Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/248

 the appointment of men of the highest character and qualifications for members of the board. ALFRED HEBARD was born in Windham, Connecticut, May 10, 1811. He graduated at Yale College in 1832 and became a civil engineer. After a few years of teaching he came to the west and settled on a farm near Burlington, then in Wisconsin Territory, in 1837. In 1842 he served on a commission appointed by Governor Chambers to adjust the claims of traders amounting to $250,000, against the Sac and Fox Indians. Mr. Hebard built the first bridge on the military road opened from Burlington to the Indian Agency on the Des Moines River. He was elected to the Territorial Legislature in 1840 and was twice reëlected, serving in the Third, Fourth and Sixth Legislative Assemblies, taking a prominent part in framing laws for the new Territory of Iowa. In 1846 he was elected to the First General Assembly of the State, serving at the regular and extra sessions. In 1856 Mr. Hebard made a survey for the Burlington & Missouri Railroad from river to river. While on the survey he selected and purchased a large tract of land in Montgomery County where the town of Red Oak was afterwards laid out. He made his home on a fine farm near the town. During the Civil War Mr. Hebard was employed by the Government in building railroad bridges in the south as the Union armies advanced. He was a life-long Democrat and died September 21, 1890. THOMAS HEDGE was born at Burlington in the Territory of Iowa, on the 24th of June, 1844. He received a college education, graduating from Yale in 1867 and from Columbia College Law Department in 1869. He served as a lieutenant in a New York regiment during the Civil War and, returning to Burlington, entered upon the practice of law. In 1898 he was elected on the Republican ticket to Congress from the First District, was reëlected in 1900 and again in 1902. JOHN M. HEDRICK was born in Rush County, Indiana, on the 16th of December, 1832. He received but a common school education yet qualified himself for teaching by the time he was seventeen years of age. For three years he worked on his father's farm summers, teaching winters. He came to Iowa and opened a store in Ottumwa but soon after the beginning of the Civil War entered the service as first lieutenant of Company D, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry and was afterward promoted to captain. At the Battle of Shiloh he was wounded and taken prisoner. After remaining a prisoner six months he was exchanged, returned to his regiment and soon after was promoted to major. The regiment was in Sherman's campaign through the Gulf States and, in August, 1864, Hedrick was promoted to colonel. At the Battle of Atlanta he was severely wounded and completely disabled for active service. In the spring of 1865 he was brevetted