Hedges, Elwood C.

Born in Albany, Oregon, in 1892, Elwood C. Hedges came from pioneer stock on both sides of his family: his father, Joseph W. Hedges, was a machinist whose father had been an early California coastal purser, while his mother, Sarah E. Howard, was the daughter of Oregon overland pioneers. Raised and educated in San Francisco, Elwood apprenticed as a sign-painter, later working in trade and advertising roles in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as serving as a traveling salesman across the San Francisco Bay area.

In 1916, Hedges relocated to Tranquillity, California, to work as an oiler for the Standard Oil Company at its Mendota Pumping Station. Married in Phoenix to San Francisco native May Jennings, with whom he had one son, Howard Joseph, Hedges established himself as a respected figure in western Fresno County while maintaining active involvement in the Knights of the Maccabees.