Edward West was named in honor of his grandmother, Sallie West. When Edward was 7 years old his family moved from Bourbon, Kentucky to Dallas, Texas. When he was 12 his father died. A year later his mother died. He and his older brother Hilory went to live with their sister, Letitia and her husband Charles Milton in the community of Midlothian in Ellis, Texas.

At 19 years old (1862), Edward enlisted in the Texas Calvary Brigade, 19th Regiment, known as Burford's Calvary. He donated his own horse and equipment. After the conclusion of the Civil War, he took an oath of allegiance to the United States of America on October 3, 1865.

Edward and Hulda Jane Newton married in 1867. They had 5 children. Hulda died shortly after the birth of her youngest, Edward Waldo in 1875. Edward remarried in 1877. In 1880, Edward and his second wife, Mary and his children Thomas, Lura, Rebecca and Edward Waldo lived in Ellis, Texas.

Edward worked as a Cowhand for his brother Hilory, who was establishing a large herd of cattle, which would become the Wichita and Brazos Stock Company with over 8000 head of cattle. Edward, Hilory and ten other investors formed the Wichita and Brazos Stock Company. The Stock Company acquired a large track of land and established the Bar L Ranch. But initially the families lived in tents along the banks of the Wichita River. The Stock Company owned the land and Hilory would manage the operation. In 1885 Edward helped his brother Hilory establish Knox County and the town of Benjamin on the Stock Company land. Their older brother Benjamin will become the 1st Treasurer of Knox County. The 1900 Census for Knox County, Texas shows Edward, listed as a farmer, "owns the farm free and clear" his wife Mary, daughter Rebecca and son Edward.

It is not known what events caused Edward to move from Texas to California. But at about age 65, or just slightly later, between 1908 and 1910, Edward West and Mary moved from Texas to San Diego, California with their son Edward and his wife Rosa. The 1910 Census shows them all living at 2322 Madison St. in San Diego, California. While his son Edward Waldo is listed as a surveyor for the City of San Diego, the census indicates that Edward West has his "own income", prehaps money gained from his Stock Company holdings or land, although the Stock Company had gone backrupt and sold in the late 1880's. Edward West died in San Diego on February 23, 1912 from a bacterial infection, listed as Erysipelas. The address listed on the death certificate is 4637 Geogia St. in San Diego, which may have been Edward Waldo's address at that time. Although the streets are still there, neither of the houses, or exact house addresses are there today.

This is from: "The Bedford Family of Virginia and Descendants thereof", by Bill Bedford and L. Kirker