To Everything A Season: James EDGAR and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR Family

Joshua Edgar

Family Bible

(Click to enlarge.)

History of the EDGAR Family's Emigration from TN to TX

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Latest update: Friday, 13 March, 2015

Find details, photos, and sources in the Family Tree Database.

In 1835 James EDGAR'S and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR'S 17-year-old, firstborn son, Joseph Smith EDGAR left Maury

County, Tennessee for TEXAS to participate in the TEXAS Revolution to gain independence from Mexico.  He enlisted on 26

February 1836 and very quickly saw combat in the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, the afternoon of 21 April 1836.  Joseph

Smith EDGAR died in 1836 at the age of nineteen (19) at a friend’s home near Independence, Washington Co, TEXAS.  What

caused his early death is unknown, but records show he had suffered a minor wound in the Battle of San Jacinto.  That

wound, and/or the harsh conditions faced by the TEXAS Army in early 1836, may have contributed to his death.

In 1838, the Republic of TEXAS gave three land grants to Joseph Smith EDGAR. (Land grant details)

- For his presence in TEXAS prior to its Declaration of Independence, he was granted one-third of a league or 1,476 acres

(Gonzales 1st) in DeWitt County. This land grant became the EDGAR Family Homestead.

- For his participation in the Battle of San Jacinto, he was granted 640 acres (Goliad Bounty) in Karnes, County.

- For his military service in general, he was granted 320 acres (Montgomery Bounty) in Montgomery County.

On Monday, 09 September, 1844, in Maury County, TENNESSEE, a Power of Attorney was executed that declared James

EDGAR, the father of Joseph Smith EDGAR. The Power of Attorney was given by James EDGAR to his second son John

EDGAR (b. 1819), who took it with him to claim the land granted to Joseph Smith EDGAR, by the state of TEXAS.

"James and Selah's second son, John EDGAR who was born in 1820 in Maury Co., TENNESSEE, immigrated to TEXAS about

1850 to clear his brothers grant, which was located in northeastern DeWitt County." Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas

James and Selah, their other children, and their families (listed below) relocated together from TENNESSEE to TEXAS in late

1853.  The emigration began on 04 October, 1853 from their homestead in Maury County, TENNESSEE and ended on 25

November, 1853 in DeWitt County, TEXAS. The family traveled on foot, on horseback, and in wagons.  Four young children

were on the trip. James' and Selah's third son, Henry EDGAR, the widower of Annis MORTON EDGAR, brought his young

daughters, Nancy Jane “Jane” EDGAR, who had just turned six years old in September and Tennessee Alabama “Bammy”

EDGAR, who had just turned four years old in February.  James' and Selah's seventh son Joshua EDGAR and his wife Martha

Washington WOLLARD EDGAR brought their young children William James Darden “Darden” EDGAR, who had just turned

four years old in August, and his sister, Celie Emirintha Caledonia Teleth Ann "Callie” EDGAR, who had just turned one year

old in May.

Those who immigrated to TEXAS in 1853 with the EDGARs included the following:

- James S. EDGAR (1790 - 1869)

- Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR (1794 - 1873), wife

** Henry EDGAR, third child (1821 - 1908, widower during immigration)

*** Nancy Jane EDGAR (1847 - 1935)

*** Tennessee Alabama “Bammy, Bammie” EDGAR (1849 - 1938)

** James D. "Doc" EDGAR, fifth child (1826 - 1912,  unmarried during immigration)

** Arthur S. EDGAR, sixth child (1828 - 1863, unmarried during immigration)

** Joshua N. EDGAR, seventh child (1828 - ?)

*** Martha Washington WOLLARD EDGAR, wife (1827 - ?)

*** William James Darden "Darden" EDGAR, son (1849 - 1931)

*** Celie Emily Emirintha Caledonia Teleth Ann "Callie" EDGAR, daughter (1852 - 1891)

** Hyman (Heim, Herman, Hiram) EDGAR, eighth child (1830 - ?, unmarried during immigration)

** Paulina EDGAR, ninth child (1833 - 1864, unmarried during immigration)

** Benjamin Franklin Washington EDGAR, tenth child (1835 - 1909, unmarried during immigration)

The EDGARs first appeared on the 1854 DeWitt County tax rolls. (source: Robert Webb, June 2006)

References to the EDGAR family relocation from Tennessee to Texas:

• The dates of that difficult, 52-day trip are recorded at the bottom of the first information page

of the Joshua Edgar’s family Bible.

Cuero Record [Newspaper], 28 Aug 1898 - "Yesterday the six EDGAR brothers, who came to Texas together in 1853 met at

the original home of the family when they first landed in Texas, now owned by Dock Edgar, some few miles north of this city."

• "Mr. Edgar [William James Darden “Darden” EDGAR] was born in Tennessee in the year of 1849 and came to Texas with his

parents while a small child, settling in Edgar where he had lived until about six years ago when he moved to Electra Texas,

making his home there until his death."  Obituary of William James Darden “Darden” EDGAR, Yoakum Daily Herald

[Newspaper], 18 Aug 1931.

• "James and Selah Witherington Edgar, who came to Texas in 1853 from Maury County, Tennessee. A brother, Joseph Smith

Edgar, came to Texas when he was 19 to fight for the freedom of Texas. He took part in the Battle of San Jacinto and for this

action the family received a colonization grant of a third of a league of land in DeWitt County, which they claimed in 1853.

DeWitt County at the time was a part of Gonzales County. The small town of Edgar developed." Yoakum Community: the First

100 Years, 1887 – 1987 [BOOK], page 187, posted in HISTORIES

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