Edward Franklin "Ned" Mulligan, Sr. was born near the small town of Gillisonville in what was then Beaufort County, SC, and now part of Hampton County. As a child, he moved with his family to Tattnall County, GA, and settled near Bay Branch Community near the present-day Tattnall/Evans County line.

Ned's father Bernard, a Confederate veteran, was a sharecropper for one of Tattnall County's wealthiest planters, John "Duffy" Rogers of Bull Creek. Ned fell in love with Rogers's daughter, Laura, much to her father's dismay. He dismissed Ned as "beneath" the wealthy Rogers family because he was a sharecropper's son. Laura would not be dissuaded, and she and Ned eloped to the courthouse in Reidsville one night and married.

Ned and Laura first lived near his father's home at Bay Branch and moved to a house on S. Church Street in Glennville after their first daughter, Julia, was born. To them were born a total of 11 children, only 5 of whom survived to adulthood. Ned farmed and worked as a merchant in Glennville for a living and was well-respected by all for his kindness and extreme generosity toward those in need. Despite the hardships presented by the Great Depression, Ned would have given his last dollar had someone requested it.

When Laura Mulligan passed away in 1936, Ned removed to his farm at Bay Branch. Here he lived and farmed for a few years before Glennville merchant Hymie Lipsitz persuaded him to return to town and manage his department store. Ned moved back to Glennville and purchased a house on N. Caswell Street. For the remainder of his life, he spent part of the year in Glennville and part with his daughters, Julia, Marjorie, and Rebecca, who had all moved to North Carolina many years before. He passed away at his home in Glennville in 1961.