Pioneers, Hedges and Chapman, La Junta, Otero Co, Colo THE HEDGES AND THE CHAPMANS La Junta, Otero County, Colorado A TRUE STORY Reconstructed and recorded by Lynn Scheu amconch@ix.netcom.com Great great granddaughter of Amos Weldon Hedges Submitted for use of the USGenWeb Project and COGenWeb Project Archives, by Lynn Scheu, May 28, 1997. USGenWeb Project NOTICE In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, nor for commercial presentation by any other organization. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express written permission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist. Lynn Scheu, originally from Lancaster, Ohio, now in Louisville, Kentucky, writes: "I have some genealogical data about early (1895) settlers in La Junta in Otero County. My great great grandfather Hedges emigrated to La Junta in his 60's along with two of his sons and their families. There are still descendants of theirs in Colorado today. At the end of this document I give their lineage back to New Castle County, DE in the late 1600's, and to England. There's also a great tale of a quarrel over water access to the Ditch and a murder." Lynn Scheu Louisville, KY First is the story, followed by the line of descent and what Lynn has on the members of direct concern, as well as her own connection and line. THE HEDGES AND THE CHAPMANS by Lynn Scheu, Louisville, KY Here is the murder tale, all rewritten with facts checked against newspaper accounts, some details corrected, etc.. I had heard this tale many times in my childhood, and again in more detail when I began recording family history for my grandmother, Minnie Marie Hedges Bigham. I researched this myself in La Junta, Colorado and had a wonderful, serendipitous time doing it! My grandmother, Marie Bigham's (b 7 Jul 1898) grandfather was Amos Hedges, son of Caleb Hedges, Jr. He was a farmer, a stock raiser, a Justice of the Peace and a staunch Methodist, who was a lay minister, and who himself fired the bricks and hewed the stone for the Bethany Church (also known as Middlefork Church) in Hocking County, Ohio. He was married to a "Pennsylvania Dutch" woman, Sarah Jane Morgan. In 1894, when Amos was an old man -- well, in his 60's -- his oldest surviving son, Caleb Russell Hedges, ("Uncle Russell") b. 9 May 1858 went west to seek his fortune. He settled in S.E. Colorado, on the north side of the Arkansas River near the town of La Junta (which is near Bent's Old Fort, the "Zendt's Fort" of James Michener's _Centennial_!) When he got there, tradition says he "lived with the Indians" and actually "buried the hatchet" with them. (My search of the history of S.E. Colorado tells me that it wasn't quite that wild in the 1890's. La Junta itself was established as a stop for the Santa Fe Railroad in 1875 and incorporated in 1881! The Plains Indians were, for the most part, all settled on reservations some twenty years before Caleb Russell Hedges emigrated to Colorado. But the family back at home in Ohio are the ones telling the tale, and their imaginations of the "Wild West" fed their perceptions of Uncle Russell's adventures.) La Junta is in the dry plains region of the state: there is good, level farm and pasture land in the valley of the Arkansas, but not a lot of rainfall. In the 1890's, the region was growing and changing very rapidly as settlers moved in, and when irrigation ditches were dug, the town really took off! La Junta grew into a thriving commercial center. Uncle Russell took up land north of town, across the Arkansas, out past some odd-looking hills along the river, and up along the Fort Lyon irrigation ditch there. (I have located the property and visited it, and I have brought home to Grandma a rock from the place. The Ditch is still there and the land is still in pasture. Amazingly, the house is still there, an unbelievably tiny abandoned one room house, full of junk and artifacts and surrounded by a swarm of mosquitoes that would keep the devil himself away.) There, on his land fronting The Ditch he began a dairy farm. As soon as he had his life going smoothly and his new enterprise safely underway, sometime in 1898 or 1899, Russell traveled the 1200 miles home to Ohio to bring back his family: his wife, Laurana "Laney" Woodard, and his four children, Royal Burley (30 Mar, 1883 - d. 1962 La Junta CO), Etta L., Guy J., and Walter Jack. Grandpa, saddened by his wife's death two years earlier, decided to go along with them and try a new life in Colorado. His youngest son Amos Weldon Hedges Jr, just 24, and Amos' wife Margaret Amelia went too. And all the Hedges lived in the tiny house, built the dairy farm and established a thriving milk business. All was going well for the Colorado Hedges. Caleb Russell later said he was doing better than he ever had in his life. Said the La Junta Tribune of him (7 Feb 1903) "He was an industrious and hard working man of strict integrity." Enter the Chapmans from Lawrence, Kansas. It is not recorded how many were in the family, but it is certain that there was one son, an army veteran, and a drill master. These Chapmans had no access to the Ditch nor any water rights, but had taken to crossing Grandpa and Uncle Russell's land to get water. That was not a problem for the Hedges, who were good and devout Methodists, accustomed to being good neighbors. But eventually a quarrel broke out. I speculate that it was over gates left open on a stock farm. According to the La Junta Tribune (4 Feb 1903): "Frank Chapman is ...twenty-three...son of H.H. Chapman. . .[Frank] had trouble with Hedges about six weeks ago over some hogs and administered a severe beating to the elder man. Since that time Hedges has carried a gun on his milk route, anticipating further trouble with the young man. Young Chapman served in the Philippines for three years and was for some time drill master of the State Industrial School." The family tradition has it that Uncle Russell was waylaid on his milk run to town and beaten with a horse whip handle by Frank Chapman. After the horsewhip incident, they began ploughing up the road that Chapmans customarily used to get to the water; their object was to block the Chapmans' throughway to the Ditch, actually Hedges property, though the newspaper accounts did not address the right of the Hedges claim. This action inflamed the Chapmans, and when young Roy (Royal Burley Hedges 1883-1962) was engaged in ploughing the road, the Chapmans kidnapped him. His younger brother Guy saw what happened and ran for the house to tell his family that the Chapmans were holding Roy at gunpoint. Newspaper accounts, mostly given after the fact and in Frank Chapman's defense, were from the Chapman point of view, of course. According to the Tribune, "young Chapman remonstrated with him, driving him away from his team. . .Hedges' son went after his father. . ." This was not the captive son Roy Hedges, who was still being held at gunpoint, but his young brother, Guy. When he heard what was happening, Uncle Russell realized he could not take a gun, at the risk of getting his son killed. And so he went out unarmed. When he got there, Frank simply shot him. Grandpa Amos heard the shot, grabbed his gun and ran out to help. When he got there he found his dying son on the ground and his terrified and furious grandson still being held and taunted by the Chapmans. He put his rifle in the fence corner and went to help his son. (This gun was later falsely claimed by the Chapmans to be Uncle Russell's gun.) The Chapmans released Roy, who helped his grandfather carried his dying father back to the house and then went for a doctor. The doctors performed an operation to remove splintered spinal column bones but could not get the bullet and Russell was paralyzed and in horrible pain. The newspaper accounts the next day said he would die within the week. Chapman turned himself in to the sheriff, saying that he shot in self defense, that Uncle Russell was armed. The district attorney, the sheriff and other witnesses heard Russell's sworn statement that he was unarmed. Mercifully Uncle Russell took only two days to die. The report on the autopsy was horrifying! Frank Chapman was arrested, but the Champman family got a lawyer to defend him and a visiting judge who didn't know the families heard the case. According to family tradition, the Hedges got no lawyer to advise them because they thought that since everyone knew what happened, there wouldn't be any question. They were wrong. The lawyer claimed that Frank shot Russell in self defense because he had a gun. There was no gun there until Russell was shot and Amos Hedges, Sr. heard the shot and came running out with his gun, and stood it in the fence corner. The judge and jury did not listen to the stories of Roy and Guy and Grandpa. And the jury believed Chapman's lawyer, W.R. Gibson. Much was made of Chapman's quiet, inoffensive nature, but this doesn't square well with his beating of Uncle Russell, nor his having been in the Philippines or a drill master. They found Frank Chapman innocent! Our family was stunned, and really never got over the injustice of it! (The judge later wrote that had he known then what he later learned of them, he would have decided differently without hesitation.) Oddly enough, when I was there researching the local records, I met a very strange fellow. When he heard my story, he said, "Well, my mother was a Chapman! Those people were always pirates of one sort or another. I believe I knew Frank when I was a boy! I've no trouble believing him capable of anything, including murder if he's the uncle I am thinking of." Also the librarian who helped me search out all the newspaper accounts was extremely skeptical of my story at first, and a bit patronizing about this easterner who was looking for a story on a wild west gunfight. But then she got really excited when she started finding the newspaper accounts and they bore out my tale. She kept in touch with me a while, but has moved on now. I've photographed all the tombstones of the Hedges there. Grandpa Amos is buried in La Junta, as are Russell and Laurana, Royal and Guy. And there are more Hedges still out there. I found none, but did find the houses in town where the family moved as the dairy farm grew very profitable after Russell's death and they invested their energies in fruit growing (The melons of the area are justly famous). What a lot of fun I had in the midst of that old tragedy. It also brought vividly to life the conditions of the time, agricultural, political, legal, and medical. Lynn Scheu Louisville, KY amconch@ix.netcom.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Descent of Hedges Line *Samuel Hedges (England) 1620 Born: Abt 1620 In: England. Death: In: England Married March 4, 1640 In: St Mary Woolnoth, London, England Elizabeth Weld, born 14 August 1623, d/o John and Elizabeth Weld. Father: ??? Mother: ??? Occupation: Master Painter-Stainer of "heraldic emblazonments." *William Hedges (1651 England-1678 New Castle DE) m. 1672 Gloucester County, England Mary Caldwell 1648 England - after 1682 Delaware (5th child, 4th son) *Charles Hedges (1673-1743) m. Elizabeth (1st child) *Peter Hedges (1719- bef. 1791) m. Elizabeth Seeds (6th child, 5th son) *Caleb Hedges Sr.(1760-1788 0r 1789) Frederick MD. m. Mary Dern (He was 6th or 7th son, 7th or 8th child) Died in his 20's felling a tree, when the ax head flew off his companion's ax and struck Caleb over the heart. His son Caleb Jr. was born posthumously. *Caleb Hedges Jr. (1789-1874) m. Mary Clellan (Polly Creager) They emigrated from Maryland to Hocking County, Ohio (It was still part of Fairfield County then, up to 1819) and bought land there and farmed. He was a cooper also. *Amos Weldon Hedges (24 Nov 1833 Bethany, Perry Twp, Hocking Co. OH - Jan1917 La Junta, CO) m. Sarah Jane Morgan. He was the 9th child, a lay Methodist minister, who fired the bricks and hewed the stone for their church. He wwas also a cooper by trade. And he was the only son to remain home on the farm with his father. The rest of the family moved to farm in Delaware or Union County, OH.) Names and dates and offspring available on request) Here the line diverges: My line is through a daughter of Amos Hedges & Sara Jane Morgan who was married by the time her father and brothers went west, and who remained in Ohio: *Eliza Elizabeth Hedges Creiglow (25Jan 1863 Perry Twp., Hocking Co. OH - d 25Feb 1951 Buena Vista, OH bur Amanda OH Cemetery) m. (20 Oct 1884 Bethany, Perry Twp. Hocking Co. OH) William Allen Creiglow (b 4 Jul 1860 4 Aug 1942 bur. Amanda OH Cemetery) *Minnie Marie Creiglow Bigham (17Jul 1898 - ) m. 11 Sep 1920 Hocking CO. OH) Alvah Meldred Bigham (14 Feb 1892? Hocking Co. OH d. 1984 Lancaster Ohio) *Carol Lois Bigham McLaughlin (26 Jul 1922 Columbus OH) m. (11 Aug 1939 Greenup KY) Franklin Neil McLaughlin (b. 22 May 1918 Pleasantville, OH d. 29 May 1976 Reynoldsburg OH) *Carole Lynn McLaughlin Scheu (9 Jul 1942 Lancaster OH) m. (16 Apr 1966 B'ham AL) Richard Victor Scheu (14 Oct 1940, Lancaster Ohio) *David Edward Scheu (6 May 1970 Columbus OH) m. (10 Oct 1993 Salem OR) Julie Elizabeth Irwin Scheu (4 Jun 1970 Salem OR) *Michael Patrick Scheu (30 Mar 1972 Columbus OH) Cherie Schoepflin (1970 New York) *Eliza Rana Scheu (b 16 Apr 1996 Lowell, Oregon) The Colorado fork in the line goes: The father of Eliza Elizabeth Hedges, who was Amos Weldon Hedges Sr., went to Colorado with his two sons: (His other children, etc. are available on request) His 2nd born and oldest living son, Caleb Russell Hedges, was named for his grandfather Caleb Hedges who came to Ohio from Frederick Co, Maryland just about the time Ohio became a state (first decade of the 19th century.) Caleb Russell Hedges born 9 May 1858 Perry Twp., Hocking Co. OH. d. La Junta CO 5:30 p.m. Mon 2 Feb 1903, of a gunshot inflicted by Frank C. Chapman of La Junta, CO three days earlier. m 16 Jan 1881 Hocking Co. OH Laurana "Laney" Woodard b. 1859 Ohio, d. 1946 La Junta CO. Eight children were born to Caleb Russell and Laurana, as follows: 1. Oliver Chester Hedges b. 9 Nov 1881 Waterloo, OH d. young, Ohio 2. Royal Burley Hedges b 30 Mar 1883 Violet Twp, Fairfield CO. OH d. 1962 La Junta, CO. bur. Fairview Cem, La Junta Co. No idea who he married. His gravestone is solitary. He and his wife had a daughter, Wilma June, who ran away 13 Dec 1937, age 15. She was presumed kidnapped or dead by misadventure, but was found after a two year search by the FBI to be alive and well in Pensacola FL, where she was married happily to L. W. Gauthier and living in the home of his parents. Her parents sent congratulations 3. Etta L. Hedges b. 1888 Violet Twp, Fairfield Co. OH. d. 19 Feb 1970 La Junta CO bur Fairview Cemetery, La Junta, CO. M. Henry Sisco in La Junta 4. Guy J. Hedges b. 1892 Ohio d. 1918 age 26, La Junta, CO. bur. Fairview Cem. in a plot belonging to a Rogers family: Anna C. 1874-1924 and Nicholas 1864-1921. This connection was a mystery until I discovered he had married Rena Rodgers 28 Feb, 1917. He is recorded as 23 but all other evidence including his tombstone indicate he was 25, and the newspaper mistook a 5 for a 3. He died a year later. She must have remarried and be buried elsewhere, or still living. 5. Walter Jack Hedges b. 1893 Ohio d. 1980 La Junta, CO. He married 19 Sep 1915 Emma Vie Hurt b. 1894.d. 1980 La Junta CO Fairview Cem). Daughter of Robert D. Hurt. They are buried with her brother and his wife and other Hurt family members. 6. Hazel Hedges b.1899 (Ohio or Colorado? Probably late 1899 in Ohio) d. ??? m. Leland J. Hyatt of Swink 9 Nov 1914. Marriage witnessed by Laurana Hedges and Lee Hyatt (his mother and her father.) Laurana Hedges also signed a consent form because her daughter was underage. 7. Henry or Harry Hedges b 5 Feb 1900 La Junta, CO d. 27 Dec 1927 La Junta CO bur Fairview Cem. Inscription on headstone: "Gone but not forgotten." Marriage license procured Sat. 18 Feb 1922 for H.S. Hedges and Ruby Masters, both of La Junta -- La Junta Daily Democrat 20 Feb 1922 p.3 col.3. 8."The infant daughter of C. (Caleb) R. (Russell) Hedges died Monday morning, (June 30) aged one and one-half hours." La Junta Tribune Wed 2 Jul 1902 p. 1, col. 4 9. Myrtle Hedges b. La Junta CO. 1904 m. Clyde Eveatt b. 1900 of La Junta. They were granted a marriage license Mon afternoon 21 Jun 1922 and "immediately went to the office of Justice J.M. Teter in the McNeen Block where the nuptial knot was tied." La Junta Daily Democrat Tues 22 Jun 1922 p.3 col.3. He was 22, she was 18. I have no knowledge of her beyond this. Returning here to the previous generation: Amos Weldon Hedges, Jr., son of Amos Sr. and brother of Caleb Russell Hedges, was the ninth and youngest child in the family. He also went to Colorado with his wife, Melie. He was b. 4 Jul 1875 Perry Twp, Hocking Co, OH d. La Junta CO. m. Ohio ??? date) Margaret Amelia Hedges daughter of Miles Hedges, sister of Charles E. Hedges, distant kin. Amos Jr. is buried in Fairview Cemetery, La Junta. Margaret "Aunt Melie" Hedges went home to Ohio after Russell Weldon's death in 1903 and lived with Eliza Elizabeth Hedges Creiglow, my great grandmother. "Melie" was "strange" from then on. d. 22 Sep 1940. Their children were Elizabeth Hedges, Roy or Ray Hedges and twin boys, Gail and Cale Hedges. Cale died young as a result of drinking kerosene. It is not known to us whether these children remained in Colorado or returned to Ohio with their mother. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGenWeb Project NOTICE In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit or for other commercial presentation. Permission of the author should always be obtained before using this material.