TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO - Bios Edwards, Edward R. (published 1921)
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Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley Ohio
By Jos. G. Buttler Jr.	Volume II
Published by American Historical Society 1921

Page 329

Edward R. Edwards. For half a century or more the Edwards Family have been 
Prominently identified with the building and contract business in the Mahoning 
Valley. Edward R. Edwards and his brother Harry have an organization that has 
carried out a large part of the building program in the Youngstown District in 
recent years, particularly the building of homes of the better class or the 
thousands of prosperous families who have been added to the population of this 
section.

Edward R. Edwards was born May 25, 1872, and is the son of Edward R. and Ellen 
(Siddell) Edwards. His mother’s family have a historic place in the Mahoning 
Valley. They occupied the first house built in the village of Mineral Ridge in 
1842. This was a log structure. Isaac Siddell is credited with having erected 
the second gristmill in the Mahoning Valley, at Ellisworth.

Edeard R. Edwards, Sr., was a native of Wales, and was brought from that country 
at the age of nine years. He grew up in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where 
he married for is first wife Elizabeth Davis. Two years later he cam to the 
Mahoning Valley. His intention was to locate in Cleveland, but instead he 
established his home at Weathersfield. During the Civil War he served three 
years and six months with the Twentieth Ohio Battalion. He was in many battles 
and nearly lost his life in the battle "above the clouds" at Lookout Mountain. 
An artillery wagon on which he was riding was thrown over a cliff and his life 
was saved by his lodging in a tree. After the war he engaged in the contracting 
business and erected some of the first industrial plants in the valley. He was 
associated with Jonathan Warner, Sr., in erecting the first furnace at Mineral 
Ridge. He also built the schoolhouse of that town. He was a republican and was a 
very active member of the Presbyterian Church. After the death of his first wife 
he married Ellen Siddll, and they made there home at Mineral Ridge. Edward, Sr., 
died in 1916, at the age of eighty-seven. His second wife died at the age of 
seventy-six. The children of his first marriage were 3: Minnie, wife of Courtney 
Thompson, of Youngstown: John Edwards, of Youngstown, and Martha, who died in 
1895, the wife of E. E. Humes. The three sons of Mrs. Ellen Siddell Edwards are 
R. C. Edwards, who is a builder and dealer in homes in San Francisco: Harry E. 
and Edward R. Jr.

Edward R. Edwards Jr., was superintendent of construction for the Building 
Committee during the erection of the McKinley Memorial at Niles. He was well 
equipped by early training and natural qualifications for his present business, 
and he and his brother have a large volume of work to there credit. They built 
the plant of the Western Reserve Steel Company at Warren for C. G. Thomas, and 
also built the Mahoning Valley Steel Company plant, the Niles Car Manufacturing 
Company plant and the Knox Pressed Weld Steel Company plat at Wheatland, Ohio. 
Besides industrial construction they built in 1919 houses at Youngstown to the 
value of $200,000. These are all brick homes, and were rapidly sold. The firm 
also erected twenty homes in Niles.

Mr. Edwards married in 1901 Katie Bird, Daughter of Emanuel Bird of Pittsburgh. 
They have three daughters, Catherine, Sarah Estelle and Mary Bird. Mr. Edwards 
is a republican, and he and his family are Presbyterians.



** Further research has shown some discrepancies in this biography. One is with 
The maiden name of Edward R. Sr.’s first wife. The Obituary for John Edwards 
lists “Elizabeth Williams” as his mother.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/trumbull/obits/edwards.txt
this is also listed in his funeral records.

Another is with Edward R. Sr.’s death date, his tombstone, obituary and the 
family bible all show the date as: 2/5/1913