52 Ancestors Week 19 - Edward Edwards

My great-great-grandfather has long been a brick wall for me. Until recently that is. Thanks to various genealogy websites (Ancestry.com being the most helpful for this) I believe I have broken through the wall, and moved up the family tree a little further.

The basic information I knew was that Edward Edwards was born in either England or Wales in Nov 1848 (according to the 1900 census), married Mary Ann Gregory in England, immigrated to the US in 1875, had 6 sons and died in Colorado in 1923.

Here is the story I have recently pieced together from various censuses, ordering birth and marriage records from England, and other detective work.

Edward Edwards was born in the Hetton Le Hole area of Durham County England, Nov 12 1848. His parents had recently moved there from Wales for the coal mining. His parents were Thomas Edwards and Elizabeth Crofts. He had 5 brothers and 3 sisters. The oldest 5 children were born in Wales, then the family moved to Durham county between 1845 and 1847. There they had their other 4 children.

On Nov 6, 1869 Edward married Mary Ann Gregory in Monk Hesledon, Durham, England. In May of 1875 they immigrated to the United States on the ship Adriatic. They had 3 boys while living in Pennsylvania, then 1 boy while in Iowa, and 2 more in Nebraska. In the 1880 census, in Pennsylvania, he was working as a coal miner, in the 1900 census he was a farmer in Nebraska. Also in the 1900 census they had 13 children, but only 5 were still living. We only know the names of 6 of these children.

By 1909 Edward and Mary Ann were living in Colorado with 4 of their boys, and in 1910 and 1920 censuses he is listed as having a fruit farm in Paonia Colorado.

He died Dec 18, 1923 in Paonia, and was buried in the Cedar Hill Cemetery, Colorado. He was 75 years old.

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Parents:
Thomas Edwards  (1817 – ?)
Elizabeth Crofts (1815 – ?)

Siblings:
John Edwards (1836 – ?)
Thomas Edwards (1838 – ?)
Joseph Edwards (1840 – ?)
Sarah Edwards (1842 – ?)
Ann Edwards (1845 – ?)
Margaret Edwards (1847 – ?)
William Edwards (1850 – ?)
Peter Edwards (1853 – ?)


Spouse:
Mary Ann Gregory (1852 – 1926)

Children:
John Edwards (1877 – 1953)
Eddie Edwards (1879 – bef 1900)
William Edwards (1882 – 1909)
Henry Edwards (1887 – 1912)
Thomas Edwards (1888 – 1931)
Robert Edwards (1894 – 1961)