Edwards Genealogy of Colonial Virginia

I recently found scans of a book called Historic Sketches of the Edwards and Todd Families and Their Descendants 1523-1895 . Originally printed in 1895 and updated several times afterward, the book was authored by Georgie Hortense Edwards, a descendant of Haden Edwards (1716-1803).  The book was published the same year as C. W. Chancellor's Leaves from the Chancellor--Fitzgerald--Cooper--Edwards Tree and between them represent the earliest texts I've ever been able to find on the Edwards family of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Georgie Edwards wrote that she had traced her Edwards ancestry back to Richard Edwards, who was born in 1523 and, she claims, "great grandfather of Haden." On page one she already makes reference to "Edwards Hall" (red flag), the immigrant brothers myth (red flag number two), and claims that "Benjamin, son of William Edwards, married Ann Harrison, daughter of William Henry Harrison's great grandfather." This is an inte...

If you're familiar with the Stafford County Edwards family, you've probably seen something like this: Mary Edwards (c.1713-1767) married Joseph Coombes or Combs (c.1708-1763) of Stafford County (or Loudoun County), Virginia. The dates vary a little, but they are almost always said to be from Stafford, born shortly after the turn of the 18th century.  Mary is usually said to be the daughter of a John Edwards, sometimes John Edwards and Lucy Gray, who were supposedly from the Surry County Edwards line, other times a John Edwards of Stafford County who was supposedly born in 1682 and died April 14, 1747. As you might expect if you've leafed through my blog posts on the Edwards family, this is claim is likely the result of confusion between unrelated people. But thanks to the fantastic genealogical research posted years ago at Combs-Families.org , this mistake is easy enough to clear up. The evidence for the maiden name of Mary Coombes is the family bible of Henry Eves of Kent...

Look around Edwards genealogy on the internet and you'll see this claim: John Edwards b. Feb. 8, 1683 Denbighshire, Wales d. Mar. 6, 1757 Rockingham County (or Spotsylvania County, etc.), Virginia Usually this person is said to be married to someone called "Jane Everington (Arrington)." He is sometimes associated with the Cherry Grove Plantation of King William County, Virginia, which according to Peyton Neale Clark was founded by Ambrose Edwards around 1745. Clark makes no mention of a John Edwards in this generation. Let me assure you, this John Edwards never existed. He is a confusion of at least two different historical men named John Edwards: 1. Dr. John Edwards (c.1685 - 1743) who owned land in Westmoreland, Spotsylvania and King George Counties in the early 18th century. He is believed to have been married to a Jane Arrington. His estate was probated by Anne Edwards and a possible relative of hers, Richard Tutt, on December 2, 1743 in King George County, Virginia....

I finally wrote a book compiling the research I've done on this family since January 2019. You can find uploaded at archive.org. Click here to go directly to it: The Descendants of Meredith Edwards of Westmoreland County, Virginia I've compiled all the evidence, sources, citations and research from quite a few different sources, explained why I think the relationships are what they are. Every single thing I've ever found on this family is here, so its 83 pages long. I think there is some historical imperative in getting this family right, since it did produce some fairly noteworthy early Americans, including Senator John Edwards (1748-1834), one of the first elected U.S. senators from Kentucky; his sons, Haden (1771-1849) and Benjamin (1780-1837) Edwards, whose Fredonian Rebellion (1826) sparked the Texas secession movement; Gen. John Edwards King (1757-1828), a military hero from Kentucky who served during the War of 1812; Ninian Edwards (1775-1833), governor of I...

Having a recent discussion with a professional genealogist, I felt it necessary to make absolutely clear, with careful documentation, that the John, Thomas and William Edwards who appear in Westmoreland, King George and Spotsylvania Counties between 1708 and 1755 are brothers, and the sons of Meredith Edwards (c.1655-1712) of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Given that William Edwards of Westmoreland is the ancestor of several prominent American politicians, including John Edwards (1748-1833), the first elected senator from Kentucky, Haden Edwards (1771-1849), an early Texas revolutionary, and his son, Haden Harrison Edwards (1812-1865), a Texas legislator, there is some historical significance in getting this genealogy right.  A theory that posits that William Edwards of Westmoreland County was the son of William Edwards (c.1680-1722) and Ann Harrison of Surry County has been widely accepted for several decades. This theory evidently originated from the Register of the K...

Seldom has a single genealogy been so riddled with mistakes and faulty research as the Edwards family of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Compounding the problems of scarce colonial records was an outright fraud in the 19th century that left genealogists and historians copy-pasting bad information for over a century, and some rare, heroic souls trying to fix the mistakes as far back as the 1930s. With this post, I'd like to show where genealogists went wrong, and hopefully illuminate the real origins of this Edwards family. While a number of fake "traditions" swept quite a few Edwards ancestors into this hot mess, it seems the Edwards family of Westmoreland County, Virginia may be the most impacted. These early gentleman planters spread out into Spotsylvania, King George and Stafford Counties by the 1730s. But by the 19th century, genealogists were already confusing them with unrelated families all over the Tidewater. In each case, the erroneous claim can be identified ...