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Horace Edgerton, son of  Isaac and Sarah Edgerton.

Betsey Taylor, daughter of Obadiah and Abigail (Williams) Taylor.

Children:

1. Freedom A., b. ~1819; Florence, Oneida Co., NY.
2. Amos, b. May 21, 1821; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.
3. Alfred, b. May 23, 1822; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.
4. Amasa, b. August 16, 1824; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.
5. Franklin, b. ~1827; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.
6. Polly Jane, b. May 7, 1830; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.
7. Sarah, b. ~1833; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.
8. Esther A., b. October 1834; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.

Horace Edgerton was born at Torringford, Litchfield County, Connecticut in the year 1795, one of the elder sons of Isaac and Sarah Edgerton.  In the early 1800’s, Horace’s father removed to Oneida County, New York and settled in the town of Florence.  Horace was raised in Florence.  He made his living as a blacksmith.

Horace Edgerton served in the War of 1812.  He was listed as a sergeant on the muster rolls of Capt. Stoddard’s 68th Regiment of the New York Militia (see War of 1812 Muster Rolls, Box 64, #602).

Horace’s wife was Betsey Taylor, daughter of Obadiah and Abigail (Williams) Taylor, both natives of Deerfield, Massachusetts.  Betsey was probably born in New York State (or possibly Erie County, Pennsylvania).  Census records of her children report variously that Betsey was born in either New York, Pennsylvania or Connecticut.  No record has been found from which to estimate her date of birth.  Horace and Betsey were probably married circa 1818 in Oneida County, New York.  They had a family of eight children:  four daughters:  Freedom A., Polly Jane, Sarah and Esther A.; and four sons, Amos, Alfred, Amasa and Franklin.

Horace Edgerton was listed as a head of household in the 1820 Federal Census of Florence, Oneida County, New York (pg. 192), residing adjacent to his father, Isaac.  Horace’s household was enumerated with the following individuals:

1 male “of 16 and under 26”  (Horace);

1 female “of 16 and under 26”  (wife Betsey); and,

1 female “under 10 years of age”  (daughter Freedom).

Probably not long after 1820, Horace removed to Erie County, Pennsylvania, where he settled in the township of Elk Creek.  All but the eldest of Horace’s children were presumably born in Elk Creek.

The household of Horace “Adgerton” was recorded in the 1830 Federal Census of Elk Creek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania (pg. 324), with the following enumeration:

1 male “of 30 and under 40”  (Horace);

2 males “of 5 and under 10”  (sons Amos and Alfred);

2 males “under 5 years of age”  (sons Amasa and Franklin);

1 female “of 30 and under 40”  (wife Betsey);

1 female “of 10 and under 15”  (daughter Freedom); and,

1 female “under 5 years of age”  (daughter Polly).

At the time of this census, Horace was residing nearby his father-in-law, Obadiah Taylor, whose household was enumerated just a few dwellings away on the Elk Creek Census Roll.

In the latter 1830’s, Horace left Pennsylvania.  After a brief time in LaPorte, Indiana, where his wife, Betsey, reportedly died in 1836, he settled in Centre Township, Lake County, Indiana (in the far northwest corner of the state), where he resided for the remainder of his life.  The family was first recorded in Centre Township in the Federal Census of 1840.

According to Lake County, Indiana from 1834 – 1872 (Rev. T. H. Ball; J.W. Goodspeed; Chicago, 1873; p. 38), Horace Edgerton settled on the “east side of Cedar Lake” in the year 1836.  His neighbors included Adonijah Taylor, Horace Taylor and Calvin Lilley.  In the same publication it is noted (pg. 91) that “Sometime before [1845] the same neighborhood had lost a very promising young man, Franklin Edgerton”.  This was presumably Horace’s youngest son, Franklin, who died in 1842 and was buried at the West Point Cemetery in Centre Township.

Horace Edgerton was active in town politics in Centre Township.  In the year 1837, he served as Overseer for the Poor.  At a Town Meeting held on January 1, 1838, it was approved “that the sum of four dollars be allowed Horace Egerton…on account expense of Peter Oleson, a transient pauper, under charge of Overseers of Poor of Centre Township.”

The household of Horace Edgerton was recorded in the 1840 Federal Census of Centre Township, Lake County, Indiana (pg. 89), with the following enumeration:

1 male “40 and under 50”  (Horace);

2 males “15 and under 20”  (sons Amos and Alfred);

1 male “10 and under 15”  (son Amasa); and,

1 female “10 and under 15”  (daughter Polly).

For some reason, Horace’s youngest daughter, Esther (then aged about 5) was not included in the enumeration of the family at this time.  Since her mother had recently died, Esther may have been living with one of her relatives  – perhaps her grandfather or an uncle.

The household of Horace Edgerton was recorded in the 1850 Federal Census of Centre Township, Lake County, Indiana (pg. 109; dwelling #6; family #6; enum. August 6, 1850), as follows:

Enumerated next on the Centre Township census roll (immediately after Horace) was the household of William A. Taylor  (“a farmer, aged 28, born in Pennsylvania”), who was perhaps a relative of Horace’s wife, Betsey.  Recorded on the following page of the census roll (dwelling #13, family #13) was the household of Horace’s son-in-law, George W. Dille (husband of his eldest daughter, Freedom).

The following biography of Horace Edgerton is excerpted from Lake County, Indiana 1884: An Account of The Semi-Annual Celebration of Lake County (T.H. Ball, ed.; Crown Point, Ind.: The Old Settlers Association of Lake County; 1884; pg. 385):

“1.  Horace Edgerton, born in Connecticut, residing for some years in Pennsylvania, settled in La Porte about 1833, where his first wife, Mrs. Betsey Taylor Edgerton died, leaving seven children, four sons and three daughters, Freedom, Amos, Alfred, Franklin, Amasa, Polly, and the young pet of the household, Esther.  With these seven children, in a home without a mother, but having an excellent housekeeper in the person of the oldest daughter, Miss Freedom Edgerton, a fine specimen of Pennsylvania girlhood, Horace Edgerton became a resident on the east side of Cedar Lake in 1836.  Three of the sons are yet living in the county, one a business man, a merchant at Crown Point, and two are substantial farmers near Creston on Lake Prairie.  Franklin Edgerton, the third son, died in his early manhood, about 1842.

2.  Amos Edgerton, living at Crown Point, has three sons, Lewis, Horace, and Harmon.

2.  Alfred Edgerton has three sons and seven daughters.

2.  Amasa Edgerton has two sons.

2.  Polly Edgerton married Moses Davis.  They have one son and four daughters.  They live in Kansas.

2.  Esther, the little girl of years ago, married Willis Barrows, and after his death George Carl.  They also live in Kansas.

2.  Mrs. Freedom Dillee, the oldest daughter of H. Edgerton, the pioneer, left one daughter.”

The following excerpt is taken from a letter written in January 1940 by Charles Lorin Edgerton I (a grandson of Horace’s younger brother, Lorin):

“Horace [Edgerton], father of eight children.  1795 – 1855…Horace Edgerton married Betsey Taylor and after she died he went with the family of his father-in-law to Northern Indiana and settled near Crown Point in what was LaPort County, but now Lake.  The names of his children are Freedom, Amos, Amasa, Alfred, Franklin, Polly Jane, Sarah and Esther.  The decendence live in various states, some in Kansas, others in Southern California.”

Horace Edgerton died in the year 1855.  According to the above letter, Horace was buried at the Cady Cemetery, in Palatine, Illinois, where both his parents are buried.  It is probable that Horace’s gravestone is the badly eroded stone, from which only the following fragment of the inscription can be deciphered:  “ED----, Feb. 2, ae. 60”.  Many of Horace’s descendants are buried at the Creston Cemetery in Creston (Cedar Creek Township), Indiana.

Original Source Documents:

1820 Federal Census – household of Horace Edgerton; Florence, Oneida Co., NY.

1830 Federal Census – household of Horace Edgerton; Elk Creek Twp., Erie Co., PA.

1840 Federal Census – household of Horace Edgerton; Centre Twp., Lake Co., IN.

1850 Federal Census – household of Horace Edgerton; Centre Twp., Lake Co., IN.