William Edwards, Sr.
The Edwards family is of Welsh ancestry. Samuel Edwards was the first to emigrate from the old world home, not far from the middle of the last century. He was somewhat of a roving disposition, and made his way alone to America, where he settled in New Jersey, probably as a farmer, as his son, Isaac, the father of the subject of this sketch, was after him. His other son, John, went to New York city and engaged in business there until the fatal period of the prevalence of yellow fever, which swept him and his entire family into the grave. These were the only children except one daughter, Elizabeth, who became Mrs. Seth RAY, of Milford, Clermont county, Ohio. Their mother was Mrs. ROSE, of New Jersey, who had Mr. Edwards for her second husband. He died in New Jersey, and his wife long after, at the pioneer home in Anderson township, about 1810, aged more than eighty years. She was then residing with her son Isaac, who had come from New Jersey to the Miami country in 1805, landing first in Cincinnati, but going without unnecessary delay to a tract he had purchased upon and near the present site of Newberry, Clermont county. He found the land unsuited to his purposes and only stayed upon it two years, removing then to the southward upon the farm now occupied by his son Edward, adjoining the homestead of William Edwards. Here the remainder of his life was spent in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, during twenty years, or until his death in 1827, being-then sixty years of age. At the same place died his mother and four of his children. He had been married at the old home near Middleton, Monmouth county, New Jersey, to Miss Hannah Mrtin, about 1801, before the removal to the Miami valley. They had twelve children - William, Mary (Mrs. Timothy Day), John, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Samuel, Edward, Joseph, Redford, Job, Lydia Ann (Mrs. Nicholas Edwards), George Washington, and one that died in infancy unnamed. Of this large family, William, Rebecca (Mrs. Martin Hahn, widow, residing near Galesburgh, Illinois), Elizabeth (Mrs. Timothy Day, of Iowa), Samuel, Edward and Redford J. are still living.
William Edwards, the oldest son, was born in New Jersey May 10, 1802. He was brought with the family to the west, and received some education in the subscription schools of that time, but says he pretty regularly forgot, at the end of every term, all he had learned during its session, and began anew with the next school. His childhood and youth were spent at the paternal homes in Clermont county and in Anderson township, until his marriage, December 11, 1823, to Miss Nancy Day, daughter of Timothy and Sarah (Crane) Day, who had come to this region about the year 1800. One of her brothers, Timothy Day, jr., married her husband's sister Mary, and upon her death married Elizabeth, another sister, as above noted. After his marriage, Mr. Edwards removed from the paternal roof to a double log cabin standing near the homestead, but upon another farm, for which his father had traded. This he occupied until it became much out of repair, when he put up a frame dwelling upon its site, which was in its turn superseded by the present spacious and comfortable brick mansion erected in the year of the Harrison campaign, of which Mr. Edwards has an interesting relic in the shape of a Whig banner, with the portrait of the hero of Tippecanoe and appropriate inscriptions. The farm upon which the residence stands had long before become the property of Mr. Edwards, to which he has since made large additions by purchase. Here he has since continually resided, engaging himself almost exclusively in the labors of the farm. Sometimes he has purchased for sale, in addition to his own crops, the products of his neighbors, in some instances to large amounts. He has wasted none of his energies in public office, except as he has served the township in some of its minor posts. He has often been solicited to become a candidate for the legislature, but has invariably declined. He is faithful in his voting, however, having voted successively for fifteen candidates for the Presidency, and always upon the Democratic ticket, to which he has given a life-long allegiance. He has never allied himself with any religious or secret societies, and is independent in all his thinking and his actions. Although close upon the border of four-score years, he has remarkable vigor of mind and body, and preserves his faculties almost unimpaired. His venerable wife also still survives in apparently good health, but their long union has proved childless. They have raised, however, several nephews and nieces and other children. A number of their relatives reside near them, their dwellings and other houses making a handsome cluster of buildings at the station, on the Cincinnati & Eastern Narrow Guage (sic) railway, which is called from him "Edwards."
From History of Hamilton County, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881