Thomas Hedge
Thomas Hedge was a four-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district, in southeastern Iowa.
Born in Burlington, Iowa Territory, Hedge attended the common schools and Denmark Academy.
He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1861, but his education was interrupted by the Civil War. In 1864 and 1865 he served as a private in Company E and as second lieutenant in Company G of the 106th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
He graduated from Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut in 1867, where he was a member of Skull and Bones, and Columbia College Law School in New York City in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1869, and returned to Iowa to practice law in Burlington. For twenty years, he practiced in a partnership with Iowa Republican politician J.W. Blythe, with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad as one of the firm's clients.
In 1898, Hedge was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House seat for Iowa's 1st congressional district, then held by Republican Samuel M. Clark. Hedge served in the Fifty-sixth and the three succeeding Congresses. In 1906 he did not seek re-nomination. In all, he served in Congress from March 4, 1899 to March 3, 1907.
After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law. He died in Burlington on November 28, 1920. He was interred in Aspen Grove Cemetery.
