On this page: Biography of James EDGAR, Descendants of James EDGAR and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR
Latest update: Sunday, 04 February, 2018
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(Not our James EDGAR. IN PROGRESS)
Read the newspaper article
that accompanied the photo of the
Edgar Family Reunion 27 Aug 1898.
JAMES EDGAR (10 September 1790 – 29 April 1869) (Family Tree Database)
and SELAH WITHERINGTON EDGAR (20 Jul 1794 - 23 Apr 1873) (Family Tree Database)
James was the youngest known child, who grew to adulthood, born to Adam EDGAR and Mary [UNKNOWN] EDGAR. James
was born 10 September 1790 in the Rocky Creek area, Camden District, Chester County, SOUTH CAROLINA on the EDGAR
Family Homestead.
James was only about ten years old when his father died around 1800. Thus, his older brothers, William and John, probably
helped raise him. It is likely James lived with his older brother William and his family from the time of their relocation to
TENNESSEE in about 1809, when James was about nineteen years old.
James married Selah WITHERINGTON in Williamson County, TENNESSEE on 06 January 1816. [Book of TENNESSEE State
Marriages] And their first child Joseph Smith EDGAR was born in 1816.
About 1818 brother William EDGAR and his family and sister Margaret EDGAR LITTLE and her family relocated to Randolph
Co, ILLINOIS.
On 11 March 1818. in Maury Co, TENNESSEE, "James Edgar of the County of Maury" bought thirty (30) acres of land on
Leepers Lick Creek [aka Leiper' s Creek, Leiper's Lick Creek] for $140, from his oldest brother William.
"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)
This could have been the property brother William purchased on his arrival in TENNESSEE about 1809, or perhaps it was
property he purchased subsequently. In any case, James was already living on the property when he bought it, and, on this
thirty acres in Maury Co, TENNESSEE, James established the EDGAR Family Homestead.
Their second child John EDGAR was born October 1819.
In the 1820 Maury Co, TENNESSEE Census, James and Selah were enumerated with their first two children, Joseph and
John, in the EDGAR Family Homestead in Maury Co, TENNESSEE.
Name of Head of Family - James Edgar
• Free white males under 10 years - 2 [Joseph Smith, John]
• Free white males of twenty six and under forty-five, including heads of families - 1 [James]
• Free white females of twenty six and under forty-five, including heads of families - 1 [Selah]
• Number of persons engaged in Agriculture 1
Living nearby were Churchil WOLLARD and family; Churchil was the father of Martha Washington WOLLARD (b. 1827) who
married Joshua N. EDGAR (b.1828) twenty-eight years later.
Over the next decade James and Selah had six more sons.
• Henry Sorrells EDGAR, 01 December 1821
• William EDGAR, 12 March 1824
• James D. EDGAR, 01 January 1826
• Twins Arthur S. and Joshua N. EDGAR, 14 July 1828
• Hyman Taylor EDGAR, August 1830
So during the September 1830 Maury Co, TENNESSEE Census James and Selah were enumerated as family of ten (10),
still living in the Edgar Family Homestead in Maury Co, TENNESSEE. Hyman, born August 1830, just made his first census.
Name of Head of Family - James Edgar
• Free white males under five years of age - 3 [Arthur, Joshua, Hyman]
• Free white males of five and under ten - 2 [William, James D.]
• Free white males of ten and under fifteen - 3 [Joseph, John, Henry]
• Free white males of forty under fifty - 1 [James]
• Free white females of thirty under forty - 1 [Selah]
On 18 April 1833, James and Selah had their first and only girl, Paulina I. EDGAR. And on 27 August 1835, they had their last
child Benjamin Franklin Washington EDGAR.
Their family of ten children was together for only a few months, because in November 1835, their first child Joseph Smith, the
first of his family to emigrate from TENNESSEE to TEXAS, left Maury County to participate in theTEXAS Revolution to gain
independence from Mexico. Joseph Smith enlisted on 26 February 1836, on the afternoon of 21 April 1836 he fought and was
wounded in the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, and died, probably of his wounds, later in 1836 at the age of nineteen (19) near
Independence, TEXAS. For his service to TEXAS, Joseph Smith EDGAR posthumously received several grants of land in
The 1840 Maury Co, TENNESSEE Census found the EDGAR family of eleven together, sans Joseph, in the EDGAR Family
Homestead.
Name of Head of Family - James Edgar
• Free white males under five years of age - 1 [Benjamin Franklin Washington]
• Free white males of ten and under fifteen - 4 [James D., Arthur, Joshua N., Hyman]
• Free white males of fifteen and under twenty - 2 [Henry, William]
• Free white males of twenty and under twenty-five - 1 [John]
• Free white males of fifty under sixty - 1 [James]
• Free white females of five and under ten - 1 [Paulina I.]
• Free white females of forty under fifty - 1 [Selah]
Sometime between 1844 and 1846, John relocated from Maury County, TENNESSEE to TEXAS, probably to claim and settle
the land grants of his brother Joseph. On 11 May 1846, the United States declared war with MEXICO due to hostilities over
TEXAS and within two months, John joined the fight against MEXICO.
By the 1850 Census James and Selah lived with four of their nine living children -- James D. (24), Hyman (20), Paulina (17)
and Benjamin (15) -- at the EDGAR TENNESSEE Homestead in what had been labeled District 1 of Maury Co, TENNESSEE.
- John (31) was enumerated in the 1850 Census for Austin, Travis County, TEXAS.
- Henry (29) and his family of four were farming "next door."
- William (26) was enumerated as a student living in a boarding house in District 9 of Maury Co, TENNESSEE.
- Arthur (22) was living with his father's widowed sister, Abigail EDGAR WALKER and two of her grown sons, in Davidson
County, TENNESSEE.
- And Joshua N. (22) who married Martha Washington WOLLARD in 1848, and had their first child, William James Darden
EDGAR in 1849, was enumerated in District 19 of Maury Co, TENNESSEE, near the family of widow Nancy HADLEY, whose
daughter Martha HADLEY would married Joshua' s brother James D. twenty three years later years later in 1873.
One of the land grants Joseph Smith EDGAR received posthumously for his contribution to the state of TEXAS was in DeWitt
Co, TEXAS; it was this land that brought his family from TENNESSEE to TEXAS in late 1853. Fourteen members of the
James and Selah family left TENNESSEE for TEXAS on 04 October, 1853. John was already in TEXAS, and William stayed
behind in Maury Co, TENNESSEE in order to legally adopt his out-of-wedlock son William Edward.
In 1860, for their first Census in TEXAS, James (70) and Selah (66) were enumerated on page sixty one of the DeWitt Co,
TEXAS Census; they were living in the new EDGAR Family Homestead with their son James D. (34) and a day laborer C. S.
RUSSETT.
- Arthur (32), his wife Harriet and first son Perry were enumerated as the family "next door" in "the small house near Edgar,
Texas that Arthur built for his new bride, Harriet Elizabeth Brown, on the 40 acres given to him by his father [James EDGAR]
from the 1,476 acres of Edgar land between Cuero and Yoakum that had been granted to Joseph S. Edgar’s heirs for his
service in the Texas Revolution." Robert Merritte WEBB
- John (41) was "Overseer" of the PEEBLES Plantation, just across the Guadalupe River from the EDGAR Family Homestead.
- Henry (39) and his family of six were enumerated on page thirty (30) of the DeWitt Co, TEXAS.
- William (36), a school teacher, was enumerated in District 17 (Williamsport Post Office) of Maury Co, TENNESSEE with his
son William.
- Joshua N. (32), Martha, son William James Darden and daughter Celie Emily Celie Emily Emirintha Caledonia Teleth Ann
“Callie” were enumerated in DeWitt Co, TEXAS, on page thirty one (31) near Henry's family.
- [We have not located Hyman in the 1860 Census.]
- Paulina married Robert Perry CARR in 1854 [We have not located Paulina in the 1860 Census.]
- [We have not located BFW in the 1860 Census.]
In 1863 James and Selah lost a second son; to date the details of Arthur's death and burial are unconfirmed. Arthur prepared
his will, signed it, and had it witnessed 28 May 1862; given the participation of several of his brothers in the Concrete Home
Guard and/or the Confederate Army, perhaps he prepared his will at such an early age (34) in anticipation of some hazardous
military duty. There are no records of his service in the Confederate Army, and most of the Concrete Home Guard records
were either lost or are at least still missing.
During the US Civil War (1861 - 1865), the EDGARs fought on the side of TEXAS. (Additional military information and
- [We do not have John's military record for the Civil War.]
- During the US Civil War, Henry served as a 2d. Lt. with Captain M.G. Jacobs in the Concrete HomeGuard.
- To date, there is no record of William participating as a soldier in the Civil War, but living in TENNESSEE, he could not have
avoided being affected by the war.
- James D. was a veteran of the Confederate Army during the US Civil War, according to the 1910 Census of DeWitt
- Joshua's obituary indicates "He served in the cause of the south in the civil war and received an honorable discharge at its
close."
- Hyman was a 2nd Lieutenant in Captain J.J. Dix's Company, in the Texas Frontier Regiment of Mounted Volunteers.
Benjamin Franklin Washington was a Private under the same command -- as was the Lemon BATCHELOR, husband of Nancy
Jane EDGAR, first child of Henry.
- In addition, Paulina's husband Robert Perry CARR was a Lieutenant under Captain M.G. Jacobs of the Concrete Home
Guard.
Paulina died on 22 Oct 1864; she was only thirty one (31) and she left at least three children.
In 1865 William (41) and son William Edward (12) finally joined his family in DeWitt Co, TEXAS.
James EDGAR died 29 April 1869 at 79 years old. He is buried in the EDGAR Family Cemetery on the EDGAR Homestead in
DeWitt Co, TEXAS. [Photo of gravestone.]
James Edgar died April 29, 1869 and Selah Edgar died April 23, 1873. They are both buried in the Edgar
family cemetery on property that is still in the Edgar family in 1990. There was also, a small community
between Cuero and Yoakum, Texas which was named Edgar for the family.
Sons of DeWitt Colony [S6] Patsy Goebel (From The History of DeWitt County, Texas.
In the 1870 Census, for Clinton, DeWitt Co, TEXAS for Family 247, Selah was the widowed head of the household of her sons
James D. and B. F. W. and her three (3) grandchildren by her only daughter Pauline.
Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR died April 23, 1873 and was buried with her husband in the EDGAR Family Cemetery.
James was a farmer, TENNESSEE to TEXAS. There is no documentation or suggestion James was other than a farmer,
father, and husband. There is no documentation or suggestion James or his children ever owned slaves.
Other Biographies
DeWitt Colony Biographies, EDGAR. Joseph Smith Edgar [S6]
Sons of DeWitt Colony TEXAS [S6]
Texas A&M University
Edgar, Texas, DeWitt Co, TEXAS
from Book: History of DeWitt County, A
MURPHREE Nellie, 1962
Edgar is on U.S. Highway 77A about seven miles northeast of Cuero in northeastern DeWitt County. In 1853 James Edgar
brought his family to the area and claimed the land granted to his son, Joseph Smith Edgar, for his service in the Texas
Revolution
The Children and Grandchildren of
James EDGAR and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR.
1 EDGAR James b. 10 Sep 1790 d. 29 Apr 1869
+ WITHERINGTON Selah b. 20 Jul 1794 d. 23 Apr 1873
2 EDGAR Joseph Smith b. ~1816 d. 1836
2 EDGAR John b. Oct 1819 d. 12 Sep 1906
+ BROWN Molly
+ CULPEPPER Cynthia Jane b. 20 Jan 1841 d. 5 Jul 1877
+ UNKNOWN Ellen D. b. Oct 1833
2 EDGAR Henry b. 1 Dec 1821 d. 22 Jul 1908 (Tree)
+ MORTON Alice b. 1828
3 EDGAR Nancy Jane b. 17 Sep 1847
3 EDGAR Tennessee Alabama b. 10 Feb 1849 d. 24 Dec 1938
+ BROWN Tabitha Jane b. 23 Sep 1835 d. 9 Oct 1889
3 EDGAR Sarah Annas (Annie) b. 30 Apr 1859 d. 24 Nov 1939
3 EDGAR Mary Elizabeth (Kate) b. 28 Feb 1862 d. 13 Apr 1951
3 EDGAR Tabitha Jane b. 1864 d. 16 Feb 1864
3 EDGAR Kittie Bourbon (Burbon) b. 28 Feb 1865 d. 5 Jan 1945
3 EDGAR Henry Brown b. 13 Feb 1867 d. 21 Mar 1907
3 EDGAR John Lenon b. 27 Nov 1871 d. 28 Aug 1892
3 EDGAR Eliza Jane b. 1874
2 EDGAR William b. 12 Mar 1824 d. 1 Oct 1882
+ ROBINSON Sarah M.
3 EDGAR William Edward b. 1 Apr 1853 d. 6 Jul 1938
2 EDGAR James D. (Doc) b. 1 Jan 1826 d. 8 Oct 1912
+ HADLEY Martha Jane b. 1 Dec 1834 d. 14 Jan 1910
3 EDGAR Hadley b. 6 May 1875 d. 10 Sep 1875
3 EDGAR Joseph Smith b. 1 Oct 1876 d. 30 Dec 1952
3 EDGAR Christopher H. "Kit" b. Feb 1879
2 EDGAR Arthur S. b. 14 Jul 1828 d.
Oct 1863
+ BROWN Harriet Elizabeth b. 27 Nov 1839 d. 11 Jan 1913
3 EDGAR Perry Eugene b. 9 Nov 1857 d. 9 Dec 1930
3 EDGAR Arthur Lee b. 24 Jun 1860 d. 23 Nov 1944
2 EDGAR Joshua N. b. 14 Jul 1828
+ WOLLARD Martha Washington b. 4 Jun 1827
3 EDGAR William James Darden (Darden) b. 20 Aug 1849
3 EDGAR Celie Emily Emirintha Caledonia Teleth Ann
(Callie)
b. 29 May 1852 d. 2 Mar 1891
2 EDGAR Hyman Taylor b. Aug 1830
+ THARP (THORPE) Amanda b. Jul 1843
3 EDGAR Thalia V. b. 1869
3 EDGAR Annretta (Ettie F.) Tharp b. 1871 d. 12 Sep 1948
3 EDGAR Kate (Kate Clark) b. Jun 1873
3 EDGAR Paul H. b. 1875
3 EDGAR Percy H. ( Perry H.) b. 1875
3 EDGAR Hyman Ira (Hiram, Hyrmen) b. 1879
3 EDGAR Berta (Bertie) b. Oct 1887
2 EDGAR Paulina I. b. 18 Apr 1833 d. 22 Oct 1864
+ CARR Robert Perry b. 1831 d. 1916
3 CARR ?Wesley Carl
3 CARR James Wiley b. Oct 1855 d. 1920
3 CARR Virginia L. (Jennie) b. 1857
3 CARR John Edgar b. Nov 1859
2 EDGAR Benjamin Franklin Washington b. 27 Aug 1835 d. 30 May 1909