Albert Thornton Edwards was born in Brown County, Ohio, on September 2, 1840, and received his education there. He enlisted, in 1862, in Company D, Seventh Ohio Cavalry, attached first to Stoneman's Corps and later to the Twenty-third Cavalry Corps. He participated in the engagements at Summerset, Kentucky; Cynthiana, Kentucky; in Burnside's expedition in east Tennessee; Carter's Raid in West Virginia; battle of Bald Hill; battles of Franklin; Burnside's Siege at Knoxville, and Nashville; Dalton, Georgia; and in many other important engagements and helped drive Hood back from Atlanta to Nashville. The last engagement was near Andersonville. He received no serious injury except to his eyes, and was mustered out July 3, 1865, at Nashville and discharged there.

A month and a half later, Albert married Martha Jane Brewer on August 24th 1865 and left the following day (along with Martha's parents) for Iowa in a covered wagon. In the fall of 1865 they settled in Taylor Township in Benton County, Iowa, three miles southeast of Vinton. Albert purchased 240 acres for $4.00 an acre & built a log house on the farm. He and Martha had 4 children while living in the log house: Corneilus Everett, James Ernest & Anna Clellan & Cora Ellen. Both sons died in childhood. In 1873, Albert & family moved into Vinton, & Albert worked as a carpenter until he was approached by another farmer, Wash Young, about moving to a farm he owned southeast of Vinton. Albert & the family moved out to this farm & lived there for 18 years, raising the rest of their family.. He farmed until the fall of 1908, at which time he sold his farm & built a house in-town on Elm Street in Vinton, just south of the depot.

Politically, Albert was a staunch supporter of the Republican party. He served as township clerk and as a justice of the peace, and then served twenty-four continuous years as township clerk. He was a prominent member of P. M. Coder Post, No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, and Mrs. Edwards was for years a member of the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. Albert & Martha were members of the Christian church, in which Albert was an elder for 5 years.

Albert married Martha J. Brewer in August 1865. They became parents of eleven children, of whom nine survived. In 1917, Albert suffered a stroke which rendered him helpless and in need of constant care and attention. He passed away at home on April 25th, 1921 at the age of 80 and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Vinton, Benton County, Iowa.