JOHN EDWARDS, who follows farming on section 27, Lisbon Township, is numbered among the early settlers of Waukesha County of 1854. He has therefore witnessed much of its growth and development, has seen its wild lands transformed into beautiful homes and farms and has watched the growth of towns and villages. He has always borne his part in the work of progress and advancement and well deserves mention among the founders of the county.
Mr. Edwards was born near the historic city of Quebec, Canada, May 7, 1831, and is a son of Henry and Helen [Ellen] (Emerson) Edwards. His father was born on the Isle of Wight September 10, 1800, and emigrating to Canada in an early day, there carried on agricultural pursuits until his removal to the Badger State in 1854. He was a man of firm convictions, a Democrat in political belief and he and his wife were members of the Episcopal Church. The lady was born in Ireland in 1805 and was a child of five year when with her parents she came to the New World. The Edwards home in Waukesha County comprised one hundred and sixty acres of land, and was transformed from a wild tract into one of rich fertility by his father. He death occurred Mary 4, 1881, and his wife died in 1883. They were the parents of five (3) sons and seven (9) daughters, of whom our subject is the eldest. The others yet living are, Isaac, a leading farmer and dairyman of Pewaukee Township; Henry, who is married and lives in Andrew County, Mo.; Martha, widow of Samuel Elliott, and a resident of Delta County, Mich.; and Harriet, wife of Stephen Elliott, who runs a transfer line in Waukesha.
John Edwards remained in Canada until twenty-two years of age. He has made farming his life work, and although he started out dependent entirely upon his own resources he has steadily worked his way upward. He purchased the interest of the other heirs in the old homestead and for forty years has resided thereon, having now one of the best improved farms in the township. In 1890 he suffered severe losses by fire, having a large barn, granary, sheds, thirty-eight hundred bushels of grain and fine machinery consumed in the flames. His loss amounted to about $4000, but with characteristic energy be re-built and now has a barn 90 X 36 feet, with eighteen-foot posts and a nine-foot basement, sheds 22 X 52 feet, a wagon shed 22 X 28 feet, and a granary 22 X 38 feet in dimensions. These buildings stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise.
Mr. Edwards was married November 8, 1859, to Mary McIntyre, of Scotch descent, and they have one son and five daughters, all yet living, namely: William H.S.; Elizabeth A., wife of George Craig, a farmer of Dodge County, Wis.; Jennie E., who was educated in the Sussex schools and is now at home; Rhoda, wife of Eugene Craig, an expressman of Denver, Colo.; Alice, at home; Emma, who attended the White Water Normal School for two and a-half years and is a successful teacher, being now employed as primary teacher in Sussex. For his second wife Mr. Edwards chose Mrs. Mary (Simmons) Bacon, a native of Potsdam, N.Y. They were married January 9, 1875, and had three children, two yet living: John F., of New York; and Bessie, of Sussex. The mother of this family was called to the home beyond in January, 1890.
In politics Mr. Edwards has been a Republican since casting his first Presidential vote for Hon. John C. Fremont, but has never been an office-seeker. He holds membership with the Odd Fellow's Lodge of Pewaukee; is a prominent member of and was vestryman in St. Alban's Episcopal Church of Sussex. He is a gentleman of Honor and integrity, and his sterling worth has won him the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has been brought in contact. [Portrait and Biographical Record; page 265-266]