More About
Hercules Wendover and His Descendants
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Peter Hercules Wendover was the fifth son of Hercules Wendover and Jane Ruger. He was born August 1, 1768 in New York City. He remained in the city his entire life, and served as a Jeffersonian Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from 1815-1819. While there, he was primarily responsible for enactment of the Flag Act of 1818.
This law governs the design of the American flag, even today. Until its enactment, each time a new state was added to the Union, the flag was changed to include both an additional star and an additional stripe. By this law, the number of stripes reverted permanently to thirteen, in honor of the original thirteen states. From then on, only a star was added to the flag as a new state was admitted.
The law also required the redesign of the flag to be uniform. When a new state was to be admitted, and a star added to the flag, one uniform design of the star field would be adopted. The new flag design would go into effect on the 4th of July following the admission of the new state.
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More about the immigrant from England
More about the descendants of Peter Windover -- Upstate New York
More about the descendants of John Windover -- The Canadian Windovers
Wendover/Windover Genealogy Home Page
Mark Windover, Professional Genealogist