Newhanover-Duplin-Onslow County NcArchives Biographies.....Edwards, Jacob J. 1835 - July 25, 1876 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Bill Gibson bgibson@uncfsu.edu October 10, 2006, 10:26 am Author: Bill Gibson, II "A Brief History of the Jacob J. Edwards Family" --- “RIVER AND MARINE -- The schooner Katie Edwards, a regular visitor at this port, being on the line between this city and Onslow county, was sunk in Bear Inlet, at Brown Sound, between Swansboro and New River, on Wednesday night last. She was loaded with turpentine. No further particulars have thus far been received, but it is thought the cargo will probably be saved. The schooner Ray, Capt. Dennis, has gone to the relief of the unfortunate vessel. The schooner Katie Edwards is the property of Messrs. Hall & Pearsall, of this city.” [Source: Wilmington Morning Star, May 15, 1883] --- Elizabeth Pearsall Sheffield was the daughter of Lincoln Sheffield of Duplin County, NC. She married Jacob J. Edwards and they came to live in Wilmington, NC. In March of 1869, Jacob Edwards partnered with Benjamin Franklin Hall in a wholesale grocery and commissions business. The company was called “Edwards and Hall.” An earlier partnership, “Edwards & Smith” had proven unprofitable and had been dissolved. At one point, the company of “Edwards and Hall” had four “corn cracker” schooners that they used for coastal trading between Wilmington and Onslow County. One of these was the “Katie Edwards”, which had been named after Jacob J. Edwards’ oldest daughter, and built in Swansboro in 1874. These ships carried produce, turpentine and other goods up and down the coast. The business prospered, surviving the “panic” of the early 1870s. About 1874, Jacob J. Edwards decided to open an extension of Edwards and Hall in Onslow County, at Tar Landing, near Jacksonville, NC. He also decided to attend to the “day to day” operations of the Tar Landing location, leaving B. F. Hall and Oscar Pearsall to oversee the Wilmington trade. Jacob J. Edwards & wife sold their home at 309 N. 4th Street in Wilmington, NC to Jesse Wilder & wife on February 13, 1874 for $1,470.46. His extension of credit to the post-Civil War poor of the region, jeopardized the profitability of the company. At the time of his death, the Onslow operation was about $4,000 in debt. Jacob Edwards attended the 1876 World Exposition in Philadelphia, PA. This exposition featured electricity, the telephone, the sewing machine and was the Centennial Celebration of American Independence. Upon returning to North Carolina, he became ill with typhoid and died within a couple of weeks, on the 25th of July, leaving his wife and five minor children. --- DEATH OF MR. EDWARDS. Mr. J.J. Edwards, of the firm of Edwards & Hall, commission merchants of this city, died at Tar Landing, Onslow county, on Tuesday last, about one o’clock, from typhoid fever. Mr. Edwards was a man unusually esteemed by all who knew him, and the announcement of his death will be received with much regret by his many friends in this city and elsewhere. He had been sick about ten days, having been for some time previously in rather delicate health. [Source: Wilmington Weekly Star – 28 Jul 1876] --- TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. The Produce Exchange was closed yesterday at 1 o’clock and will remain closed until Friday, as a token of respect to the memory of Mr. J. J. Edwards, an esteemed member of that body, whose death was recorded in our afternoon edition of yesterday. The flags of the shipping in port were also at half mast yesterday as a mark of respect for deceased. [Source: Wilmington Weekly Star – 28 Sep 1876] --- Dr. Nicholas E. Armstrong, from Duplin County, assumed the management of the Tar Landing operation. The business “Edwards & Hall” was dissolved on the 26th of July and a new co-partnership “Hall and Pearsall” was formed between B. F. Hall and Oscar Pearsall. According to the Wilmington Port Report for July 28, 1876, the schooner “Ray”, Capt. Dennis, arrived from New River with a cargo of 207 barrels of turpentine. The cargo was assigned to “Edwards & Hall”. On August 5th, the schooner, “Maggie”, Capt. Canady, brought a cargo of cotton & naval stores from Jacksonville for “Hall & Pearsall”. On the same day, the “Minnie Ward”, Capt. Moore, also arrived, from Tar Landing, with a cargo of cotton & naval stores, for “Hall & Pearsall”. Upon the dissolution of the Edwards and Hall business, $30,000 was provided to the widow and her children. B. F. Hall aided her in purchasing a small, but comfortable, home in Kenansville, NC. But, Elizabeth was in poor health and within a couple of years she followed her husband in death, dying of “consumption.” Consumption being the illness we now call tuberculosis. At the 1880 NC Census, Martha C. “Katie” Edwards, 18 years old, was the head of her household, her two brothers, Frank Hall and James Zwinlius also in the home. The two younger siblings, Jacob Ella “Jakie” and James Conway Hiden Edwards, were in the Thomas Isham Armstrong household. Thomas I. Armstrong was the younger brother of Nicholas E. Armstrong. The youngest child of Jacob and Elizabeth was James Conway Hiden Edwards. James Conway Hiden was a Baptist minister who had come to the Wilmington, NC area from Virginia after the War. It is this Elder J. C. Hiden, that performed the marriage of Jesse Wilder and Fannie D. Ellis in 1871. A couple of years after her mother’s death, Katy Edwards also died of “consumption.” Upon suggestion, B. F. Hall sent the remaining children to California, in hopes that their health would improve. James Zwinglius died a few years after arriving in California. Jacob Ella “Jakie” Edwards apparently married, had children, and then died young. --- DEATH OF MR. J. Z. EDWARDS We regret to announce that Mr. James Z. Edwards died last Friday in Washington Territory. He was a native of this city, the son of Jacob Edwards, formerly of the firm of Edwards & Hall. Two years ago he and his brother Frank went to Southern California for his health. He was on a visit to friends in Washington when he died. He was bookkeeper for a W. E. Springer & Co. for a term, and was an excellent young man. We suppose he was about 23 years of age. [Source: Wilmington Messenger, 17 Sep 1890] --- J. C. Hiden Edwards married Muriel Annie Wimple, the daughter of Emmett L. Wimple, a doctor. Hiden and Muriel Edwards had two sons, Sheffield, born 12 June 1902, and Emmett, born in 1905. Hiden’s profession was listed as “attorney at law” at the time of the 1910 Census. Hiden died in 1916, his son Sheffield being about 14 years old at the time. Muriel Edwards was an extremely competent provider, teaching, selling real estate & insurance, overseeing an 18,000 acre community farm in the Santa Ynez, CA area and eventually earning a Masters Degree in Education. At one point, while Sheffield was stationed on Oahu, HI, she came to visit and taught the children of officers aboard Post. Sheffield Edwards was accepted to West Point and graduated in 1923. He had a successful military career in the US Army. While still in the Army, Sheff Edwards, was outsourced to the CIA. At the height of the Cold War, Sheffield Edwards became the Chief of Security of the CIA. As Chief of Security, Sheff Edwards instituted an assassination plot to kill Fidel Castro. He provided a subordinate with a box of Castro’s favorite cigars. The cigars were tainted with a highly contagious form of botulism, which it was said that Castro would not have needed to smoke them to become infected. Because of the defeat of US backed forces at the Bay of Pigs, this assassination attempt was abandoned. Sheffield Edwards was also linked to a plot to kill Castro using Mafia contacts. It was also reported that he attempted to mislead Robert F. Kennedy, by implying that all assassination plots had been dropped by the CIA. Sheffield Edwards died in 1975 in Leesburg, Virginia. Additional Comments: I have no direct family ties to the Edwards family. However, those involved in the turpentine trade in the Wilmington area, of that era, were such a close knit group that it would be impossible to tell the story without weaving in their friends, family and co-workers. My research started with a distant uncle, Stephen H. Morton, originally from Swansboro, in Onslow County, who partnered with his brother-in-law, Jesse Wilder, in the turpentine trade. S. H. Morton later partnered with Benjamin Franklin Hall in the same type of business, calling the company, "Morton and Hall". After the death of S.H. Morton in 1886, the business was managed by George L. Morton, his son, and eventually dissolved amicably in 1890, becoming the "Geo. L. Morton, Company". A few weeks ago while visiting the North Carolina Room of the New Hanover County Library in downtown Wilmington, I was fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with Beverly Tetterton, History Librarian. I happened to mention "Jesse Wilder", and she said, "Oh, you might be interested in this," pulling out two thick manila folders. I found that she was the chairperson of a committee which had done much research and was planning on reissuing a historical plaque for the "Wilder-Bulluck" House located in Wilmington. The following list of ownership of the "Wilder-Bulluck" house came totally from the research of the committee headed by Beverly Tetterton: Jacob J. Edwards sold the house to Jesse Wilder; Jesse Wilder sold the home to Oscar Pearsall; and, Oscar Pearsall sold the dwelling to George L. Morton. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/newhanover/bios/edwards13gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 10.0 Kb