Isaiah (Josiah) Heddins was born on Monday, March 10, 1794 in the state of New York. At the time of his birth, the President of the United States of America was George Washington, and it was four days after Isaiah's birth that Eli Whitney was issued a patent for the cotton gin. Isaiah's father, suspected to have been John Hadden/Haddon, had been a Revolutionary War soldier. Oral family tradition tells us that two brothers came to America from England, but it is not known how many generations back that took place. More research needs to be done to positively link Isaiah with Pvt. John Hadden whose ancestry has been traced to before 1608 in England.
In most of the early census and tax records Isaiah's name appeared as
Josiah. It was not very common to have two given names in that day and time, so it's more
likely that he started out with the name Josiah and later changed it to Isaiah.
Isaiah grew up in the state of New York. As a young man he lived in Ontario County,
which at the time was New York's largest county and included the cities of Rochester,
Buffalo and Jamestown. In 1812, at the age of 18, Isaiah voluntarily enlisted in the
Military Service of the United States and served in the War of 1812. Some time after
the war, Isaiah moved to Delaware County, Ohio, and settled in the township of Berkshire,
just north of the city of Columbus. He may have moved there along with some relatives or
it may have been Miss Carpenter, also formerly of western New York, whom he was after.
Once in Ohio Isaiah began courting Saloma Carpenter, and on Thursday, February 10, 1820
they were married. The marriage ceremony was performed by Gilbert Carpenter, believed to
be one of Saloma's relatives. Isaiah was nearly 26 years old and Saloma was only 14.
Saloma Carpenter was born on Saturday, July 21, 1804 in the state of New York. She
was a daughter of John Carpenter who was of Colonial lineage. John Carpenter was born
between 1760 and 1770, several years before the Revolutionary War. John and his family
were a group of pioneers of the Ohio frontier in the early 1800's. William Carpenter
(1605-1659), believed to have been John Carpenter's ancestor, came to America from England
in 1638, settling at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Saloma Carpenter was illiterate and
"signed" her name with an "X." Her name appears on various documents
over the years, spelled Salloma, Siloma and Soloma. The origin of her name is probably the
Biblical character, Salome. The spelling that appears on her tombstone is the one that has
been chosen for this biography.
Isaiah and Saloma began their family in Delaware County, Ohio, living and farming
near Saloma's parents. By 1830, Isaiah and Saloma had three sons, according to the
Delaware County, Ohio census, and were living in the township of Berkshire. On April 11,
1821, John Heddins was born to Isaiah and Saloma, and about three and a half years later,
on October 26, 1824, James was born. On November 22, 1826 (or possibly 1827),
Abraham (known as Abram) was born, and then in late 1830 or early 1831,
Saloma gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Mary. A few years later on August 6,
1834, Isaiah and Saloma had another boy, Oscar Heddins, and on February 22, 1839, they had
another son whom they named Henry Harrison Heddins.
By 1840, Isaiah, Saloma and their six children were living in the township of
Trenton, just east of Berkshire township, not far from the town of Sunbury, Ohio. Isaiah
had apparently also accumulated land in the township of Lincoln, for the 1835 Tax List
records him as having paid taxes on land in both Berkshire and Lincoln townships.
Finally on October 6, 1843, Charles ("Charlie") Heddins was born. In all, we have clear record of Isaiah and Saloma having had a total of six sons and one daughter, although in a biographical sketch written in 1884 about their oldest son, John, the writer stated that Isaiah and Saloma had thirteen children altogether, eleven boys and two girls. If that is true, the other children did not live very long and thus were never counted in any federal census. Given that Isaiah and Saloma married in 1820, it is safe to say that John was the oldest, and then there is a gap between him and James, so it's likely that a child was born in about 1823. After James and Abraham it's probable that a child was born in about 1829, followed by Mary, and then one in about 1832 or 1833. After Oscar's birth there is a large enough gap for two children to have been born in about 1835 and 1837. After Henry's birth and before Charlie's, a child was probably born in about 1841.
The biographical sketch about John Heddins also made mention that Isaiah Heddins was an invalid. It is possible that he sustained wounds during his time of service in the War of 1812. Isaiah's children had fair schooling, all of them having learned to read and write. Isaiah and his family were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On April 18, 1842, John Heddins married Catherine Carpenter, a relative on his mother's side of the family, in Delaware County, Ohio. Within a couple of years, Isaiah, Saloma and their family moved west to Coles County, Illinois, leaving John and his young family behind in Ohio. Isaiah and his family settled in the township of Pleasant Grove, near Charleston, Illinois. John, Catherine and their baby did not stay in Ohio long, for in September of 1844 they also moved to Illinois, settling just south of Coles County in Cumberland County. On arriving, $45, one team and wagon, wife and baby, were all his earthly possessions. The team and wagon, valued at $130, he traded for eighty acres of land, where he raised his family. By the mid-1880's, John had accumulated a total of 250 acres of land in the Cottonwood township of Cumberland County.
Isaiah and Saloma's other children grew up and married in Coles County, Illinois. On February 28, 1850, at the age of 25, James Heddins married a young lady by the name of Clarinda Lee Brewster. Clarinda (or "Clara") was a daughter of Thomas and Martha Brewster, and most likely a descendant of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. In late 1853 or early 1854, Jim, Clara and their two small children moved south to Van Zandt County, Texas, never to see his parents or siblings again. Jim obtained a land grant of 160 acres from the State of Texas and farmed there for several years.
On April 15, 1850, Abraham married Clara's widowed sister, Elizabeth Brewster Frost who had three children under the age of eight. By 1860, however, Elizabeth had apparently died or their marriage broke up, and Abram was single again, remaining single the rest of his life. In August of 1850, Mary Heddins married a man named Bryce Ferguson. Bryce and Mary Ferguson began their family in Paradise township in Coles County, Illinois. Sadly, in the early to mid 1860's, Mary died, leaving Bryce with five children. Apparently Bryce was unable to care for them and left them to live with Mary's relatives. In 1870 we find one living with John and his family in Cumberland County, and three living with Charlie and his family. Some time during the 1860's, Bryce married a lady named Sarah Calloway and had children by her as well. According to one of Bryce and Sarah's sons, Byrd Ferguson, Bryce was a violent, hateful alcoholic who mistreated his family.
Several deaths occurred in the family during the 1850's and 1860's, including one of Isaiah and Saloma's sons, sixteen year old Henry Harrison Heddins. He died on October 11, 1855 and was buried at Mt. Tabor Cemetery not far from where Isaiah and his family lived. In January of 1864, Oscar Heddins married his first wife, Barbara E. Curry. Oscar and Barbara had eight children together. Barbara died in 1883 and about three years later, Oscar married Inez Dorothy Schnorf, but had no children with her.
On December 15, 1864, Charlie Heddins married Margaret Ann Lewis. Charlie and Margaret had seven children together and then Margaret died in 1878. About six years later, on April 10, 1884, Charlie married Mary Francis Schnorf, a sister of Oscar's second wife. Charlie and Mary had ten children together. In all, Charlie had seventeen children by his two wives.
On Sunday, July 29, 1866, Isaiah Heddins died at the age of 72, and he was buried at Mt. Tabor Cemetery in Pleasant Grove township, near Charleston. In the year 1878, Saloma began trying to obtain a pension from the United States Government, since her late husband had served in the military service during the War of 1812. She hired an attorney, Mr. William Ricketts, to help her obtain the pension. On several occasions, Mr. Ricketts corresponded with the Pension Office at the Department of the Interior, in Washington, D.C. The Pension Office, in turn, corresponded with the Auditors at the Treasury Department, trying to obtain proof of Isaiah's service in the war. The three parties kept writing back and forth to each other for about nine years, trying to track down Isaiah's service records, but none could be found. In the pension application affidavits and letters, some information about Saloma and her family was given. According to a letter from Mr. Ricketts to the Commissioner of Pensions, Saloma was old, blind, deaf and senile, and could not give much information about Isaiah's service in the war. In a letter dated June 17, 1879, Mr. Ricketts stated, "This old lady is blind and her mind is like a child's mind. She knows that her husband was in the War of 1812, but she is unable to give the particulars of his service. Her sons recollect hearing their father talking about his service in said war but they paid so little attention to what he said, that they are not able to give but very little information on the subject." And in another letter, dated February 11, 1886, he wrote, "[Saloma] is very old and she is deaf and blind and it is very hard to...understand what she means." Saloma told Mr. Ricketts that Isaiah Heddin[s] had enlisted in Ontario County, New York and fought until near the end of the war. When no evidence of Isaiah's service could be found, Saloma then told Mr. Ricketts that she thought she remembered Isaiah having said that he had fought in the war in place of a man named Hawkins Ketchum, and that Isaiah may have enlisted under that name. An extensive search of the records was done, but no Hawkins Ketchum was found. Then Saloma remembered that her husband had gone by the name Josiah in his earlier years, so they attempted to locate the war records under that name to no avail. It is possible that Isaiah did go to war in place of someone else, for at that time that practice was allowable. If Isaiah did in fact enlist and serve under his own name, his military service records must have been somehow lost or destroyed as was not uncommon. It's probably more likely that Isaiah began spelling his name Heddins after the war, for we find no Heddins listed in the New York state censuses in 1800 or 1810 when he was young. It is suspected that Isaiah was born with the name Hedden or Haddon, and apparently by 1830 had changed it to Heddins, as his name appears as "Josiah Heddins" in the 1830 Delaware County, Ohio census. This is the very first record we have of him.
In 1881, Saloma and her grown children got word that James, who had been living in Texas for the past 27 years, had died. James' wife and three of their children had already preceeded him in death. They were buried in a little family cemetery on their land at the border of Van Zandt and Henderson Counties.
Saloma lived with her sons, Abram and also with Charlie and his family in the Charleston area during the last years of her life. She died on Thursday, June 6, 1889, about six weeks before her 85th birthday. Saloma's body was buried next to Isaiah's at Mt. Tabor Cemetery in Coles County, Illinois. Isaiah and Saloma Heddins had seven known children, and supposedly as many as 13. They had at least 45 grandchildren, including infants who died under three years of age.
This biography was compiled and written by Roland J. Heddins (great-great-great-great-grandson of Isaiah & Salome), copyright 2000 (edited 2023). If re-published (in print or on the internet) please give attribution to the author. Thank you. -RJH
