Edwards Genealogy of Colonial 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...

Until very recently, I believed Gerrard (bef.1738 - 1810) and John Edwards (c.1725 - c.1801) of Fauquier County, Virginia were sons of John Edwards Sr. and Jane Arrington. Gerrard's son, Elijah's estate was administered by a "Thompson Edwards" in 1838, and since Ignatius, son of John Sr., had a proven grandson named "Thomson Edwards" in the 1787 tithables of Stafford County, I figured that was enough of a connection. John Edwards of Prince William/Fauquier was called "orphan boy" in an order of 1744, which made sense if his father died in 1743. But alas, I was working with erroneous assumptions. The evidence suggests that Gerrard and John Edwards, though probably related, actually belong to a different family. Firstly, it seems clear these men are likely brothers. Gerrard Edwards appears in the Fauquier County tithables list of June 1759, with John Edwards appearing just four households away. Living with John Edwards are two tithables, James a...