Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Edwards Family of Otisfield

The Edwards family of Otisfield Maine (which was part of Cumberland County until 1978, when it was annexed to Oxford County) appears to have come initially from Wales around 1700, with the migration of John Edwards, Sr. to Haverhill, Massachusetts.  His son, John, Jr., had many children in Haverhill.  Two of them, Jonathan and William, migrated to Otisfield in the early 1800s and were among this town's earliest settlers.

DESCENDANTS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS

Jonathan Edwards (1747-1837) and his wife, Hannah Heath, migrated to New Hampshire in the 1770s and had their four children, including John "White Eye" Edwards, Sally Edwards-Morse, Nathaniel Edwards, and Stevens Edwards (more on him below).  This family migrated to Otisfield sometime prior to 1810.

Stevens Edwards (1773-1855) was born in Sandoun, New Hampshire.  He married Deliverance Hamblin of Gorham, Maine, and had eight children in Otisfield, including Stevens Edwards, Jr., who was nicknamed "Deacon Ronko".

Steven "Deacon Ronko" Edwards (1811-1890) married Abigail Hamblin (potentially his second cousin).  They had three sons in Otisfield (Elijah, William and Francis).  William moved to Mechanic Falls, but Elijah and Francis moved on to Raymond.

Elijah Hamblen Edwards (1844-1928), great grandson to Jonathan, married Eliza Jane Cobb of Poland Maine, and had five children who they raised in Raymond.  Elijah's grandsons, Charlie Bickford and Elwin Plummer, both married my aunt, Laura Matilda Clarke of Scarborough, Maine, whose maternal grandfather was John Henry Temm of Scarborough.


DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM EDWARDS

William Edwards (1755-1845) fought in the Revolution in Nathaniel Gage's Company, Colonel Garrish's Regiment of Guards.  He married Lydia Baker in Haverhill, Mass, and had ten children.  Their son, Ephraim Edwards (1797-1877), had two sons, Jonas and Dennis.  Dennis (1832-1898) married Sadie Temm, who was sister to John Henry Temm (mentioned above).  Dennis died of a head wound stemming from an accident (a Brunswick train bound for Portland collided with his horse carriage at "Curtis Corner" in Freeport).

6 comments:

  1. Hi, Scott--

    Like you, I descend from an Edwards family but my branch is originally from Virginia. I'm not sure if you'd be interested, but just in case you are, I wanted to let you know that I've recently created a Facebook group for descendants of the Edwards families around the world. I'd like to collect data that could help me trace specific lines of Edwards families and I'm hoping to connect them to two places: New York and Wales. This data will be used to help me develop a logical conclusion for the non-fiction book I'm working on about the family and the NY legend associated with them. To learn more, you can visit the group page here, https://www.facebook.com/groups/2468461436512727/ which provides more detail, as well as an article I've written related to the book itself. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2468461436512727/

    Thank you for your consideration.

    Best wishes,

    --Brijit Reed

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    1. Thanks Brijit, I don't directly descend from the Edwards family, but I've done the above research given that two sets of Edwards families married into my indirect lines in the past. My Edwards' in-laws, I believe are from Wales, based on Ancestry tree research.

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  2. Hi Brijit, I directly descend from the Edwards family. William Edwards married Sarah Ann Elwell. My father's father was Eugene Edwards.

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    1. I am Jennifer Edwards I am looking into my family history and this is so interesting to find

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  3. I am Roxane Edwards (Gerry). My email is moxy1957@yahoo.com.

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  4. I am Jennifer Edwards my email is blanca69305@yahoo.com

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