Edward W. Heston
The gravesite photo was provided by Bruce Andersen.
Information on the location was provided by the Philadelphia-Continental
Chapter SAR.
Photo taken at 4:30 p.m. on February 22, 2004
Born: 1745
Died: 1824
Burial Site: Woodlands Cemetery
Service: Lieutenant Colonel
Global position location: Latitude: 39.9458° N, Longitude: 75.2020° W
Location at Cemetery: Grave is in Section "C" which is in the rear of the cemetery opposite the Mansion and circle. It is irregular in shape and is bound by Elm Ave to the south and Magnolia Ave to the north. Col Heston's grave is in a family plot C-660.
Directions to cemetery: Woodland Ave at 40th Street, Philadelphia
Family History:
Edward W. Heston, son of Jacob and brother to Thomas, held a lieutenant-colonel's commission as a Revolutionary War patriot. Edward W. Heston was in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and for eight years was a State Senator. He was a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas and the father of 14 children.
He founded the village of Hestonville, now included within the corporate limits of Philadelphia. One of the villages that grew along the Lancaster Pike, Hestonville, had a original town plot of comprised approximately 100 acres near 52nd Street.
The Heston Mansion, located near the current Heston School, in which he lived for sixty years, was situated in the vicinity of George's Hill, Fairmount Park. The old Heston mansion was built in 1800 and was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1872; it was demolished in 1901 to make way for railroad tracks.
One of Edward Heston's daughters was Mrs. Louisa Paxon, and the present-day Paxon Street (a small street in West Parkside and other sections of West Philadelphia) bears her name.