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biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
MANOAH HEDGE, Superintendent of Public Schools of Mahaska County, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, June 22, 1846. He is a son of George M. and Belinda (Atkinson) Hedge, who were natives of Guernsey County, Ohio, where they were born in 1816, and where they were married. Of a family of eleven children, eight have lived to be men and women: Anderson, a farmer of Red Cloud, Neb.; Aaron enlisted in the 51st Ohio Regiment, but died of disease contracted in the service soon after returning home; Sarah A. is the wife of O. A. Mulvane, photographer, of Newman, Douglas Co., Ill.; Manoah, our subject; Porter is an attorney at law at Lincoln, Neb.; Belle is the wife of Richard Charles, a farmer near Prairie City, Iowa; Oliver P. is a grocer at Oskaloosa; Violet is the wife of E. H. Calkins, foreman of a printing-office in St. Louis, Mo. In 1865 the father moved with his family to Wapello County, Iowa, locating at Eddyville, and in 1872 removed to Oskaloosa, his present home. Politically Mr. Hedge is a Republican, and is an enthusiastic friend and worker in the cause of education. It was the single ambition and aim of both father and mother to give their children a good practical education that would qualify them for useful citizenship, and in this particular they succeeded admirably. Both are devoted members of the Christian Church and have served the Lord for many years. Manoah Hedge completed his education at Oskaloosa College. He began teaching when nineteen years of age and has followed that avocation for twenty years. During 1878-79-80, he was Principal of the High School at Beacon, Iowa. In the fall of 1880 he was employed at Prairie City, Iowa, as Principal of the schools for two years. He was then engaged as Principal of the Fourth Ward school in Oskaloosa until the fall of 1885. when he was elected to his present position. Supt. Hedge was married, Feb. 20, 1877, at Chillicothe, Mo., to Miss Laura Skaggs, who was born and reared in that State. Having been left without father or mother the latter part of her life, she had learned to depend upon her own resources for her support and education. Of the children born to our subject and his wife, two are living, Violet and Laura. Mr. and Mrs. Hedge are leading and influential members of the Christian Church of Oskaloosa. Mr. Hedge stands in the front rank of successful workers in the cause of education, and his continual advancement is the result of real merit and not of circumstances. In addition to the duties of his present office he is also editor of the educational department of the Oskaloosa Weekly Herald.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy