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Introductory Material:
Preface

Chapter 1
The Edwards Coat of Arms

Family Records:
John 1
John 2
John 3
Richard 3
Jonathan 3
Samuel 3
Nathaniel 3
William 3

Other
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The Crockett Connection
Edwards and the Civil War
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Our Immigrant Ancestors
1906 Census

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Mayberry Hill Chronicles

This Old House
Justin Edwards had a Farm
Letters from Henry





Nathaniel Edwards



Father: Mother:



John Edwards
Elizabeth Crockett

Birth Date: Birth Location: Death Date: Death Location:

6/21/1752 Haverhill MA 6/14/1828 Otisfield ME

Married:

Name: Marriage Date: Marriage Location: Father: Mother:
Sarah Hunt 10/1775 Gorham ME Ichabod Hunt Susanna _____

Birth Date: Birth Location: Death Date: Death Location:

4/16/1754
3/5/1832 Casco ME

Child(ren):

Name: Birth Date: Birth Location: Death Date: Death Location:
George Edwards 8/3/1776 Gorham ME 9/30/1847 Casco ME
John Edwards 10/3/1777 Gorham ME 11/3/1849 Casco ME
Sarah Edwards 7/31/1781 Casco ME 7/28/1855 Raymond ME
Mary Edwards 5/20/1784 Casco ME 1/4/1863 Otisfield ME
Hannah Edwards 12/29/1785 Casco ME 5/10/1867 Peru ME
Elizabeth Edwards 2/27/1789 Casco ME 12/14/1865
Lucy P Edwards 7/11/1791 Casco ME 4/1866 Casco ME
William Edwards 6/11/1793 Casco ME
OH
Nathaniel Edwards 5/24/1795 Casco ME 1846 Gardiner ME
Susanna Edwards 7/17/1800 Casco ME 1865 Turner ME

Comments:

Family Located: Gorham, Casco ME
Occupation: Farmer

Nathaniel Edwards went to Buxton, Me., about the date of the opening of the Revolution. He enlisted for three years, Jan., 1777 in capt. Nicholas Blaisdell's Co., Col. Wigglesworth's Regt. In a muster return dated Valley Forge, Feb. 5, 1778, he is mentioned as a Corporal. On Nov. 19, 1778, he is reported as reduced to the ranks at Camp Providence. Later he was transferred to Capt. Pillsbury's Co. of the same Regt. His term of enlistment having expired, he re-enlisted, May 8, 1780, as Sergt. of Capt. Jonathan Andrews' Co., Col. Joseph Prim's Regt. under Brig. Gen. Wardsworth. He was honorably discharged Dec. 31, 1780.

Following his enlistment in the Continental Army, the family appear to have moved from Buxton to Gorham, possibly because his brother Richard was a resident of the latter place. Returning to civil life, he purchased from George Tate of Falmouth, (now Portland) Me., for one hundred pounds one hundred acre lot "number one hundred and two in the Second Division of Lots." A warrantee deed dated Feb. 7, 1780, is on file at Portland, Me. In lieu of cash payment a mortgage of the same date was given in which the following appears: -"That whereas I the said Nathaniel Edwards have this day given to the said George Tate my note for one hundred and twenty three bushels & half a bushel of Indian Corn, fifty four bushels and half a bushel of Rye & twenty three bushels and half a bushel of Wheat to be paid on or before ye first day of January A. D. 1781 & have also this day given to ye said George Tate my note for fifty bushels of Indian Corn, thirty bushels of Rye & twenty bushel of Wheat to be paid on or before ye first day of January A. D. 1782 in full and agreeable to the said two Notes of hand." This mortgage was discharged May 27, 1785.

Soon after the war, Nathaniel and his family moved to Casco, Me. He conveyed fifty acres of land there, Aug. 9, 1803, "being the easterly part of Lot No. 25 in the 13th range."

Sarah and Lucy P. were not married.

Sarah Hunt was a descendant of Edmond Hunt, the immigrant from England, who settled in Duxbury, Mass., taking oath of fidelity there in 1677. Her brothers, Ichabod, Daniel, and George served in the Revolution. Ichabod and Susanna Hunt, parents of Sarah, conveyed land in Falmouth (Portland) Me., Oct. 3, 1760. He was one of the Amesbury (Mass.) branch of the Hunt family.

Nathaniel's Counterfeits
Nathaniel had one son named William and three of his daughters married men having the Christian name William. The old gentleman once remarked,-"The Devil owes me a grudge and is paying me in counterfeit 'Bills'."

Other Info:

Census:

1800 Raymond (Cumberland) ME
Nath'l Edwards
2 males 2 females under 10
2 females 10-16
1 male 2 females 16-26
1 male 1 female 45+

1810 Raymond (Cumberland) ME
Edwards Nath'l   
1 male 1 female 10-16
2 males 16-26
1 male 1 female 45+

1820 Raymond (Cumberland) ME
Edwards Nathl
1 male 1 female 16-26
1 male 26-45
1 male 1 female 45+

1830
Sarah Edwards
1 female 15-20
2 females 30-40
1 female 40-50
1 female 70-80

Cemetery:

Nathaniel, Sarah, sons George and John, and John's wife Susanna are all buried in the Mayberry Cemetery at the top of Nichols' Hill in Casco.

Unpublished Resources:

I found the following power of attorney, an original handwritten manuscript, at the Maine Historical Society (Portland ME). The document is signed, and I found it was amazing to hold in my hands a piece of paper that my great-great-great-great grandfather also held in his hands:
Know all men by these presents that I Nathaniel Edwards of Gorham in the County of Cumberland and Commonwealth of Massachusetts yeoman have constituted ordained and made and by these presents do constitute ordain and make, and in my stead and place put my brother Richard Edwards of the Town of Gorham aforesaid Housewright to be my Lawful attorney for me and in my name and stead to make and execute sufficient Deed or Deeds of all my right bills or interest to any real estate being in the Town of Haverhill in the County of Essex and Commonwealth aforesaid that accrues to me in right of my late Grandfather John Edwards or my Father John Edwards both deed? dead? ? or any other way or means whatever.
He my said attorney to account with me for the proceeds of the sale on any such estate by him my said attorney so sold and conveyed by virtue of this power hereby holding valid such sale or sales of the premises in witness wherunto I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal the twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord 1787.
Sing'd Seal'd & Deliv'd Nath'l Edwards (seal)
In Presence of us ~
? Bankes
Wm. Gorham
Cumberland Octo 20 1787
Nath'l Edwards subscriber to the foregoing ?
Acknowledged the same to be his free act and deed.
Before me Wm. Gorham Justice of the Peace

Published History/Genealogy:

Nathaniel Edwards was the first Edwards in Otisfield and was listed in the census of 1790 as being the head of a family having two male children under 16 and four females including his wife, and was listed as of Otisfield Plantation. He lived on the top of the Morse Hill (now Scribner Hill) where Nathan Morse previously lived....He later lived on Mayberry Hill Casco, where Fred Nichols since lived and is buried in the cemetery near there.
Source: History of Otisfield by William Samuel Spurr; Reprinted by the Town of Otisfield, 2nd edition

Online:

For more information about the ancestors of Sarah Hunt, see this section of Halpin-Guild Ancestry. Also see this section of Early Northeast U.S. Hunt Families, following the Edward -> Edward-> Ephraim line.

Sarah Hunt's brothers Ichabod, Daniel, and George all served in the fifth company of Colonel Edmund Phinney's Eighteenth Continental Regiment in the Revolutionary War. George died March 14, 1776, which may account for Sarah naming her first child George who was born just a few months later.
see History of Colonel Edmund Phinney's Eighteenth Continental Regiment