Samuel Edwards/Soham

[Dave37]

New to this site, so please bear with me....
I am trying to locate the birthplace of my great great grandfather, Robert Edwards. On his tombstone, in Myrtle Point, Oregon, it states that he was a native of Lancashire, England...born in 1822...he died as he lived - a Christian. Family lore states that he was born in Lancaster, but I have been unable to prove this. His father was Samuel Edwards, born in England, about 1809, as per U.S. census. This does not fit, as Samuel would have been only 13 years of age at the time of his first childs birth, but all I have to go by is the U. S. census....not a reliable source, when it comes to ages. Had siblings, Samuel Edwards Jr., born about 1850, in England and much younger than himself, indicating more than 1 marriage for his father, Samuel Sr. I also believe Robert had a brother, William, born in England, about 1827. Robert should show up in the 1841 Lancashire census, with father Samuel Sr. and William and possibly in the 1851 census, with father Samuel Sr., William and Samuel Jr., if he and William hadn't already left for America. I have no date for his departure from England. I know that he was in Indiana in 1852, when he married Jane Eliza McClure. William was in Wisconsin in 1853, when he married, in December, Janett Hottman. Father Samuel, I believe, came over in 1853, accompanied by son, Samuel Jr. Family ties have Robert and William residing in the same town....Eagle, Richland Co., Wisconsin and Samuel Sr. and Jr. residing 35 miles away, in Ridgeway, Iowa Co., Wisconsin, in 1860. 1870 finds Robert, his father, Samuel Sr. and youngest brother Samuel Jr., all residing in Elk Creek, Kansas and William still in Eagle, Wisconsin. In 1875, Robert and family leave for Oregon and Samuel Sr. stays behind in Kansas. By 1880, Samuel Jr. has left Kansas and resides in Bloomington, Iowa, with his family and where brother William and his family also reside, after leaving Wisconsin, before 1880.
I found a Samuel Edwards family, of Soham, Cambridgeshire that fits really well with the sparse information I have gathered over the years....a Samuel Edwards Sr., born 1803, son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Cheson) Edwards, was married 4 times (wives: Elizabeth Howe; Honor Sizer; Sarah Goldsbrow and Hannah ?) and had sons Robert (baptized 12 March, 1826), William (born 29 Sept. 1827), by wife, Elizabeth Howe and Abselom (born about 1848) and Samuel Jr. (born 1849/1850), by wife, Hannah? A Samuel Edwards (age 46), accompanied by Anice (age 44), Abselom (age 5) and Samuel Edwards (age 2), arrived at the Port of New York, on the 15th of November 1853, aboard the SS American Union. This family, I believe is the Soham, Cambridgeshire Edwards. They migrated to Ridgeway, Iowa Co., Wisconsin and prior to 1860, Anice and Abselom had died, leaving Samuel Edwards Sr., a widow and Samuel Jr., motherless. 35 miles to the north, Samuel's 2 oldest sons, Robert and William, resided in Eagle, Richland Co., Wisconsin, with their families. This is all speculation, but it seems to fit....all except for that tombstone in Oregon, stating that Robert was born in and was a native of Lancashire, England. Surely, if that were true, he would have been enumerated in Lancashire in 1841....but I have not been able to find any such record. I have the 1841 and 1851 Soham, Cambridgeshire census information for Samuel Edwards...would also like to know if this Samuel Edwards, of Soham, was the same Samuel who arrived in New York in November, 1853.
This is all I have and would love to cross the pond to find the exact birthplace of this elusive ancestor and possibly find any british cousins. Any suggestions or info would be received with much appreciation. Thank You...

Dave

[bedfordshire boy]

Welcome to Rootschat

That was a lot of information to try to digest in one pragraph!

As I think I understand the position you have a number of Edwards who, from US censuses, appear to have been one family, although they didn't emigrate together.

They resemble an Edwards family from Soham, Cambs although tombstone/family sayso states that they were from Lancaster, Lancs.

Very difficult to prove conclusively that it is the right family, but much easier to try to demolish the theory!

The Soham 1851 census family:
Samuel 46, Hannah wife 44; William son 22, Samuel son 11; Mary dau 10, Absolom son 1. All born Soham.

In 1841
Samuel 35; Sarah 20; Robert 15; William 13; Sarah 10 Mary 1

No trace of them in 1861 or later.

1853 - a family arrived in New York
Samuel Edwards 46, Anice 44, Absolom 5, Samuel 2.

In the June quarter 1849 a Samuel Edwards married in Newmarket registration district, which includes Soham. The only Hannah on the same page was Hannah Cozens, and there are no Anice's. (http://www.freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl)

So...
-the names are roughly right (even Anice might be some sort of contraction of Hannah)
-the ages are roughly right other than Samuel jnr
- the Soham family disappears after 1851
- you've still got the problem of Lancashire. In common with many other US bound ships, did the good ship American Union depart from Liverpool? Liverpool is in Lancashire. That's the best I can come up with so far as the family legend is concerned! But you say Robert "would have been enumerated in Lancs". 1841 is not the best of censuses and is not particularly well indexed. I would say "should" not "would". They could have been missed, or mistranscribed.

Don't some of your censuses contain immigration details - number of years in USA, and later ones year of immigration? I think that it's on your side of the pond that you're going to have to look for more corroborating data - eg immigration details of the other sons. And what about Mary aged 10 in 1851. What happened to her?

Try looking at the parish chest, overseers accounts etc, for Soham to see if there is any mention of the Edwards - they may have been receiving some sort of parish relief which suddenly stopped in 1853, or even may have been given assistance with their passage. They've been filmed by the LDS.

Have you looked a great website for Soham? http://www.sohamroots.co.uk/

Have you got the right family?

I would say you definitely might have!

Good luck

David

[Dave37]

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply....it sounds as though you understood perfectly all the information that I posted. I'm impressed! One question you asked concerned the SS American Union and her port of departure....as I understand it from the ships manifest, the SS American Union departed from London.
As far as U.S. census having immigration details, I know the 1900 census has a column which states the number of years an individual had been in the country, but for William Edwards, it is blank and you are correct in that later census did have a column for Date of Arrival in the U.S., I believe it was the 1910 census.
As I have never been able to find any census information, whatsoever, on Samuel Edwards Sr. and son, Samuel Jr. after 1880, it is virtually impossible to determine when they came here. The William Edwards, who resided in Wisconsin in 1860 and 1870 and in Iowa, in 1880 through 1910, I do have a date of immigration from the 1910 census....1851 and he was a naturalized citizen. In the 1870 Kansas census, Robert Edwards is enumerated as a "Male Citizen of the U.S. of 21 years of age and upwards.
As for sister, Mary Edwards, it looks as though she stayed behind in England and married her cousin, Edward Layton Edwards, the son of William Edwards, brother of Samuel Edwards. They had children and later went to Canada. Their descendants immigrated to the U.S.....Minnesota, North Dakota and California.

Dave

[Kazzaqld]

Assuming this is the same Samuel who did marry Honor SIZAR, then you have a connection to my tree.

Honor was my great-great-great-aunt.

I have no further information on Samuel to add, but it caught my eye. I only ever found a daughter Sophia to this couple - baptised 9 June 1835, buried 3 August 1835 poor little mite.

I haven't ever found Honor on a census - maybe she died young? She also had a child Robert WILDERSPIN baptised on 9 January 1831 but again I've not found out who Mr WILDERSPIN was or what happened to Robert.

This may help, this may confuse things further.

Let me know - I'll try to help more if I can....