MYTH BUSTED:
Some family genealogy trees state this William Edwards 1722-1784 or Andrew Edwards 1727-1775 were sons of Thomas Nathaniel Edwards who married Isabelle Downing, however other genealogy files show said Thomas Nathaniel Edwards son William marrying a different wife with different named children being born almost concurrent with this William Edwards who married Grizzel Coleman. Theres NO PROOF of a relationship, only conjecture all probably brought about the the so called Edwards Scam involving 77 acres of land in downtown Manhattan Island, New York as discussed in the below links and Note 4 at the bottom of this page.
See:
Estate Fraud
and Spurious Pedigrees by Helen Hinchcliff, Ph.D.
See: Ancestry Magazine
11/1/1995 -
The Hall Edwards Estate - Fact or Fiction?
See: Who was Thomas Nathaniel
Edwards "Who
was Thomas Nathaniel Edwards?"
Thomas Nathaniel Edwards born October 14, 1690 in Glen Morganshire, Edwards Hall, Stafford, Wales; died February 11, 1781 and/or November 2, 1781 in Maryland ; married on April 9, 1720 Isabelle (Elizabeth) Downing in Wales. She was born March 12, 1693 in Cardilf, Glamoranshire, Wales and died 1783 in Maryland.
NOTE: Some trees suggest this William Edwards is the same as the above William Edwards, but offer no proof or documentation, only conjecture.
BIOGRAPHY: In 1750, Thomas Edwards and his two brothers,
Edward and Henry, came to New York from Wales.
DEATH: Will found in the Historical Commission in Raleigh, North Carolina:
DEATH: The will of Thomas Edwards to his son, John Samuel Edwards:
DEATH: File (A) (3)
State of South Carolina
Greenville District.
DEATH: I have given to my son, John S. Edwards at his marriage and after:
DEATH: One Negro Girl - (Lucy) - $330
One horse bridle and saddle 100
One track of land 200
One bed and furniture 35
One Negro Boy - (Lewis) 400
One cow and calf 9
Two sheep 4
Corn and furniture 80
_________
Total $1158
[2] Found in this Family File: Thomas N. Edwards
1. "Lawrence AND Edwards Genealogies" by Marion Nelson
LAWRENCE P 272, 273.
2. Thomas N. Edwards and Isabel Downing family of Wales and America.
3. L.D.S. Family History Library Ancestral File.
4. Family records of Pamela "Kim" Martinson. May 1994.
[3] Captain Bill Book Three - A Genealogy of the Catawba River Valley of SC: At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, SIR THOMAS, although very old, was active in supporting the English government and became personally responsible for goods bought in New York for the British Army. At about that time he died, and Robert Edwards II administered the estate. It is documented that he resided in St. Mary's County, Maryland as early as 1678.
[4] A 'Pitt County Families' family file has the information below listed for the Thomas Nathaniel Edwards who married Elizabeth Downing..Same information also found on old genenealogy.com site within 'The Robin Chisholm Briguglio Family of New York'
The genealogy for the descendants of Thomas Nathaniel EDWARDS
(1690-1781)and Isabella Elizabeth DOWNING (1693-1785).... is questionable
because of the "Edwards Estate Scams".... where thousands of people tried to
prove they were descendants because of the 77 acres of Manhattan supposedly
owned by their eldest son Robert who died childless.
---------------
Diana Edwards Roy - Aug 10, 2003
Categories: Our Ancestor, Thomas 1690 I have taken all my information from all
my sources and tried to come up with the most correct information on Thomas
Nathaniel Edwards Sr. Please read over it and help me correct the wrong
information, or add to it.
When I have more than one information and I didn't know which was correct I put
them all and use / to separate them. Notice there are more than one death times
for both Thomas and Elizabeth.
SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. was born October 14, 1690 in Edwards Hall,
Glamorgan, Car diff, South Wales. He married LADY ELIZABETHISABELLA DOWNING on
March 12, 1713/14 in Lleanymy ceck, Wales, daughter of SIR. GEORGE THOMAS
DOWNING. She was born Abt. March 12, 1692/93 in Glamorgan, Cardiff, South Wales.
Passenger Lists show their arrival in New York, May 9 1714. They settled in
Culpeper, Virginia where their eight children were born. SIR. THOMASNATHANIEL
EDWARDS, SR.4s occupation was that of a merchant.
SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR, and his two brothers, Edward and Henry, point
of origin England, came to what is now called New York City, New York and
settled on Manhattan Island sometime about 1740. SIR.THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS,
SR. purchased land, but at that time, although land purchased at a price, title
was not absolute unless acknowledged by the Crown of England; generally accorded
in recognition of service to the Crown; and it was for SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL
EDWARDS, SR.4s services rendered the English Government during the Great French
and Indian Wars that the Crown recognized SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR.'s
purchases and gave him absolute title thereto/ The Crown of England gave
SIR.THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. absolute title at the beginning of the
Revolutionary War. It was claimed that SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. gave
the first lease directly to Trinity Church in 1744, which was about the time
records show he arrived in this country.
THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS SR. was in Savannah, Georgia 1742 to 1746.
About 1750 THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS SR. , with his wife and eight children and
his brothers Henry and Edward/William, and Edward Edwards, came to America. They
settled in NY on 77 acres inherited from his grandfather lying on the Hudson
River in the territory of NY In 1771 he bought land from the Indians that added
50,000/5,000 more acres to his land lying along the Hudson River in the State of
NY In Payment for services he rendered the English Government during t he French
and Indian Wars, the Crown gave Thomas Edwards absolute title. Although very
old, he was active in supporting the English Government and was responsible for
a large amount of wheat bought in NY for the British./
The ancestry of SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. is still in dispute.
Unfortunately, there are no extant civil nor parish records found which
establish positively his genealogy. Some say that THOMAS was the son of a
clergyman of The Church of England who sailed to New York in the early 1700's.
Others say that SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. was the son of THOMAS EDWARD
S who married ELIZABETH HALL in New York in the year 1661. The ancestral claim
that appears most plausible, however, is related below. It can neither be
verified, proven nor documented. It has simply been handed down from generation
to generation among the branches of the Edwards ' family, and has become
generally accepted as perhaps the most accurate ancestry of SIR. THOMAS
NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. "Thomas was born in 1690 in South Wales and was the son
of William Edwards who was born in 1620, and who sired Thomas in his old age.
William was the son of Joshua Edwards of Wales who was titled a baron during
1661. It is said that Thomas inherited a good deal of wealth from his
grandfather Joshua. The title of Baron held by Joshua Edwards was no doubt the
origin of the claim made by James Adams Edwards, six generations later in
Tennessee that one of his ancestors was a duke of Wales." "Edwards family
historians claim that our Edwards forebears descended from the ancient Welsh
Kings of Powysland. The first to assume the surname of Edwards was Robert, the
son of Edward Ap Thomas Ap Llewellyn, and was lineally descended from Einon
Efell, Lord of Cynlleath in Montgomery-Cyclamate. They had a son John Edwards
who purchased Less Strange. Years later the Edwards family came into possession
through marriage , of the large estate near Cardiff, Glamorganshires, Wales,
which came to be known as 'Edwards Hall'. . The Edwards family occupied the
mansion and the estate for several generations until it fell into disrepair and
finally abandoned in the early 1700's. After the new world was discovered, many
with the surname of Edwards left the cankering mother country, seeking a new
life on the promising shores of America. They sailed from Wales, England;
Scotland, England and other ports, and settled along the shores of the new
colonies from New England on the north, to Georgia on the south. The Edwards
name included among those who first settled the Virginia Colony. A William and
Arthur Edwards were among those killed in the Indian massacre at Jamestown in
the year 1662." In the Virginia Colony alone the number of Edwards immigrants
was numerous. Colonial passenger and immigration lists preserved through the
years identify twenty-one males with the name of Edwards who landed in Virginia
between the years 1626 and 1643. That number, however, represents only a
fraction of those by the name of Edwards who actually came to the Virginia
Colony."
LADY ELIZABETH ISABELLA DOWNING EDWARDS died:
Medical records of a strange disease (Yellow Fever) killed wife LADYELIZABETH
ISABELLA DOWNIN G EDWARDS. Yellow fever also killed three Edwards children but
it is not known who they were . Also, from medical history of strange disease of
Georgia First Settlers. /
died June 8, 1742 in Port Savanah, Chatham County, Georgia from Yellow Fever and
was buried in Wales.
Old letters from THOMAS NATHANIEL SR's brother, Joshua Edwards, prove this.
THOMAS NATHANIEL SR's oldest son, Robert Edwards, leased the property in New
York to the Cruger Brothers and took his father back to England.
THEORY of Dovie Beams:
This answers the question as to why the land was leased. Also, a lease would
provide income to the family. Dovie Beams has seen research accounts that the
Cruger Brothers were cousins.
Savannah, GA was the site of the first lighthouse on the South Atlantic Coast in
1736. Robert , who plundered gold from the Spanish galleons for the crown, may
have found such a light house an incentive and the influence that caused SIR.
THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. and LADYELIZAB ETH ISABELLA DOWNING EDWARDS to
move with their eight children to Port Savanah, Chatham County, Georgia from
Culpeper, Virginia. Is it possible that the 26 year old Robert transported the
family on his ship? SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. was a merchant supplying
grain, wheat, etc. to the crown. Is it possible that some of the plundered gold
was used to buy grain, wheat, etc. for the crown? Access to the sea, which was
vital for their occupations , was present every place they were. For example,
Manhattan Island; Culpeper, Virginia near a major inland waterway from the
Atlantic and Savannah, Georgia.
The Colonies being used to and content with their self governing, deeply
resented of paying for the upkeep of the British troops and housing them among
themselves. Then in 1774, the desire for independence and break away from the
British Crown that great patriots as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, the
Revolutionary War was yet to begin. Since Thomas Edwards, Sr. and his son Robert
Edwards were allied with the British in New York the year of 1740 and later, we
know that taxation of tea eventually angered the people of the Boston Colony to
the point of rebellion and resulted in the Historic Boston Tea Party, Dec. 16,
1773. Possible some of our relatives were involved with the Party with the
excessive taxation imposed by the British on the newly established Thirteen
Colonies. It would be quite assuming that they were involved. We don' t really
know if our English ancestors were part of tyranny or democracy. It makes you
wonder the character after them beholden to the Crown. Perhaps just a cog in the
wheel of advancing civilization in the new world and had no other choice.
SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. died Between 1778 and 1781/ February 11, 1781
in North Carolina/ November 02, 1781 in London, Swansea, Maryland. Buried in
Maryland. / returned to England and died .
This information was taken from the Hall of Records and History of New York
City, New York. SI R. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR., although old, was active in
supporting the British Government, and became personally responsible for goods
bought in New York City. He remained a true British subject to his death. About
this time SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. died and his oldest son, Robert,
administrator of the estate that was granted to SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS ,
SR. by the Crown of England said property lying on Manhattan Island. Said land
was leased by Robert to various parties in the year 1778.
In 1781, SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR.'s will was recorded in Culpeper
County, Virginia (NO SUCH DOCUEMENT IN CULPEPER
CO., VA.PROBATE RECORDS). Robert Edwards, the oldest son was the administrator of his
father's estate. Robert signed the release of lease for 99 years in New York.
Descendants have tried to prove they were never paid for this property & legal
suits filed.
LADY ELIZABETH ISABELLA DOWNING EDWARDS died 1783 in Edwards Hall, Glamorgan,
Cardiff, South Wales.
SIR. THOMAS NATHANIEL EDWARDS, SR. died 1783 in New York/ died 1788 in Swansea,
Wales/England.
Will: Culpeper County, Virginia