Com- 
pany and represented them throughout the Bay counties. 

In March, 1916, Mr. Hedges came to Tranquillity and entered the employ 
of the Standard Oil Company at the "Mendota Pumping Station, and since 
then he has held the position of oiler there. He likes his work, which is the 
first condition to any man's ultimate success, and likes his employers, so 
generally known for their fair treatment of the employee ; and still greater 
things may be expected of him in the future. 

While in Phoenix, Ariz., Mr. Hedges was married to Miss May Jennings. 
a native of San Francisco, by whom he has had one child, a bright lad named 
Howard Joseph. He is a member of the K. O. T. M., and his good wife shares 
with him an agreeable local popularity.