On this page: Biography of William EDGAR and family
Latest update: Friday, December 7, 2012
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William EDGAR (Family Tree Database)
(About 1770 - 1839)
“William Edgar was a man of quiet, sober habits; aiming in all that he did at a blameless and holy life.” Historical Sketch of the
Reformed Presbyterian Churches in Southern Illinois by Samuel Wylie; The Presbyterian Historical Almanac [BOOK] by Joseph
SOUTH CAROLINA
William was the eldest of Adam's and Mary's children who lived to adulthood. William was born about 1770 probably
PENNSYLVANIA and died between 1820 and 1839.
[Post data on William's date of birth.]
The US Censuses are of no use in documenting William's date or place of birth. The 1850 census is the first census that
recorded names and ages; William died in 1839. In addition, the first census that included father's birthplace and mother's
birthplace was 1880, and unfortunately, all of William's children died before 1880. However, the 1850 Census for Randolph
Co, ILLINOIS enumerates William's sister Margaret as "Jane Little, age 75 [about 1775], Female, Place of Birth Pennsylvania,"
so it is reasonable to believe William, who was older than his sister Margaret, was also born in PENNSYLVANIA.
Adam and his family were enumerated in the 1790 Census of what is now Chester County, SOUTH CAROLINA. William was
enumerated as one of two "Free White Males 16 and Over."
William was very active with his father in Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPC) activities in Chester County as recorded in
RPC records and other historical documents. In 1791 father Adam sold about two (2) acres of land from his family homestead
in Chester County, SOUTH CAROLINA in order to establish Rocky Creek Reformed Presbyterian Church and Cemetery
(RCRP Church). William signed as a witness to the transaction.
William married Mary MORRISON about 1800, probably in Chester County, SOUTH CAROLINA. They had five children who
lived to adulthood -- the eldest girl and four boys.
About the same time William's sister Margaret married Samuel LITTLE [Eldest son William LITTLE born about 1801.]
and William's brother John married Mary TODD[?]. [Eldest child Lillis Hester EDGAR was born 21 May 1798]
William's daughter Janet EDGAR (ALEXANDER) and son Adam EDGAR were born about 1800 in SOUTH CAROLINA; they
are both enumerated in the 1800 Census for what in now Chester Co, SOUTH CAROLINA (referenced below.)
The Widow Mary EDGAR, her family, and her eldest son William and his family were enumerated in the 1800 Census of what
is now Chester County, SOUTH CAROLINA. (Posted in Mary's biography.) This 1800 Census suggests William and Mary
MORRISON may have had another daughter.
On 18 January 1801 William was nominated as elder in the RCRP Church, the church of his father and mother.
"p 314; No. 9 January 28th, 1801, Rocky Creek Meeting House (widow Edgar's)
The Committee of the Reformed Presbytery having repaired to South Carolina, met and constituted by prayer,
Rev. Messrs. McKinney and Wylie, ministers; John Kell and David Stormont, ruling elders... 2. That a nomination
of elders be made, which was accordingly done as follows: James Harbison, Alexander Martin, Hugh McQuiston,
John Cunningham, David Smith, John McNinch, John Cooper, William Edgar, James Montgomery, Robert Black.
This nomination was transmitted to the people among whom said elders were designed to labor, for their elective
concurrence." The Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, Vol. 14, 1876; Minutes of the Reformed Presbytery
"It was called Edgar's, because Adam Edgar, one of the earliest elders, ceded the land on which it stood. (He was
an American from Pennsylvania. William Edgar, elected elder in 1801, was his son, and one of the two elders who
in 1819 formed the first session of Bethel congregation, Illinois.)
The Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, Vol. 14, 1876; FARIS
According to his gravestone in Hill Prairie Cemetery, Randolph Co, ILLINOIS, William's third child Robert M. EDGAR was born
on 20 October 1801; the US Censuses for 1850, 1860, 1870 indicate he was born in SOUTH CAROLINA.
TENNESSEE
"The Covenanters all left the country [SOUTH CAROLINA] early in the present century on account of the institution
of slavery." Early Associate Reformed Presbyterian, LATHAN, 1888
Shortly after their mother Mary died, all five of Adam's and Mary's children migrated to TENNESSEE, in late 1804 or early
1805.
TDE's Genealogy of The EDGAR Family indicates,"It seems that after the death of the parents, and partly because of slavery
conditions, the children, with their families, migrated to Tennessee, which, while a slave State, was not so dominantly so as
was South Carolina. This was probably in the year 1808 or 1809." However, according to his gravestone in Hill Prairie
Cemetery, Randolph Co, ILLINOIS, William's fourth child Alexander John EDGAR was born on 14 May 1805; the US Censuses
for 1850 and 1860 indicate he was born in TENNESSEE. In addition, sister Abigail EDGAR married Philip WALKER Jr. on 13
February, 1805 in Davidson Co, TENNESSEE.
[source ?]
? Where were William and family living from their move to TENNESSEE in about 1805 until 1813 when he bought land on
Liepers Creek Maury Co, TENNESSEE? Did he live near the church in Duck River? GLASGOW suggests so. "A few families
from South Carolina settled along Duck river, in Hickman County [was Maury Co], southwest of the city of Nashville, in 1810."
History Of The Reformed Presbyterian Church In America, GLASGOW, page 375
William and his brother-in-law, Samuel LITTLE, who married Margaret EDGAR, were founding members of a Reformed
Presbyterian Church in the Duck River area in middle TENNESSEE.
"There was another settlement formed by Rocky Creek Covenanters about the same time or a few years later
on a region of the country near Nashville, Tennessee. This was known as the Duck River Society. William Edgar,
who was a member of what was called Widow Edgar's Meeting House on Rocky Creek, was an Elder in
Duck River Society. This society imigrated [sic] to Indiana and Illinois.'
Bulletins of Chester District Genealogical Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 - 4, 1978
In October 1813 William bought land and settled on Leipers Creek [aka Leeper's Creek, Leiper's Lick Creek] in far
northwestern Maury County near the present community of Fly. This land was very near land eventually settled by the
HADLEY, WITHERINGTON and WOOLARD families, later connected to the James EDGAR family by marriages. The real
estate purchase is referenced in the subsequent sale of the land from William to his youngest brother James.
"all that tract or parcel of Land whereon the said Wm Edgar formerly lived, and the said Jas Edgar is now living...
lying in the aforesaid County of Maury first District, and on a branch of Leepers Lick Creek. BEGINNING at a
Beech, Ironwood & Ash twelve poles West and Twelve poles North of the house where said James Edgar is
now living … running thence South eighty poles to a Beech & Dogwood … thence East sixty poles to a Beech,
Hence North eighty poles to a Beech. Thence West to the beginning..."containing thirty Acres, granted by the
State of Tennessee to Wm Edgar by Grant No 5069 dated the fourteenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred & thirteen." Maury County (TENNESSEE) Deed Book G, p 393
Since this tract of land became the TENNESSEE Homestead of James EDGAR, additional details, maps and
photos are located at the James EDGAR and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR Family site.
William's youngest brother James -- who relocated with and had been living with William and his family -- married Selah
WITHERINGTON on 6 Jan 1816 in Williamson Co, TENNESSEE. The newlyweds -- and their first child Joseph Smith, born
about 1816 -- continued living with William and his family in the Maury County EDGAR HOMESTEAD because in the 1818 real
estate transaction, the land was described as "all that tract or parcel of Land whereon the said Wm Edgar formerly lived, and
the said Jas Edgar is now living." [See James EDGAR and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR Family website for sources.]
On 11 March 1818, William sold his Maury Co, TENNESSEE land to his youngest brother James, as documented in Maury
County (TENNESSEE) Deed Book G, p 393. By this time William was known as William
"THIS DEBENTURE made this 11th day of March in the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred & eighteen [11 March 1818],
between William Edgar of the County of Lincoln and State of Tennessee..." Maury County (TENNESSEE) Deed Book G, p 393
in the Summer of 1818, William and Samuel LITTLE had a visit from the church brethren, that once again propelled them
further West in search of religious freedom.
"John McDill, Sr., and Hugh McKelvey, from South Carolina, came out in the summer of 1818, and bought land
in Township 4—5 [Randolph Co, ILLINOIS]. One their way home they stopped in Tennessee with William Edgar,
Samuel Nisbet and Samuel Little, who had removed from South Carolina a number of years before, and
informed them of the mission begun in Illinois."
Bethel Reformed Presbyterian Church, Sparta, IL Article, PCA Historical Center
On 24 October 1818, William -- who lived in Lincoln County, TENNESSEE -- transacted land to his RPC brethren who stayed
in SOUTH CAROLINA.
"Another deed which seems to be conveying the same tract of land was made October 24, 1818 between William
Edgar of Lincoln County, Tennessee, and John Cooper, Daniel McMillan, Hugh McQuiston and David Smith
representatives of the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation of Rocky Cree [sic], Chester District, South Carolina.
For the sum of five dollars, William Edgar conveys to the representatives and their successors forever a certain tract
of land containing two acres and twenty-two poles situated in the District of Chester and the State of South Carolina
on the waters of Rocky Creek on which there is present a Brick Meeting House. This was signed by William Edgar,
sealed and delivered before Agnes Adams and Thomas Moore."
Bulletins of Chester District Genealogical Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 - 4, 1978
ILLINOIS
"The Reformed Presbyterians began to move to Ohio and Illinois, so that by 1832 only one congregation remained
in South Carolina. But it was these Covenanters who build the R. P. churches that have continued to this day in the
"Northeast Territory", such as Sparta or Coulterville in southern Illinois."
Transcribed from the Chester News & Reporter (no date) in The Bulletin, Chester District Genealogical Society,
Vol. 1, No. 3 (Sept. 1978) p.49.
Dispersal of Some of the Descendants of John LYNN and Jennet MALCOLM by James H. LYNN
In Spring 1819 William and Samuel LITTLE once again followed their church leaders and relocated to Randolph County,
ILLINOIS, where they were founding members of a Reformed Presbyterian Church in Sparta, the Old Bethel Church.
"John McDill, Sr., and Hugh McKelvey, from South Carolina, came out in the summer of 1818, and bought land
in Township 4—5 [Randolph Co, ILLINOIS]. One their way home they stopped in Tennessee with William Edgar,
Samuel Nisbet and Samuel Little, who had removed from South Carolina a number of years before, and
informed them of the mission begun in Illinois. They immediately set out for Kaskaskia and purchased land, and
Messrs. Edgar and Little moved out in the spring of 1819. Mr. Nisbet, however, was detained and did not arrive
until September... Mr. Wylie continued to preach in Kaskaskia and in the Irish settlement and among the
Covenanters, until the arrival of William Edgar and Samuel Little, when the first session was constituted, May 24,
1819, at James McClurken’s, about six miles southwest of Sparta. William Edgar had been ordained to the
eldership in the Rocky Creek congregation, South Carolina, in 1801, and Samuel Little in Hephzibah
congregation, Tennessee, at its organization in the spring of 1815."
Bethel Reformed Presbyterian Church, Sparta, IL Article, PCA Historical Center
"It was called Edgar's, because Adam Edgar, one of the earliest elders, ceded the land on which it stood. (He was
an American from Pennsylvania. William Edgar, elected elder in 1801, was his son, and one of the two elders who
in 1819 formed the first session of Bethel congregation, Illinois.)
The Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, Vol. 14, 1876; FARIS
However, GLASGOW and WYLIE indicate the move was a year later, in 1820.
"The first Covenanter congregation organized was in June, 1821, with thirty five members and the promise of a salary
of about two hundred dollars per year. The elders were Samuel Little and William Edgar, who had the year previously
emigrated from Tennessee." page 342 History Of The Reformed Presbyterian Church In America, GLASGOW
"Our session at first was organized with two Ruling Elders, namely: Samuel Little and William Edgar, who had been
ordained in Tennessee, and removed to Illinois in 1820." Historical Sketch of the Reformed Presbyterian Churches
in Southern Illinois by Samuel Wylie
The Presbyterian Historical Almanac [BOOK] by Joseph M. Wilson, page 199
In the 1820 Census, William lived in Plumb Creek [aka Plum Creek], Randolph Co, ILLINOIS with his family of seven (7);
they lived "next door" to William's sister Margaret EDGAR LITTLE, husband Samuel LITTLE and their family of nine (9).
"A locality famous in early days, was called the Irish Settlement, which was located near the mouth of Plum Creek,
and derives its name from the fact that the Irish settlers were called South Carolina Irish."
Evansville @ Randolph County ILGenWeb
Map and description in our Family Tree Database.
In the 1825 US ILLINOIS State Census, William and his family were still in "State: IL; County: Randolph County; Township:
Plumb Creek Twp." Ancestry.com, GenealogyTrails.com
William EDGAR and sister Margaret EDGAR LITTLE and their families produced a vast number of descendants who left many
records and history in Randolph County, ILLINOIS and surrounding counties.