Mr. Lemuel Hedge

The biography of Mr. Lemuel Hedge remains a mystery. It seems he must be somehow connected to the Lemuel Hedge who was the first settled minister in Warwick, Mass., but that Lemuel Hedge had been dead 30 years at our founding. He had a son Lemuel, but he died in 1801. The most likely person would have been the elder Lemuel’s second son, Levi Hedge, professor of Logic at Harvard and an intimate with many of our founders. Levi is also listed as supporting other regional Massachusetts Bible Societies. There is, however, no way to twist the original writing to make the name say “Levi” rather than “Lemuel.” There was an inventor and organ maker of note named Lemuel Hedge but he seems never to have left his native Windsor, Vermont. If you have information, please let us know!