During the 1840's the Hedleys took an active part in the growing community of South March. Nicholas was a sergeant in the militia, and he and his brother William were active members of the South March Loyal Orange Lodge # 331. Nicholas was also a March Township Councilor in 1852 and 1853. The family of Nicholas and Jane was growing rapidly, with the arrival of six new babies during the decade, in addition to William and John Henry. At some point during the decade, Nicholas's parents, John and Frances, left the stone house and moved in with William and Bridget and their four little girls.

The 1851 Census for March Township shows the following (The birthdates in parentheses and the numbers in front of the children's names were not part of  the census.)
        - Nicholas, 38, farmer, born in England, Church of England, living in a one-storey
          stone house and operating a sawmill worked by water, producing 20,000 feet.
        - Jane, 33, married, born in Ireland, Church of England
         (1) William, 14 (born  Aug. 26, 1837) labourer, attending school
         (2) John, 13 (born Nov. 4, 1838) labourer, attending school
         (3) Thomas, 11 (born July 13, 1840) labourer, attending school
         (4) Nicholas, 9 (born  Jan. 14 , 1843) labourer, attending school
         (5) Robert, 8 (born Sept. 18, 1844) labourer, attending school
         (6) Ann, 7 (born Dec. 23, 1846) attending school
         (7) Edward, 4 (born, July 16, 1848)
         (8) Mary J., 1 (born May 27, 1851)
        - Judy Grinnen, 19, born in Ireland, R.C.. is also living with family, but is not a
          family member.

During the next 13 years, according to a list of birth dates that came into the hands of a
relative, Phyllis Morrison of R.R.1 Lucknow,  and believed written by Ann Hedley,
six more children were added to the family:
 (iii)    (9) Maggie, born 1853
        (10) Martha,  born 1854
        (11) Adeline, born 1856
        (12) Susan, born 1860
        (13) Alexander, born Feb. 18, 1862
        (14) Pharaoh, born May 1, 1864
A baby boy, James Joseph (or James Jeremiah) may have been born around 1858 but died in infancy. "James", without a birth date is included on Ann's list. This list, as well as photographs of Ann (Hedley) Phillips and newspaper announcements of the death of Nicholas and Thomas Hedley and John Henry Hedley's funeral card were provided by Phillis Morrison of RR 1 Lucknow, a daughter-in-law of Nicholas Hedley (son of Alexander) and grand niece of Henry Alton, who married Susan Hedley.

Nicholas and Jane Hedley and their family of 14 children do not appear in the 1861 census for March or Torbolton Townships, Carleton County nor for Wawanosh or Ashfield Townships, Huron County, nor for Kinloss or Greenock Townships, Bruce County. However, sometime between 1851 and 1862 the family moved from March Township to Wawanosh Township. At first, according to the township history, Reflections of West Wawanosh, Nicholas worked as a miller at the Treleavan Mill and the family lived on the mill property, on the S.1/2 of Lot 15, Conc. 10. Alexander and Pharoh were both born after the family moved to Huron County. At the time of Pharoh's birth, Jane was 45 and Nicholas 50. By 1862 Nicholas and Jane were farming on Lot 16, Concession 10, West Wawanosh, according to the baptismal records of their two youngest children.

In 1863, the year after Alexander was born and a year before Pharoh's birth, William, 25, eldest son of Nicholas and Jane was married to Sarah Phillips, 17, at St. Pauls Anglican Church in Dungannon. Witnesses at the marriage were William's 24-year-old brother John Henry and his 17-year-old sister Ann, both of St. Helens, Wawanosh Township.

It appears that sometime during the next three years the family of Nicholas, or part of it, moved to Ashfield Township. Both Nicholas and John Hedley are listed in the Huron County Directory 1863-1864 in Ashfield Township: Nicholas Hedley Con. 12, Lot 9 f and John Hedley Con 10, Lot 8 h. This "Nicholas" was probably John Henry's younger brother (age 20). He was a witness at Mary Jane's wedding in 1867.

On April 11, 1866, Ann Hedley, 20, "of Ashfield Township" was the second of Nicholas and Jane's children to marry. Ann married Henry Phillips, 23, a brother of Sarah Phillips, William's wife. John Henry, "of Ashfield" was again a witness. The couple was married by Rev. Wm. Daunt, Church of England, in Dungannon.

The following month Thomas, aged 26, of March Township, Carleton County married Mary Ann Armstrong, aged 20, daughter of James and Bridget Armstrong of March. They were married May 15, 1866 in March Township. It appears that Thomas remained in March when the rest of the family moved to Huron County, or if he did move with the family, he returned to March to marry Mary Ann. Thomas and Mary Ann settled in the town of Kincardine, Bruce County.

Before the year was out, on October 31, 1866, "John Henry Hedley, aged 25, of Ashfield Township" had also married. He married "Margaret Johnston, age 19 of Ashfield Township, born in Chinguacousy, Peel County, daughter of James and Martha". They settled in Kinloss Township, Lot 10, Conc. 6.

Six months after John Henry's marriage, on May 17, 1867, "Mary Jane Hedley, age 17, of Ashfield Township, daughter of Nicholas and Jane" married "James Woods, age 23, of Wawanosh Township, born in Anneqto, Ireland, son of Herman and Jane". One of the witnesses at this marriage conducted by Rev. Wm. Daunt, C of E, Dungannon was Nicholas Hedley of Wawanosh, Mary Jane's 24-year-old brother.

In 1870 Maggie Hedley, born in 1853, married John Burns, son of Abraham and Mary
Burns, an Irish family who were living in  Bervie at the time of the censuses of 1861
and 1862.

Sometime before 1871, Nicholas and Jane and their younger children moved to Lot 8, Conc. 9 of Kinloss Township. The Census for Kinloss shows the following:
        -  Nicholas, 57, born in England, Church of England, farmer, owner of Lot 8, Conc. 9 of
           Kinloss, total acres 80, improved acres 20, pasture 3, wheat 8 acres, 100 bus., 18 bus.
           peas, 8 bus. potatoes (1/2 acre).
        - Jane, 51, born in Ireland, Church of England
        - Susan, 11, born in Ontario, attending school
        - Alexander, 9, born in Ont., attending school
        - "Sarah" (or Farah), 6, born in Ontario, attending school.  The census taker apparently
           mistook the name "Pharoh" for "Sarah" and listed this child as female.

Martha, who would have been 16, is missing from the family as is Adeline, who would have been 14. These young women may have been working outside the home, and Maggie was already married. The only record we have found showing Adeline as a daughter of Jane
and Nicholas is her name and birthdate in her sister's hand-written notes.

The 1871 Census for Huron County has no Hedleys listed except "Martha Heddly" in Ashfield Township, a 16-year-old servant, born in Ontario, Church of England, of Irish origin. It is quite possible that this was the daughter of Nicholas and Jane, for Martha, born in 1854, would have been 16 or 17 at the time of the 1871 Census.

Ten years later, the 1881 Census finds Jane, 62 and Nicholas 67, still farming, but now in West Wawanosh Township with Susan, 19, occupation: seamstress, Alexander, 18, and Pharaoh, 17.

The 1891 Census for West Wawanosh shows Nicholas, 77, retired farmer, Jane, 72, and Pharoah, 22, farm labourer. Less than three years later, Nicholas Hedley died suddenly of a heart attack at age 80 on January 24, 1894.
 

The 1901 Census for West Wawanosh shows Jane residing with her son, Alexander, and his wife, Thomisene, and their nine children in their home on the south edge of Lucknow. Jane died July 3, 1903 at age 84 at the home of her daughter, Mary Jane Woods, in Kincardine Township, lot 13, Conc. 9. She died of Bright's Disease after a two month illness.