EDMONSTON, Col. Bazil Brooke Sr.

Born: 14May1766 in PrinceGeorgesCounty, Md.
Died: January 1841, Jasper, Dubois , Indiana
Burial: JasperCemetery, Dubois. Indiana

Wife: Hannah Rose
Born: 14Feb1765
Died: 1Mar1831


Most of this information comes from the book "My Edmonstons and a Few More" by Charles Ninian Edmonston
(1903-1979).


Children:

James, Born 3Oct1786 (Married May Carling, had one son named Bazil B.)
Ninian, Born 29Oct1789, died 18Mar186?
Married Polly Strothers (d. of Flora Inman) 1/14/1823, witness Benjamin Chambers
*Archibald (#5), Born 25Feb1792
Sarah, Born 31Dec1794, died between 1810 & 1818.
William E., Born 15Apr1796 in North Carolina, died 18Oct1871 in Cooper Co., Mo.
Nancy, Born 7 August 1799
Enoch, Born 20July1801 North Carolina, died 2 August 1872 in Jasper, Ind.
Bazil Brooke Jr., Born 6Nov1803, died 1888. Was a politician.
Benjamin Rose, Born 3Mar1807, died 1855. Was big in politics, can be found on Internet
Married Caroline Strothers (d. of Flora Inman),2/26/1834 witness Ninian Edmonston
Dorothy, Born 1 July 1809

*This Archibald married Melissa Anderson about 1826. One of their kids was William, born about 1836 in BooneTownship, Dubois, Indiana. Other offspring were Ninian, Dorothy, William, Sally, Melissa J., Thomas, Leroy, and Lucinda.

From the book "My Edmonstons and a few more" by Charles Ninian Edmonston (1903-1979) :

Bazil Brooke Edmonston, third son of Ninian and Dorothy Edmonston was born in Prince Georges County, Maryland as shown by a letter written by his son, Bazil B. Edmonston Jr. to another son, Ninian Edmonston. The letter was written 4 Feb 1859 in Jasper, Dubois County, Indiana and sent to Forks of Pigeon, Haywood County North Carolina. The full text of the letter follows: It is in possession of a great great grandson of Ninian Edmonston, J. T. Russell, a postal official in the Post Office in Wayneersville N. C.
Jasper Indiana. February 4th, 1859
Dear Brother:
Yours of the 3rd of January, 1859 has been received which gives us great pleasure to hear from you all and that you were all well. We are all well with the exception of my wife and myself. Hannah has been confined to her bed for some 11 weeks with what the doctors call, Tedder (or Tetter). She is broke out all over and I think there is no chance for her recovery before spring. In cold weather she is worse.
You will find enclosed, a power of attorney for you to act for me. I wrote you some time since that I had bought for a tax a lot in jasper belonging to sister Nancy and sold it to a man on a credit for $175 and the man died in a short time afterwards. He was


5. EDMONSTON, Bazil Brooke Sr., Contunued

a merchant and the administrator (of his estate) has not settled the estate yet. I think he will now in a short time. As soon as he settles I will send you your portion.
I went to get on my horse a few weeks since and sprained my ankle and last week got on my horse and rode four miles to my farm and it is so that I can't get out of the house.
I will give you the ages of our family. You wrote for me to send them to you. I forget whether I sent them or not.
Bazil B. Edmonston born May 24, 1766
Hannah R. Edmonston born February 14, 1765
James Edmonston born October 3, 1786
Ninian Edmonston born October 29, 1789
Archibald Edmonston born February 25, 1792
Sarah Edmonston born December 31, 1794
William Edmonston born April 15, 1796
Nancy Edmonston born August 7, 1799
Enoch Edmonston born July 20, 1801
Bazil B. Edmonston born November 6, 1803
Benjamin R. Edmonston born March 8, 1807
Dorothy Edmonston born July 1, 1809

Write and let me know how you all are. The connection here is all well. Your affectionate brother till death. B. B. Edmonston, to Ninian Edmonston and Family.
The will of Dorothy Edmonston made in 1816 and probated in 1817 has been produced on a previous page in which she names among her sons, Bazil B. Edmonston, Hasea Edmonston, Enoch Edmonston, and Brooke Edmonston, as well as others. These names are the same as the ones given in a letter written by Bazil B. Edmonston (Sr.) 1 July 1819 from Dubois County Indiana State, White River" to his two sons, Ninain and Archibald who were in Wainsville (sic), North Carolina. The letter was actually written 23 June, 1819 but dated 1 July 1819 from Corydon Indiana probably the nearest post office or mail gathering place. The postage paid was twenty-five cents. The text of the letter follows:
Well Beloved Children: I this morning received Ninian's letter dated March 10th also 2 from the City of Washington and the purport was shocking to hear your Uncle Hosea and Enoch is both dead. Your Uncle Hosea's widow has moved into the city. Your Uncle Brooke is but low in health. Your Uncle Enoch's widow states that they have the worst times ever seen and that they had been looking for you as I wrote that you were going there. I have wrote to you before concerning my moving to the River on the 23 November and has cleared 8 acres (of) first rate land in the State and in corn and it grows among the first rate water. I have built a snug cabbin, waggon shed and stabel etc. I saw then I was not able to make two sets of buildings. Wm. Moved last fall down to Poterville and improved his lot and sold the greater part of his goods then sold off the balance and lot and all for $250 and moved up this spring to his land 2 miles from me and has cleared 2 1/2 acres and is attending the balance of my field near James. And I have 2 acres first rate wheat turning ripe and as you wrote to me not to sell the half quarter till you came I want to know in positive terms whether I must keep it or no for you as Mr. Mitchell is shortly expected out to buy it and you expect to marry that rich widow, you'll not stoop so low as to settle on a half quarter; nothing less than river bottom (land). Ninian, I am talking to you at the present tho my letter is intended for both of you to save expense and trouble s I have much writing on hand today. Some to Buncombe (County, N.C.) and some to the City (WashingtonD.C.). You stated to me of the Grand Revolution that had taken place in Buncombe concerning Miller's claims and also that (words torn out) little (more words missing) entered so never of (The lower part of this page was torn or mousenibbled away so that most of one or two lines are completely missing.) I disregard him or anything he
can do in that case. When it was Rutherford (County) Fletcher bought it of Murray and sold it to George Penland; George to Robert Penland and it was entered in Miller's Office and Miller spelt his name, Pendleton, but Robert Penland conveyed to me in the year 1798 and let cuts go as they man I mean to plead the statute. I had it in peaceful possession uninterrupted 19 years. Buncombe (County) at that time was not struck off (erected) nor the office open and what grounds he stands on I know not but I douby that his foot
will slip and catch a fall like his projectors. You also mentioned Clear Creek to me as Thimsey has wrote to me concerning the Dugford. He wanted to know if I had not a deed that conveyed it. I sold to George
Allen, 117 acres and has a balance of 283 acres remaining including the lawyer's land, as so called, including the mouth of William Branch, Entered by Miller, conveyed to Reuben Wood and Wood to Alexander. I applied to Alexander for it. He offered to sell but refused to warrantee. I then could not take the hint but was mistrustful.
You or either of you may sell at a dollar per acre or to the best advantage that may be had; obliging yourselves in a quit claim. I shall be in if life lasts, in October if not September to settle my business against Byers. Money becomes due I shall bring all my papers on land so as to have everything settled and try to sell every peace in your land and that as soon as you can and if you can get cash by giving credit long or short, do it, for money here is an object (in great demand). There is a quarter joining me (which) I intend to enter at the first opportunity as it is suitable to this place and if either or both of you intends coming here you can't come too soon, for land is entrying very fast on the other side of the Patoka River where there ws no settlement when Ninian was out. We have sent on a petition to the Board of (County) Commissioners for a new township with forty-nine odd signers so you may know how fast our county (several words missing) my other (more words missing), Ninian.
Not knowing whether Archibald was there as he wrote to me that he was intending to go to the Missouri country so I shall direct this the same.
Your mother is grieved sore about you both and thinks that the next word to hear is that one or both of you is dead and says hard of you not coming but says as she has raised and nursed you both tenderly she says now you are above coming to see her and to see after her welfare and she further says that Ninian treated her, last August, when he went away, with deception, in saying that he intended to come back in February merely to get off. Sometime she seems to pine away about you both. Jas. Edmonston and Wm. Edmonston and family is all well and doing well. James has come out of the kinks and is a making money fast,. The neighbors, as far as I know is well. We are also well through the mercy and hope this letter will find you both well. Mr. Richets has moved down White River to a little town called Columbia and since I saw your letter this day I have wrote to him concerning his letter of dismission. Jas. Brown got his leg all broke to pieces at a log rolling and it is expected that he hardly ever can walk again so as to do business. Bradford Rose starts home next Sunday and has behaved himself well and is much respected as far as he is known. Give my best respects to all my friends. Don't forget Robert Huse and the old people and in fact I need not begin to name them; Humphrey Posey and Joseph Bryer. So I shall conclude by subscribing myself yours with respect etc.
Basil B. Edmonston
To Archibald and Minian Edmonston.
People living in what was then the frontier of the nation appeared to have speculated in land wherever they went or many of them seemed to have done it until it seemed to have become a habit. It was something like the 1929 crash in the stock market in that people went into long term debt in order to speculate in this way and presumably many of them made money at it. Many others though must have lost heavily in land ownership disputes and in other ways connected with this kind of gambling.

In a later letter Bazil B. Edmonston declared that he had moved his family at great expense and inconvenience because of reasons of health. The country along the French BroadRiver in North Carolina was probably malarial and he moved to get away from it. That the family moved to Indiana from North Carolina in 1818 is attested to by an obituary of Enoch Edmonston which was published in the Jasper (Ind.) Courier, August 2, 1872.
"DIED-MR. ENOCH EDMONSTON, brother of our present county clerk, and for many years a citizen of this county, died at his late residence in Schuyler County, Illinois on the 24th day of July, 91872). He was born in North Carolina in 1801 and emigrated with his father to this county, traveling all the way on foot, and carrying his rifle on his shoulder, arriving in this county, which was then a portion of Knox County, on the 4th day of march 1818. He and his father and brothers settled in Columbia Township where they lived for many years, until the family scattered, Enoch moving to Illinois where he owned a large farm on which he lived till his death, much respected by a large circle of friends and regarded as a pioneer of that now wealthy and populous county.


The Obituary published in a County newspaper gives a different story in that it does not tell of his arriving in Indiana, information which was evidently obtained from Bazil B. Edmonston Jr. at the time of publication.
We went to Asherville N. C. in 1962 searching for evidence of Bazil B. Edmonston Sr. since family tradition had placed him there in 1801 if not earlier. The 1790 census listed a Basdel Edmison in the MorganDistrict of Rutherford County, N.C. There was one male over sixteen years of age, two males under sixteen and one female. That would have accounted for the head of the household, two sons, probably James and Ninian and the wife and since tht was the only name which came anywhere close to Bazil I have had to assume that he lived in Rutherford County in 1790. Records in Asherville, in BuncombeCounty have been destroyed in several courthouse fires with only incomplete deed indexes for reference. For that reason as well as others proof must give way to deduction and speculation.
He would have been a little over twenty years old when his eldest son, James was born in 1786 so he was therefore married either late in 1785 or in early 1786. He would have been eighteen years of age in 1784 and the Revolutionary War ended in 1783. I don't suppose he left Maryland before 1784, although of course he could have done that.
His wife, Hannah Rose was born in North Carolina in 1765 according to information given by their son Bazil B. Edmonston Jr. at the taking of the census in 1880 in Dubois County, Indiana.
Bazil Brooke Edmonston, judging from his letters was fairly well educated for the time and place where he was born and where he lived. His vocabulary was ample enough for him to be able to write interesting letters although in some of them he did bear down on his sons about their neglect of religion, the practice of swearing was particularly offensive to him. He seems to have aspired to the role of patriarch, but his family simply grew up and did as they pleased in spite of all the advice he gave and offered to give on almost any subject.
He was keenly interested in politics, both local and national and at times expressed himself strongly on political trends and issues. He often expressed regret that his sons did not visit with him as often as he could have liked them to do. The journey from North Carolina to Indiana was an undertaking fraught with hazards of the road, adverse weather conditions and other countless difficulties yet he seemed to bitterly resent the fact that his son, Ninian did not make the journey and come a visiting at least several times each year.
As was shown in his letter of July 1, 1819, he was living on his farm on the White River in Dubois County Indiana where he had cleared some land and planted crops as well as having constructed some buildings for his first home there. His sons, William and James were prospering and settling down to farming in DuboisCounty. There was evidently the start of a real estate boom in the county and government land was being sold in the Federal Land Office in Vincennes for a very reasonable price and with long term payments for it. Seeing what he considered a golden opportunity in land speculation, he urged his sons to come to DuboisCounty and take advantage of it. Money, there, as he said was scarce. Ninian had evidently been anxiious to return to North carolina after he had come to Indiana, probably after the others had settled there, and as was suggested he had resorted to subterfuge in order to get away and his mother had registered her complaint about it. There is no evidence to show that Ninian ever did see his parents after that one visit to Indiana.
The next year there was another letter written to Ninian in which his father reported on a trip hehad made to White County Tennessee where he visited with some of his wife's relatives. There was an Uncle Hosea Rose, his brother-in-law and an Uncle Taylor who might have been either Leroy Taylor or his brother Parmenas Taylor, or possibly Zachariah Taylor as well as a "Nely Pickens" not otherwise identified where he and his traveling companion a Mr. Allen, also not otherwise identified had visited. He mentioned a William Taylor who was a nephew who was at least mildly interested in the land in DuboisCounty.
It appears that about this time there was some dispute in regard to State boundaries and several States claiming jurisdiction over the government land which was being sold. It was a time of uncertainty and some doubt existed as to whether the purchasers of land would be able to get a clear title to the land. Hard money, that is, specie (?) was very scarce wince it was being siphoned off by the government as payments for the land which tended to create hardship in any kinds of commercial transactions. And the land must be paid for with what was considered National legal tender, gold, Silver, or Government Script, that is the paper money which had been used to pay off the veterans of both the Revolution and the War of 1812.

His son, Archibald was evidently still in Haywood County, N. C. since the letter was addressed to both of them as was the first one in 1819.
The next letter in the series was written by Benjamin Rose Edmonston, the youngest brother from Porterville which was then the county seat of Dubois County, 19 Oct. 1828. Letters written between 1820 and 1827 have not come to light, and I am reasonably certain that there were others during this period.
From this leltter we learn that his brothers, William and Archibald were ill of some kind of fever, described as a hard spell of the fever. Bazil B. Edmonston Jr. had married a girl "by the name of McDonald and father and mother won't admit him to come to the house." His sisters Nancy and Dorothy "is yet single and living with father."
The writer of this letter had just been to New Orleans where he had gone with a flatboat loaded with produce of various kinds and had returned to DuboisCountyJune 29th. William was building a boat and intended making the trip to New Orleans starting about Christmas time. Benjamin expected to go with him, and would begone until about the following July.
Election rumors were creating disturbances. Bazil B. Jr. had been unsuccessful in his bid for election as sheriff; he lost by twenty-three votes.
It will comfort the reader to know that Bazil Jr. was able to reestablish amicable relations with the family soon after this letter was written.
The next letter was written on Sunday, the 11th of January, 1831 by Bazil Sr. to Ninian Edmonston, wife and family. Ninian had married, in 1823 to Mary Ann Strother, a daughter of John Strother, another active land speculator who seems to have been successful in his land dealings in North Carolina and Tennessee.
In this letter he reported that his wife was and had been ill for some time apparently with some kind of illness which had supposedly started at the time of the birth of her son Bazil in 1803 and had gradually worsened through the years since then. There
was some kind of a large hard tumor which had developed probably in her reproductive organs and "blistering and purgative medicines had no effect". From his description it would be difficult to come up with a correct diagnosis.
His sons, James and William had gone to Illinois, to McDonoughCounty and his son Enoch was considering a move to the same area. He was therefore feeling that he might eventually be deserted by all of his children. In fact his future did not appear to be very bright at that time.
The letter was actually a plea for Ninian to come and see his mother before she should die. Ninian however was at that time in the North Carolina Legislature in Raleigh and was unable to make the trip. Going from Raleigh to HaywoodCounty was most difficult but to make the trip in mid-winter to Indiana would have been out of the question. There is no evidence to show that he was at all anxious to face another session of charges of neglect and other scores. In addition, he had a family to care for and was thus unable to commute regularly between North Carolina and Indiana even had he wished to do so.
The next letter was written March the 6th 1831 and announced the death of his wife on March 1st, 1831. The description of her suffering during her last days left little to the imagination. She was somewhat comforted by her deeply devout religious beliefs. Whether or not James and William were able to return from Illinois before she died is unknown. There were five of her children and two of her daughters-in-law at home at the time. I can only guess that the list might include Bazil and his wife; possibly Archibald and his wife, Benjamin who was probably still unmarried at the time and Nancy and Dorothy.
The old man bemoaned the fact that he had not seen all the members of his family for a long time but in addition they were very derelict even in the duty of writing letters as often as he would have wished them to do.
In this letter too he was planning on how the family would be situated without a wife and mother. The two girls, from what he wrote were industrious and skilled in domestic arts, the making of cloth and dressmaking and sewing so that they could earn their own livings. As for himself he was appointed as postmaster for the new town of Jasper which was made the County seat and replaced Portersville in that capacity. He was building a new house and he was resigned to the fact that life must go on in spite of an important and almost irreplaceable death in the family.
The appointment as postmaster which combined with a small salary also provided him with free postage. A letter at that time if it had to be delivered more than 300 or 500 miles from the point of origin cost twenty-five cents in postage, and with enough cash to pay the small salary of the postmaster. Many
people, according to Bazil Jr. in an interview some years later, in recalling those times, were unable to write to the people they had left in homes farther east because of the prohibitive cost of postage and the
almost complete lack of money to pay that cost. In several letters then the old man pleaded with his sons to write, "it costs nothing" was part of his plea.
The next letter in the collection is dated 20 Feb 1832. It was a cold wet winter and many of his neighbors despaired of making a crop because of the lateness of the plannting and growing season. He described many of them as being shiftless and improvident. "They would starve in a cook shop," as he put it, of no use to church or state or to themselves or each other. James and William had made a visit to Indiana from Illinois. He felt sure that he was seeing both of them for the last time.
Nancy, Benjamin and Dorothy were still living with him so Benjamin and Dorothy must have married probably in 1833 but there is no record of these events since the court house in Jasper burned in 1839 with all the county records, or most of them.
He also reported that Enoch's eldest daughter died in her ninth year. And another death bed scene was graphically depicted, with great emphasis on the religious angles involved.

The next letter to Ninian was dated 16Sept1832 and on the outside was the notation that it had been received Nov. 10th. Nearly two months. The same distance now can easily be driven in a day.
The letter begins with a dissertation on religion along with reflections on the death of his wife the previous year. Nancy, Benj. And Dorothy were still with him. Enoch was living in the adjoining county, Orange about eighteen miles away. Bazil was living on the farm his father had either given or sold to him. "Your uncle Benj. Has reformed his manner of living; refuses to drink any ardent spirits and attends the Word preached and listens to the counsels that I often give him, and cites him to his sister and daughter Sally…but has sinned his doleful station in life with a devilish family that will lead him unhappy his days out."
William and James were still in McDonoughCounty and William had been "on a campaign to fight Indians this spring and last spring stood before the people as a candidate for the legislature." And was elected. Archibald had moved to Vermillion County Indiana, "and writes that the county is almost past recovery" from drouth and hard times. Bazil Jr. was elected to the office of sheriff of DuboisCounty. All the family were in good health except a child of Enoch's who was having dysentery troubles. That would have been Cynthia Ann who later married Isaac Black in Schuyler County Illinois. The writer of the letter said he intended to go to Carolina in the fall of 1832.
The next letter dated 8 Dec 1832 celebrated Jackson's reelection to the presidency by writing what might be considered as a narrative poem. The old man was overjoyed at the victory. Nancy, Benj. And Dorothy were still single. Enoch was still living in OrangeCounty, Archibald in Vermillion, and James and William still in Illinois. Henry Clay and the legislation regarding banking was commented upon at length as well as current prices of farm commodities.
24Dec1833 a letter was written to Benjamin who was in HaywoodCountyN.C. In this letter he said he had written to "Uncle Zachariah Rose who expected Benjamin to stop at his place on his way back to DuboisCounty. Thus was established the fact that Hannah (Rose) Edmonston, had three brothers, Hosea, Benjamin and Zachariah Rose but there was never any mention of the names of the parents of these three.
In this letter, for the first time, he mentioned A. G. Taylor who was studying medicine under the tutelage of a Dr. Hart. I would guess that Dorothy and Albert G. Taylor were married before this letter was written, but of course it is only a guess. There was mention made of the meteor shower of 1833 which was seen in various parts of the country and at the time, widely commented upon. He gives the date as 13 November.
In Wilson's History of Dubois County he stated that Benjamin Edmonston was married twice. In a letter written by Benjamin the statement was made that "I am now living with my third wife". No one seems to have been able to come up with the name of the first wife. There is certificate of membership in a Missionary Society, signed by Caroline Edmonston, in a display case in the Court House in Jasper and that simply had to be Benjamin's first wife and I can only surmise that she had been Caroline Strother, sister of Polly Ann Strother, wife of Ninian Edmonston. I believe that they were married probably during the first half of 1834. The letter written 6June1834 from Bazil Sr. to Ninian says, "Caroline is anxious to know who
you have to help you this season as you are unable to work and in your next we would be glad to hear." Whether that question was addressed to Polly or to Ninian is a matter for further speculation.
The next letter is dated 18May1839 so that there is a gap of four years. Since so many letters were saved it seems logical to me that there must be others in someone's possession which are dated in these missing years.

In this letter, he mentions a Roman Catholic priest who came to DuboisCounty from Germany to buy land and bring members of his German congregation there to

settle. This, of course, was a Father Joseph Kundek. By his efforts he managed to almost completely Germanize or Germanicise much of the country until later a kind of broken English peculiar to the community similar to that spoken in some parts of Pennsylvania and in the MohawkValley in New YorkState.
He tells us that this priest was skilled in the arts of medicine and more particularly in the use of herbs in the healing arts. The priest boarded with the old man for about a year and not only prescribed his medicine for the family's ailments but became very fond of one of the daughters of Bazil Jr. named Missouri and spent some time in teaching her the German language.
He describes one of his own ailments as being probably a case of hiatus hernia of the esophagus which seems to be one of those inherited things. Several members of the family have been similarly afflicted, myself among them.
He advised abstinence from coffee and the drinking of large amounts of water which seems to have benefited the old man as well as curing a chronic cough of Missouri's.
His sons, James, William, and Enoch were prospering in Illinois. More flatboats were being floated down to New Orleans from DuboisCounty as well as from Schuyler County, Illinois.
The Taylors at that time had two sons "of the Anaheim Breed". "I called one for the invaluable Sendator Benton". Just what the Anaheim Breed is was not explained.
In a letter of 21Oct1839 he told of James and William making a trip from Illinois back to Indiana. James went over to OrangeCounty, got his mother-in-law and then went back to Illinois. I have never been able to identify James' wife's family except that she was listed as Mary Carling in the 1860 census of Schuyler county, Illinois. There was a suggestion that the entire family sell out in Indiana and move to Illinois but the old man was reluctant to go along with what idea as he did not want to be under such a heavy obligation even to his sons.
In the last of this letter he wrote, "Benj. Has a daughter some three or four weeks old and calls its name Caroline, all agreeable. He has a fine wife, James and Enoch is much pleased with her, the neighbors is pleased with her and I am pleased that he has not disgraced Caroline, the one that was well beloved by the family. She is gone to praise her Redeemer while we are all miserable sinners."
September 18, 1839 he wrote that he had been on a visit to James and Enoch in Illinois. "James, William, and Enoch, in many countrys would be termed rich; William feels himself as important as an English Lord. He rides in his splendid carriage (and is) every other year elected to the legislature and I am creditably informed that he is a strong man in the house. He weighs 203 pounds and James is perhaps as heavy. Enoch is nigh to his father, same old frame and he is well esteemed and exerts much influence in the neighborhood. He is a solid and independent Justice of the Peace. Some attorneys have attempted to say him; he would rise and curse them and has discontinued the practice. When I was there his land was adjudged to be worth $5000 he has since purchased another quarter, with 40 acres under cultivation and under fence. Taylor is doing very well. Dorothy has three children: T. Benton, Bazil and Hannah Elizabeth. I have some idea of going out there again this fall."
This pretty well concludes the information contained in the letters written by Bazil Brooke Edmonston. In documenting his middle name it was found in a BuncomeCounty deed index several times and he had a grandson named Brooke, one of Bazil Jr.'s sons. To be exact, Bazil Brooke Lon Edmonston who died in Maryville, Missouri about 1904/05.
There is no way for us to know just what went on in the Bazil B. Edmonston Family from the time of his arrival in N. C. from Maryland until the taking of the census in 1790. Of course, his sons James and Ninian were born in 1786 and 1789 respectively, but with so many records destroyed in Court House fires, much history has been lost. In the Census of 1790 he was listed in the MorganDistrict of Rutherford County as Basdel Edmison and there were two males over sixteen and two under sixteen as well as two females. The two males under sixteen could have been James and Ninian. One male over sixteen would have been Bazil B. Edmonston and one female over sixteen would have been his wife. The identity of the man and woman extra over sixteen is unknown.
In 1800 he was listed in Buncombe county as Bazil B. Edminson. There were three children, males under ten years of age; one male between ten and sixteen and one aged from 26 to 45. Two females under ten and one female 26-45. These ages are a bit difficult to justify since James would have been 14, Ninian 11, Archibald 8, Sarah 6, William 4, and Nancy one year old. Bazil B. and his wife, Hannah would have been between 26 and 45.
In 1810 there was Bazil B. Edminston with three male children under ten, one was between ten and sixteen, two between 16 and 26, and one from 26 to 45. One female was listed as being between 0 and 10, one between 10 and 16 and one was over 45. So Bazil would have been just under 45 while his wife was just over tht age. James would have been 24 years old and listed separately with one male under ten and one under 26 while there was one female under 26.
There were various other Edmonstons whose names were spelled in various ways who have not been otherwise identified, in North Carolina during these three censuses.
A BuncombeCounty deed index, Grantor-grantee was compiled and published in 1926 by George A. Digges Jr. Register of Deeds in which the name of Bazil B. and Bazil Brooke Edmonston appears several times between 1798 and 1831, but nothing earlier than 1798.
Bazil B. Edmonston was a member of an emancipating regular Baptist Church of Jesus Christ, called, Little Zion in the County of Bubois, State of Indiana. This is established through a letter of Dismission he wrote himself in March 1836 when he was apparently preparing to move from DuboisCounty. Since the letter was unsigned it is easily seen that it was never used in any other church jurisdiction and remained in the papers of his son Enoch Edmonston and is in possession of Mrs. Faye Edmonston Eifert in Rushville, Illinois.
In his letters he was continually praising the Lord for all his good fortune and he seems to have regarded his bad luck to the fact that he was a vile sinner, undeserving of any favors from his Creator but nevertheless thankful.
Mrs. Eifert also has a letter written by him but unsigned in which he wrote to Congress and appeared to attempt to emulate the language of the King James Version of the Bible, not always successfully. The contents of the letter deciphered after much effort follows:
The Chronicles Andrew Jackson Major General of the United States of North America.
And it came to pass in those days in the fifth year of Jas, whose surname Madison the supreme governor of all Columbia Province even in the thirteenth day of the eighth month in the eighteen hundred and thirteenth year of the Christian era that the barbarians have with in the South waged war with the people of Columbia and some Ethiopians did join them and they came forth from the wilderness and fell violently on the inhabitants of Columbia and slew them with their helpless women and children and consumed the strong fold with fire and many living people therein and few escaped the bloody slaughter, then the wise men of the tribe came forward and assembled together in council and called for their young men and valiente men of war saying go forth, avenge the blood of our slain brethren on the guilty heads of those numerous and uncircumcised Philistines carrion (carrying) exterminating war into the hearts of the Creek Nation and spare them not. There is that Andrew whose sirname is Jackson a mighty man of war and Valiente in fight who lived in the West who new all the Western parts of one of Columbia's provinces (second division of Tennese) who
tihed onto his arm, girded on his sword upon his thigh and came forth in much wrath and indignation against those cruel and inhuman savages and collected his warriors and marched them in haste to give relief to the frontier inhabitants in the South who lay exposed to the heavy hand of a Barberious foe and were dayly lifting up their voices and sending messengers to Andrew and Willie (Governor Blount of Tenesee) saying come over and help us or we shall fall by the hands of those uncircumcised Philistines who have
(end of page one)
Footnotes on page one:: Fort Mims a stockade fort on the eastern bank of Mobile Bay about one and a half mile off the East Bank of the Alabama River.,
Tennessee Legislature in session at Nashville in Sept., 1813.
Page two
Defyed the Armies of the living God. Our wives and our children will be slain and desolation will suddenly spread over our land unless thou comest immediately for behold that hostile thousands are assembling themselves together for war against us and our men of war are few and a cloud of destruction
gathers with blackness over our heads and great danger surrounds us now. Terrible power was in the wise men of the West to give law to foreign nations but the authority was in the hands of their transgressions, then the great transgressors being cloathed with power wisdom and equity in his National Grand Council solemnly battled the righteous demons of the wise men of the West and Proclaim upon the House top saying, Go forth as ye have faith in pomp and power, persevere in your laudable undertakings scourge those transgressing heathens who feareth not God nor regardeth the rights of Nations Drive furiously through their country trample down their falls (false) Prophets and send their soothsayers and heathen enthusiasm to the bottomless pit from whence they came and cause their magic confederation to fall like lightening from Heaven. Ye are able to go against them. Hasten to the field of Battle, cloath yourselves with marshal courage in the thundering field of Mars and give spedy relief to our distressed brothers in the South. Go forth and the Lord of Hoasts will deliver them unto your hands. Ye shall spare them not their men of war but slay them hip and thigh, captivate their women and cheldren, drive them out, fight our battles in the South and we'll maintain and reward your labours. Go and the Lord will be with you. Then Andrews heart was cheered and he marched his thundering bright army into the borders of the enemys territory to the River Allabama.
Footnotes: Governor Blounte of Tennessee. Second Division of Tennessee. Congress.
The original letter was contained in a small leather covered traveling trunk among other letters and documents and passed down from Enoch Edmonston Sr. to his son Enoch Edmonston Jr. in Schuyler County Illinois.
The name of the author was in some doubt until numerous other letters written by him came to light and we were able to compare the handwriting which left no doubt as to who wrote the above letter.
Bazil Brooke Edmonston was one of the first judges of the Probate Court in DuboisCounty and held that position for many years until his death in January, 1841 when he was succeeded by Daniel Harris. The exact date of his death is unknown or at least I have not been able to find any exact record. His burial place is likewise unknown but it is my guess that it is in the old JasperCemetery. There are a few stones and markers there but there is also much evidence to show that there were many more burials there than there are markers and Protestant church records have been lost in a fire at some time in the past, or so I was informed by Mrs. Bertram Doane whose husband is another descendant of Bazil Brooke Edmonston.
There is a cemetery out near what was the original farm of Bazil B. Edmonston in which his son, Benjamin Rose Edmonston is buried and there is a marker for him. It
is entirely probable that Hannah Rose Edmonston is also buried in that same cemetery.