EDWARDS, Wakeman W.(Judge);Charlton,Saratoga Cty.,NY; now Vermilion Parish Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Edwards, Judge Wakeman W., successful and well-known attorney, Abbeville, Vermilion parish, La., was born at Charlton, Saratoga county, N. Y., Sept. 13, 1826; son of Henry and Elizabeth (Rogers) Edwards, the former of whom was a farmer in Saratoga county, N. Y., where he and his wife passed the greater part of their lives, with the exception of a short stay in the state of Indiana. The paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were farmers, respectively, of Schenectady and Suffolk counties, N.Y., while the paternal great-great-grandfather was a seafaring man. Wakeman W. Edwards, the son, attended the public schools of Charlton, later high school and Schenectady lyceum, from which latter he graduated. In 1847 he entered Union college, at Schenectady, N. Y., graduating with the degree of A. B. in the class of 1850. He then went to Indiana and there studied law during several months in the office of L. & R. H. Rousseau, at Bloomfield. L. H. Rousseau later was a Federal officer at New Orleans during the Civil war. In the autumn of the year 1851 Wakeman W. Edwards came south and located at Camden, Miss., where he taught during several years as principal of Camden academy. During these years he applied his spare moments to the study of law. In 1855, during an epidemic of yellow fever, he, with others, went to Sulphur Springs, near Canton, Miss., in an effort to escape the fever. Among the refugees on this occasion was a justice of the supreme court of Mississippi, Alex. H. Handy, who while at Sulphur Springs, examined Wakeman W. Edwards in law, and shortly afterward, at Canton, Miss., in October, 1855, he was admitted to the bar and licensed to practice in the courts of Mississippi. In the following winter he removed to Springfield, Conway county, Ark., and there began the practice of law, with the intention of eventually taking up practice at Little Rock. He remained here until 1858, being in the meantime elected a member of the Arkansas legislature in 1857. In 1859 he removed to Chicot county, Ark., and there entered practice with Judge William H. Sutton, under the firm name of Sutton & Edwards. Shortly following this move the Civil war began, and all business calculations were, of course, entirely upset. About 18 months previous to the close of the war Wakeman W. Edwards was conscripted into the Confederate army, the company of which he became a member forming a part of Bell's regiment, Hawthorne's brigade, in which connection he served until the close of the war. Immediately after the surrender he went to New Orleans, on account of the condition of general devastation then prevailing in Arkansas. He was admitted to the bar in Louisiana, and until 1875 practiced law in the city of New Orleans. In the latter year he removed to Abbeville, Vermilion parish, where he has since resided. During Gov. Nicholls' administration, when the "Regulators" were committing many depredations, it is said that the judge then occupying the bench at Lafayette, 25th district, refused to sentence these wrongdoers and resigned, Attorney Edwards being appointed to serve the unexpired term as judge of the court, which he did, but was not a candidate for the office after the expiration of the term for which he was appointed. He resumed the practice of law and remained in practice until 1905, when he was obliged to retire on account of defective hearing. In 1857 Judge Edwards was married, at Sulphur Springs, Miss., Madison county, to Miss Martha H. Hollingsworth, a daughter of Jeptha T. Hollingsworth. To this union 3 children were born, these being at this time as follows: Dr. Clarence J. Edwards, practicing physician and editor of "Meridianal," at Abbeville, one of the oldest newspapers published in Southwest Louisiana, also a former state senator and now a member of the state leper board; Elizabeth, wife of George B. Petty, formerly of Abbeville but now a Chicago photographer and art dealer; Judge William Pierpont Edwards, born at New Orleans, and who, in 1904, was elected district judge at Abbeville, twice since reelected to succeed himself, and whose present term will expire in 1916. Judge Edwards is affiliated with the Democratic party. Dr. Clarence J. Edwards is elsewhere referred to in this work. Mrs. Wakeman W. Edwards died in 1908. Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 145-146. Edited by Alc e Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.