My biological father's name is David Warrington Hedrick. He was born
in Jacksonville, Florida, USA on 10-25-1917. His biological father was
Frederick Hedrick and he died in 1951 in Jacksonville, Florida. I am
not sure who his father was. I have always been curious how far back
in Europe (either Germany or western Poland-Silesia) I can trace my
father's family. I was told that a geneology researcher pursued the
matter until he or she could not read the German that the records were
kept in. I do know that my father's family came over from Europe in
the 1700's. I would like to know the names of the male Hedrick's who
are my ancestors, their birthplace or place of residence, and
approximate dates. I believe that my father's family either lived in
Virginia or Maryland in the 1700's and 1800's. Any and all details
would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.  Steve H.

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Clarification of Question by steve2470-ga on 04 Oct 2003 13:43 PDT

Frederic Cleveland Hedrick was the father of my father. He was born in
Jacksonville, FL, USA on 10-1-1884 and died in 1951. His father (my
great grandfather) was Andrew Jackson Hedrick and HIS father (my great
great grandfather) was Andrew Jackson Hedrick, also.

Why do you think that you ancestors came from Germany or Western
Poland?
There is no name such as Hedrick in Germany (perhaps it was something
like Haedrich in earlier times?).

This site may interest you (I can only comment):
http://www.deweeses.com/

I have always been told that my father's family came from Germany.
When I did some amateurish geneology research of my own, I found that
"Hedrick" was also a name from western Poland ( pre-World War 2 times)
in a region called Silesia. Silesia was originally in Germany before
World War 2.

Clarification of my previous comment that Hedrick is not a German
name. According to the current German telephone directory there is no
entry for this name:
http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/NSAPI/Anfrage?SPRACHE=EN

" The surname of HEDRICK is Teutonic in origin. It was originally
Hedereich (heder-reich) meaning "head of the government." whether this
refers to some local government or has a broader significance is
unknown. Early seated in the Austrian Tyrol, in Silesia, and the rich
Palatine District of the upper Rhine River, in Germany, and other
parts of Contiental Europe. The progenitors of the family became tired
of the almost constant battles between monarchs of France and Prussia,
who both claimed the area and time after time laid waste to the land,
confiscated property and butchered its inhabitants "
from folksites.com/hedrick-family/hedrick.html

" orgin of the name hedrick

The family name is known to have existed in Germany between 1200 and
1300. For the origin and the meaning of the name Hedrick (spelled
Heddrich at that time) there are two explanations. In the old high
German the name was Hadurich, meaning "Prince of the Battle." The name
Hadu is also found in the name Hedwig. The other explanation would be,
" Leader of the Heath", or "Heath Prince."

Members of the Hedrick family were among the earlier settlers in this
country. The family name, with variations in spelling, is quite common
in Pennsylvania. Some variations in the spelling of the name are:
Hedderich, Heddrich, Hydrich, Heydrich, Hedrick, and Headrick. That is
just to name a very few.

The first official census in this country was taken in 1790. In this
census there are more than a dozen variations in the spelling of the
name Hedrick. In many cases English speaking clerks wrote down what
the name sounded like to them, and in other instances the immigrants
formed their own English spelling. Thus causing the spelling to change
many times.

coming to america

In the early 1700's many people migrated to America, including our
Hedrick (Headrick) ancestors. Most of them came from the Palatinate
area of Germany. One of the reasons for leaving Germany was, they had
suffered cruel persecution as Protestants under Roman Catholic rulers
of their homeland. Another reason was, King Louis XIV of France sent
his invading troops into the rich farms of the Rhineland Palatine of
Germany. They were literally driven off, and there was n effort to
colonize it by France. Many seized what they could, and fled by way of
Holland and England to America.

The Hedrick family, of German descent, was among the early settlers in
America. One of the first arrivals seems to have been that of Karl
Heddrick. "
from http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/7505/

Have you looked at the family trees submitted by users of
Ancestry.com? There is an Andrew J. Hedrick in Virginia, whose
ancestors came from Langenselbold, Hessen, Germany. You didn't list
any wives' names and the family tree does not have Andrew J's
descendants, so I can't tell if you're related, so it could be a
start. http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=dana_thomas&id=I19036

If you want to find a professional researcher who *can* read the
German records, check with the Association of Professional
Genealogists (http://www.apgen.org/). On their site, click "How to
Find a Professional" and then under "Geographical Specialties" click
Germany. I hope this helps.

Here's a clue.  According to the following page, Andrew Jackson
Hedrick was born 1821 in Baltimore, MD, and died 1851 in Brownsville,
TX.

"Descendants of Adriaen Hendricks de Wees - Ninth Generation
(Continued) - 5413. Elizabeth Carroll Taylor"
DeWeese Genealogy [Note: This is the site pointed out by fp-ga.]
http://www.deweeses.com/Latest/aqwg187.htm#8134

Yes, the Andrew Jackson Hedrick who was born in Baltimore, MD in 1821
would be one of my ancestors, thanks ! Now I just have to trace him
back. Thank you also for the suggestion about the geneaologists.
              Steve

According to

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/igi/family_group_record.asp?familyid=64018654&indi_id=100076953339&lds=1&region=11&frompage=1

Andrew Jackson Hedrick and Elizabeth Carroll Taylor married on 18 DEC
1848 in Cameron, Texas.

You probably know this already, but these details are not mentioned on
http://www.deweeses.com/Latest/aqwg187.htm#8134