The Hedrick family came originally from Germany. The name is Teutonic, and probably was originally pronounced Hedereich (heder-reich), which means "head of the government". It is unclear whether it meant head of a local government or had a wider meaning, but it was first mentioned in the Palatine District of the upper Rhine River in Germany, and in Silesian Tyrol in Austria.
The constant upheaval in the politics of the area apparently wearied the early bearers of the 'Hedrick' name. The almost constant fighting between France and Prussia, who each claimed the area and often laid waste to the property of both peasants and noblemen, with subsequent slaughter of the occupants. Sometime during the latter part of the 17th century, many of the Hedrick families left Germany through Holland and sailed to America, some settling in Virginia, but most arrived in the Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Some Hedricks did not immigrate to America until after the Napoleonic wars, about 1820, as did Johann or John Hedrick. who settled in Delaware County, New York. He married a widow named Mary Crow Terrell, and between 1820 and 1830 had two surviving sons, George, who was born at Sydney, New York, and Alfred, born in New York and one surviving daughter named Catherine. John Hedrick died about 1830 and his widow married Thomas Carman, and the entire family moved to Worth Township, in Sanilac County Michigan. Alfred Hedrick married Lydia Wright about 1849, but she died after giving birth to a son in 1850 and Alfred remarried her sister, Sarah who bore him a large family of about 12 children.
George Hedrick married a very young woman from Canada, named Mercena Van Camp, about 1850, and she bore him five children, George William born in early 1854 who died in 1858, Alfred Lafayette, born in May, 1856, Mary Elizabeth, born in 1858, Clarissa Anne who was born in 1860, and Sherman, born about 1862 In 1861, George enlisted in the Michigan Infantry and served in the 10th Division, Company D in the Civil War, but was mustered out with severe diarhrea in July, 1862, and returned to his home in Sanilac County. His wife became ill and died suddenly on March 24, 1863, and George was left with a large family of children to take care of, which he gave over to relatives for their care. His mother Mary had become a widow for a third time and had married Robert McClure from Ireland, and lived with him until her death in 1870. George reenlisted in the Michigan Infantry in February, 1864 and served with General Sherman, and accompanied him on his famous march to Atlanta and the sea. At the end of the war, George married Salinda Mills in Styker, Williams County, Ohio. He never returned to Sanilac County, but moved with his new wife and his two children by Salinda, Francis Ely and Sarah Mercena, to Marion County, Iowa, about 1869, where he purchased a farm. They had six more children while living on the farm, George Washington, born in Sept, 1869 who died at the age of one, Findley Sherman, born in 1871, Willie Grant, born in 1872, died in January, 1874, Ida Catherine, born in May, 1874, John Joseph, born in Sept. 1877, died in February, 1879, and Sarah, born in 1879. Salinda died at the end of 1905, and George lived with his son Sherman, on the farm, until Sherman was killed in an auto accident in 1913, and then George was taken care of by his daughter Mary and her husband, John Anderson. By 1913, George's eyesight had failed badly because of illness and injury suffered during the Civil War, and he was almost completely blind, but he lived until March, 1919, and is buried in the Gosport Cemetery, Gosport, Williams County, Iowa.
Alfred Lafayette Hedrick worked as a farm hand on his father's farm and at other neighbors' farms in Marion County. On August 24, 1876, he married Mary Jane Eagy, the daughter of a neighboring farmer, Washington Eagy. Later that year, he moved with his wife and her family, by train, to Linn County, Oregon where Washington Eagy purchased a farm near Oakville. Alfred lived with his wife on the farm until mid 1879, when he became homesick for his family in Iowa and traveled back there by train. At the time his wife didn't realize that she was pregnant, and had her child, Elma Maud Hedrick, in December, 1879, but when Alfred didn't return to Oregon, Mary filed for a divorce and married William Henry Pugh, with whom she had a large family. Alfred also marrried a second time, to Susan Idaho Richards on September 21, 1884 in Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa, and they had a large family of seven children, Emma, Lois, Lillie, Sherman (named after the General), Edna, James Allen and Clyde, who was born in May, 1899. Alfred lived until May 1, 1910 and is buried in the Gosport Cemetery.