Houston-Humphreys-Davidson County TN Archives Biographies.....Edwards, John Sellman 1851 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 27, 2005, 12:05 am Author: Will T. Hale JOHN SELLMAN EDWARDS, M. D. More than thirty-five years of devotion to his profession is the record of John Sellman Edwards, M. D., a veteran physician of Erin, Tennessee; more than thirty-five years of his life given to the calling which he chose as his life work in young manhood; a third of a century of time spent in the alleviation of the ills of mankind. Such is indeed a faithful service, a record of which no man could be ashamed. During all of this time he has been located in Erin, where he has cheerfully given of the best that he has possessed, never sparing himself that the task to which he had devoted himself might be completed. Dr. Edwards' life has surely been a useful one, and he may look back over the years that have passed with a comforting sense of duty well done, and take a pardonable pride in the accomplishment of a great and beneficial work. John Sellman Edwards was: born February 27, 1851, in Humphreys county, Tennessee, and is a son of William and Martha Boyd (Ridings) Edwards. The paternal great-grandparents of Dr. Edwards, James and Elizabeth (Sellman) Edwards, came from England in 1750 and settled in Virginia, where the former died in 1780, and the latter in 1788, in Pittsylvania county, Virginia. Sellman Edwards was the next to the youngest child of this couple, and was born in 1777 in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, but was reared by people other than his own, his parents having died when he was still a child. In youth he moved to Alexandria City, Virginia, from whence he came in 1803 to Tennessee, and settled in Dickson county, where he engaged in farming and surveying until his death. During the forties and fifties he served in the capacity of county surveyor of Dickson county. There he married Sarah Hodge, and among their nine children was William Edwards, who was born in Dickson county, March 14, 1813. He grew to manhood and was married in Humphreys county, in November, 1849, to Martha Boyd Ridings, who was born in that county in November, 1830. They had thirteen children, of whom John Sellman Edwards was the second in order of birth, and is now the oldest of the six living, the others being: W. G.J who resides in Houston county; Martha Alice, who married J. H. Turner, of Humphreys county; Victoria, who married T. D. Swift; Amanda D., who married J. P. Potter, or Arkansas; E. E. Lee, of Houston county; and Emma Floyd, who married E. L. Potter, of Arkansas, and died in November, 1912. The father of these children spent his early life in Dickson county, but on reaching his majority joined his elder brother John in a trip to Humphreys county. Here they purchased a farm, but at the time of William's marriage they divided their holdings, and William continued to farm his property with slave and white labor until the outbreak of the Civil war. At that time he was too old for military duty and as a result did not go to the front. In politics a Democrat, he served for many years as a police magistrate and was active in the ranks of his party. Both he and his wife attended the Primitive Baptist church, although neither held membership in any religious denomination. John Sellman Edwards was educated in the common schools of Humphreys county, following which he began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of his uncle, Dr. G. D. Eidings, and after a course in the University of Nashville, and Vanderbilt University, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Vanderbilt University in 1876. In the following year he came to Erin and established himself in practice, and here he has continued in a general practice to the present time, also engaging in minor surgery to some extent and acting as surgeon for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad for twelve years. His sympathetic nature and kind and gentle personality have made Dr. Edwards greatly beloved by his patients, who repose the fullest confidence in him, while his undoubted skill and deep learning give him prestige among his fellow practitioners. The first after graduating he carried on a drug store in partnership with his preceptor in Erin. He takes a deep interest in the work of the Middle Tennessee Medical Society, with which he has been connected for some years. He is a member of Wisdom Lodge No. 300, A. F. & A. M., of Erin, and is a trustee of the Masonic Building Association. He is a Democrat in his political views, and has been greatly interested in the issues of the day, but only as a good citizen, never having had a desire for public office on his own account. On June 30, 1880, Dr. Edwards was married to Miss Emma Dawson, of Paris, Tennessee, daughter of Gen. Jonathan S. Dawson, who served as a coloned in the Confederate service during the Civil war, and was general of militia before the war. He was grand master of Free and Accepted Masons of Tennessee in 1868, and during the time he had caused the constitution to be amended so that no man could succeed himself in the office of grand master of the state. The general died June, 1891. Additional Comments: From: A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities by Will T. Hale Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/houston/bios/edwards245nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/tnfiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb