Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Edwards, Jesse A., 1921 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ JESSE ALLEN EDWARDS Franklin lost one of its oldest and most useful citizens Monday afternoon when Mr. Jesse Edwards fell died at his home in South street. He made his home with Mrs. Joe Johnson and Mrs. John Beaton, the children of the late R.D. Brown and Mrs. Martha Brown and with their aunt, Miss Chetta Howell, and although not related to them, had been an affectionate and useful member of that family for a number of years, practically being the head of the household since the death of his life-long friend, R.D. Brown, who died in 1910. Mr. Edwards was shelling butterbeans on the back porch of the home at 6 o’clock in the afternoon when he was stricken and died almost instantly. He was the son of the late Robert Edwards and Mrs. Sarah Rawls Edwards and was 69 years old. In point of residence in Franklin he was the fourth oldest inhabitant and had grown up with the town since its earliest beginnings as a straggling village immediately following the Civil War period. He was a faithful and consistent member of the Franklin Baptist Church and was true and steadfast in all of the relations of life. He spent much of his time as a landscape gardner in and around Franklin and his particular forte was the care of lawns and shrubbery. As keeper of Polar Spring Cemetery for a number of years, he had beautified that quiet spot until it is one of the prettiest and best kept burial grounds in the State and it was his pride to maintain the cemetery in well-ordered condition and to do everything possible to the plots and walks to car for the graves of our hallowed dead. He served the town acceptably for several years as street commissioner until failing health compelled him to give up active work. The burial services were conducted at the graveside in Poplar Spring Cemetery Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 o’clock by his pastor, Rev. M.A. MacLean, who made a beautiful talk on the life and work of the deceased. The active pallbearers were M.H. Moore, S.R. Nicholson, R.A. Pretlow, Uriah Rawls, J.B. Gay, Dr. R.H. Cobb, Claude J. Edwards, and W.H. Jones; honorary, Willie Rawls, R.C. Barrett, J.L. Camp. T.O. Barrett, A.L. Gardner, J.T. Butler, J.N. Cobb, C.A. Bell, J.B. Vaughan J.E. Pruden, W.H.. Jenkins, I. E. Howell, and W.H. Johnson. Suffolk, Mr. Edwards had never married and has no near relatives living in this section. He leaves the following nephews and nieces; Col. Robert O. Edwards of St. Louis, Mrs. Paul Roper of Petersburg, Mrs. Paul Garrett of Clifton Springs, N.Y. and Mrs. Frank Garrett of Washington, D.C. Jesse Allen EDWARDS, d. 8 Aug 1921, age 69, interred in Poplar Spring Cemetery (Section 1, Plot 34*), Franklin, 9 Aug 1921, "The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Aug. 12, 1921, p. 1 *Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS}, Cemetery Project, Poplar Spring list: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/poplar1.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/e363j2ob.txt