Conrad O. Edwards (1887)Conrad O. Edwards, proprietor and publisher of The Local Record of Shawneetown, was born in 1844 in the same place, the son of William and Susan O. Edwards. The father, who was of Welsh descent, was born in 1800 on Chesapeake Bay, St. Mary's County, Md., married in 1831 and came to Shawneetown where he worked as cabinet-maker and carpenter. About 1851 he became editor and publisher of The Southern Illinois Advocate, but soon with new material, merged it with the Southern Illinoisan with the firm name of Edwards & Son, the son being associate editor. Mr. Edwards, the elder, was deputy United States assessor for some time. He died in 1877. His wife, born in Jefferson County, Va., in 1811, died in 1876. Our subject, one of nine children born to them, was educated at Shawneetown, and since twelve years of age has been engaged in the line of printing office work almost entirely. July, 1873, he established the Home News afterward enlarged and changed to Shawnee News wtih J. R. Ridlete as partner. A year later he sold and founded The Local Record in December, 1877, which, started as independent in politics, became, what it now is, thoroughly Democratic. In 1879 he married Elizabeth A., a native of Illinois, and daughter of August Jam; their children are Bessie, Alice, John M. and Susan T. The Edwards family are of old Revolutionary stock, coming originally from Wales and England under a Lord Baltimore. William's mother's brother, John Mills, was under Gen. Gates, at Camdem, and another brother under John Paul Jones. William's two aunts married husbands in the line of ancestry of Mrs. Gen. Grant. [1887. History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 539-540.] is maintained by Jon Musgrave. © 1998 You are our 1502 visitor — thanks for stopping by! |