The Gedneys were among the original settlers of Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...

. The family patriarch, John Gedney (originally of Norwich), sailed in 1636 out of Yarmouth, England on the Mary Anne. One of his sons, Bartholomew, has the dubious distinction of being one of the judges who presided over the infamous witch trials

Salem witch trials

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...

. Bartholomew's brother, Eleazor (Eleazar) built the Gedney House

Gedney House

The Gedney House is a historic Colonial American house, estimated to have been constructed circa 1665. It is located at 21 High Street, near the intersection of Summer Street in the Chestnut Street District Salem, Massachusetts and operated as a non-profit museum by Historic New England...

 around 1665. This house is still standing in Salem today.

During the 18th century, the family moved to Westchester County, New York

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...

, settling at Mamaroneck

Mamaroneck (town), New York

Mamaroneck is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of Mamaroneck...

 and White Plains

White Plains, New York

White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...

.

The American War of Independence was particularly hard on the Gedney family. Bartholomew's great-grandson Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway....

, was forced to forfeit his land in what is now Fairfax, Virginia

Fairfax, Virginia

The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....

. Ironically, Fairfax's father had hired George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 to survey this land (giving the general a familiarity with the area that must have proven useful during the war if not in the disposition of the spoils after the war).

The land of Joshua Gedney, in Dutchess County along the Hudson River

Hudson River

The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

, was similarly seized and auctioned, eventually ended up in the hands of the Vanderbilts and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today it forms part of the Vanderbilt-Roosevelt Historic Park. Joshua Gedney and his brother Joseph were forced to change their names to Gidney

Gidney

Gidney is a family name adopted by an off shoot of the Gedney family of Massachusetts. This branch of the family settled in upstate New York and, following the war of independence, migrated to Canada, where they changed their name to Gidney and established themselves in Nova Scotia...

 and to flee from New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

 and Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

in 1783.