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Contributed by: Piers Connor on 03 December 2008
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Comments:
I am interested in Frank Hedley because I am researching the trains built for the District Railway in London and Frank Hedley designed some of the equipment. He was said to be related to William Hedley of "Puffing Billy" fame. It was recorded that William was his "grand uncle". Frank was born in 1862 and emigrated to the USA in 1882 and joined the Erie RR as a machinist. He was appointed to Motive Power Superintendent for the Lake St Elevated RR in Chicago in 1893 and then superintendent of the Lake St and North Western Elevated RRs in Chicago. He was appointed in 1902 to supervise the construction of the NY City Interborough Subway. He also supplied designs for the bogies for electric trains in Chicage, New York City and London. He became head of the Interborough in New York at least into the late 1920s. I have no date of death.

I wonder which Hedleys were his father and grandfather, the latter would have been half-brother to William.

Reply:
I am afraid I do not think I can be of very much help. I am in contact with quite a few descendants of the family to which William Hedley belonged, all of them related to his half-brothers and sisters. Between them there is quite a database of families but there is (at least at the moment) no Frank Hedley. I did a quick check on FreeBMD and could find no Frank Hedley born in the UK between 1860 and 1870. I therefore wonder whether Frank adopted a new forename when he moved to the USA although I must admit all male descendants of this particular Hedley tree and born around 1862 (plus/minus 2 years) can be accounted for.

However, this is not the first time that I have heard of a suggested link with Hedleys in the USA. Quite a few years ago I was informed that one of William Hedley's direct descendants had been approached by a researcher in the 1980's also suggesting a link with the US family but they could never establish where that link was. No forename was given, just a reference to the 'Chicago Hedleys'. On the odd occasion I have searched the web for links between Chicago and the Hedleys but never found any of the information which you have provided above. If you are able to suggest other ways by which we might research Frank's ancestors I would be happy to help. Good luck with your research.

Ken
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