Contra Costa-Tuolumne-Inyo County CA Archives Biographies.....Edwards, Thomas April 5, 1812 - February 15, 1883 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Steve Harrison raleighwood@juno.com January 20, 2010, 4:35 am Source: History of Contra Costa County (1926) Author: unknown “THOMAS EDWARDS.-It seems eminently fitting that the names of early pioneers should be perpetuated in such manner that their labors in the days of trial and suffering may remain an inspiration and encouragement to others of the present day period. Great honor is due the pioneers of the Golden State and their descendants possess a heritage of which they may well be proud. Thomas Edwards was a pioneer of 1850 in California. He was born in North Wales on April 5, 1812, and at the age of fourteen went to sea, continuing for ten years, at which time he secured a position as mate on river steamers plying the Mississippi River. He worked for Captain Roe, who later became a large pork- packer in St. Louis, as first mate for five years. It was while he was working on the Mississippi River that he met J. B. Crockett, for whom Crockett, Cal., is named, who was then a law student in Cincinnati. On account of the news of the discovery of gold in California, in 1849 Mr. Edwards gave up steamboating and arranged to come to the Pacific Coast. The winter of 1849-1850 was spent in Louisa County, Iowa, then with his wife and three children he went to Council Bluffs and joined a party of forty men with ten wagons for the overland trip via Fort Hall and Lassen's Cutoff to California. After a few hundred miles travel with this party, in which there were but two women, Mr. Edwards stopped at the Platte River to rest his stock. The rest of the train continued West as fast as they could go, thus the balance of the long and tiresome journey to California was made alone. They arrived on Mormon Slough, near Stockton, in September, 1850. Going to Tuolumne County Mr. Edwards rented a hotel building at Green Springs for $500 per month and opened a hotel. In a few months the owner raised the rent and he quit, moved about ten miles away and began business at Owen House; he also began raising stock. He sold out in 1856 and bought a place at Knights Ferry, the former residence of John Dent, brother-in- law to General Grant; he also bought a ranch and continued the stock business and ranching. He had settled at this place on account of the school advantages for his children. In 1863 he transferred his range over the Sierras to Owens Valley and was the second settler there [in Independence].. He butchered and furnished the government with meat until 1865. The town of Independence was laid out on his ranch. In 1867 Mr. Edwards and family came to Contra Costa County and on Carquinez Straits ranched on 1800 acres. In 1881 he arranged with Mr. Heald for the location of a foundry on the bay frontage. Later with Mr. Heald he laid out the town of Crockett, naming it after the friend he had met while steamboating on the Mississippi and who had come to California and secured possession of this land in payment for a lawyer's services to a client. Mr. Edwards gave two lots for the public schools on the hill, but when the school house was moved the lot was sold for an apartment house site; he also gave a lot 50 by 140 for a church and parsonage, which is still used for those purposes. Thomas A. McMahon was the surveyor who plotted the townsite. Mr. Edwards gave the right-of-way to the Southern Pacific, and land for their depot and freighthouse. His one condition was that it must be called Crockett, although the first depot was located at Valona, only a short distance away. Reaching an agreement with Dr. John Strentzel, the founder of Valona, and A. D. Starr of the Starr Mining Company, the depot was moved to Crockett to be near the flouring mill owned by Mr. Starr. When Mr. Heald located in Crockett with his foundry he bought forty- seven acres on the water front and reserved seven acres for his own plant; and every other lot was owned by him because of his help in laying out the town. Mr. Edwards sold the water frontage to Mr. Heald for fifty dollars an acre. Mr. Edwards was so closely connected with every movement in this vicinity that it would be hard to mention any improvement that did not feel his guiding hand. His circle of acquaintances was a large one and he was highly respected by all who ever had the opportunity to meet him. Thomas Edwards, Sr., and Mary Pugh were married in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 19, 1843, by the Rev. John H. Jones, pastor of the Welsh Congregational Church. Mrs. Edwards had come to the United States from the same part of Wales as had Mr. Edwards, in charge of Rev. B. W. Chidlaw. She was born on July 20, 1819. Of this marriage the following children were born: Hugh P., named for his grandfather Edwards who died in Wales on October 2, 1844, was born in St. Louis on August 13,1844; John, who was born in Iowa on April 7, 1847; Thomas, born December 4,1849, and died April 3, 1851, the funeral services being read by John Dent at Knight's Ferry; Thomas (II), born August 19, 1851, in Tuolumne County, is living in Crockett; David, born December 29, 1852, in Tuolumne County, is mentioned on another page in this history; Edward, born October 8, 1854; Susan Jane, born June 10, 1858, died February 9, 1893. The original Edwards homestead is still standing at Crockett. It was built on a mound of shells on the bank of the bay and was an ideal home site. Mrs. Edwards planted many of the trees now seen on the place. Mr. Edwards, after a long and useful life, passed to his reward on February 15, 1883, at Crockett, and his funeral sermon was preached by Rev. A. Drahms, a Congregational preacher from Martinez, who afterwards became chaplain at San Quentin. The mother died at the age of seventy-four in 1893 [This appears to be an error as she died May 18, 1905 in Crockett]. David and Thomas Edwards are the only survivors of their family.” END Additional Comments: History of Contra Costa County, California. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1926. Pages 399-403. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/contracosta/bios/edwards920bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 6.5 Kb