In 1776 John Edwards married Ruth Crabtree in Bedford Co., VA.  She had a brother residing in Yancey County.  It is thought that because of this, John and Ruth came to Yancey County, eventually.  It is also believed that the area called "Crabtree" was named for her brother.

John and Ruth came to present day Yancey County in 1790, bringing eight of their twelve children with them.  Two years after their arrival here, they applied for a divorce.  It so happens this is the first divorce recorded in Buncombe County, a portion which was later to become Yancey County.  The land deeds record that John got all the land they owned jointly, consisting of several hundred acres. Ruth received a roan mare and a feather bed.

Of the eight recorded children there were:
William Edwards
Sally Edwards
Meredith Edwards
James Edwards
John Edwards, Jr.
Steven Edwards
Edmond Edwards
Anna

John, James and Edmond fought in the War of 1812.  It is said that Edmond had one of his ears bitten off in a fight.  Cropping was prevalent in those days for someone who had been convicted of a crime, so in order to prove that he had not been cropped, he went to court to set the record straight.

While we have records of the children of John and Ruth Edwards, this article follows the lineage through James Edwards, son of John and Ruth.  He was known back then as "sheep eatin' Jim".  It seems that James went to town one day to buy a pair of shoes for his wife.  After he bought the shoes and on his way home, he met two men with two sheep that they wished to exchange for the pair of shoes.  Jim, being a man who thought more of his stomach than his wife's feet, agreed to exchange the shoes for the sheep if he could remain and eat the sheep provided the men and their wives prepared them.  Thus he did until all the sheep were devoured and someone else wore his wife's shoes.  James had married Clarisa Mashburn.  She died three days after Jim in 1897.

Jim was a colorful character, as you might well imagine.  He fought in the Civil War and was discharged because of chronic diarrhea.  He settled in the Piney Hill section of the county and later moved to Ramseytown, where he lived until his death.
His children were:

Zanie Edwards, (b. 1840; d. 1915) Married (1) Sam Shehan (2) Alney
    Peterson
Saphronia Edwards, who married Tom Huston
William Edwards
Jasper Edwards, who married Mary Lewis
Mary Edwards, who married Hicks Sparks
Shelton Edwards, who never married
Eliza Edwards, who married John Clark Johnson
Samantha Edwards, who married William Fender

Chedo Lemuel Edwards
Bascombe Edwards
Nelson Vance Edwards
Manerva Edwards
Hiram Edwards
Sally Lodusky Edwards
Lizzie Edwards
James Robert "Bob" Edwards

Monroe Edwards
Lear Edwards
Maggie Edwards
Jim Edwards
Hass Edwards
Hiram Edwards
Mary Edwards
Minnie Edwards

     Thomas Edwards married in Buncombe Co, NC, ca 1801 to Mary Brittain, born ca 1784 in Burke Co, NC, a daughter of James Brittain Sr. and Delilah (Stringfield) Brittain.  (James Brittain is on the 1800 census of Buncombe Co.)  Mary (Brittain) Edwards died between 1840 census and 1850 census of Cherokee Co, Alabama.  It is not known where she is buried.

     Thomas and Mary Edwards lived for a while in Buncombe Co, then moved to Haywood Co, NC, before the 1820 census.  Numerous deeds are recorded in Haywood Co. for Thomas and some of the Brittain relatives.

     By the mid-1830's, Thomas Edwards is back in Buncombe, now Henderson Co, NC.  He appears on Court Minutes and Quarter Please Sessions, deeds, and was excused from paying taxes in Henderson Co. for the years 1838-1839 for land lying in Henderson Co.

     Henderson Co. Court Minutes of November 1840:  "land belonging to Thomas Edwards joining lands of Samuel Neely on Clear Creek, containing twenty-five acres, is to be sold for back taxes."

     Thomas and Mary (Brittain) Edwards moved to Cherokee Co, Alabama, before the 1840 census.  Several of their children also moved to Alabama at the same time.
     Thomas and Mary (Brittain) Edwards had eleven children:

 1.  Naomi Edwards, b. 29 Nov. 1802, Buncombe Co; m. David Howell; d. 11 Mar 1850, Haywood Co.  After the death of Naomi, David Howell married her first cousin, Mary M. Ann Edwards, daughter of Ellis and Amelia (Brittain) Edwards.

 2.  Brittain Edwards, b. 1804 Buncombe Co.; d. 1888 in Walker Co, Georgia. He married Nancy Johnson (1800-1888); and had 14 children.

 3.  Nancy Edwards, b. 16 July 1806, Buncombe Co, NC; d. 12 July 1881, Etowah Co,  Alabama; m. 1828, Buncombe Co, NC, to Joseph Johnson, son of James and Ann (Cole) Johnson of Buncombe Co. (now Henderson Co.).  They were the parents of 9 children.

 4.  Charlote Edwards, b. 8 November 1810, Buncombe Co, NC; d. 15 Feb. 1892,
    Henderson Co, NC; m. Noble Johnson, son of James and Ann (Cole) Johnson of Buncombe.  They were the parents of 9 children.

 5.  Henley P. Edwards, was born ca 1809, Buncombe Co, NC; d. during the Civil War in what is now Faulkner Co, Arkansas.  He appears on deeds, jury duty and  Court Minutes of both Buncombe and Haywood Counties, NC.  It is believed by this compiler that Henry was married twice.  He is on the 1840 and 1850 census of Cherokee Co, Alabama, with wife, Lucinda Caroline and children.

 6.  Narcissa Edwards, b. 11 December 1813 in either Buncombe or Haywood Co, NC; d. 29 August 1888, Etowah Co, Ala.  She married John Rees(e).  Both are buried at Reece City, Etowah Co. in the Bethany Cemetery.  They were the parents of 9 children.

 7.  Elizabeth Edwards, b. 15 Nov. 1815, in either Buncombe or Haywood Co, NC; d. 26 Jul 1855 in Georgia - possibly Whitfield County; m. in Buncombe Co, NC, John King, son of Benjamin and grandson of Samuel King Sr. and Mrs. Elizabeth (Underwood) Davenport King of what is now Henderson Co, NC.  They had ten children.

    After Elizabeth's death, John King married, in Georgia, Mary Ann Strickland and had ten more children.

 8. Amelia Edwards, b. 1 Feb. 1817, Haywood Co, NC; d. 19 July 1897, Williamson Co, Texas; m. in Buncombe Co, NC, 4 Sept. 1838 to John Thomas Bryson.  Both are buried at Liberty Hill Cemetery, Williamson Co, Tx.  They were the parents of 8 children.

 9.  Celia Edwards, b. 10 Sept. 1819, Haywood Co, NC; d. 18 Feb. 1895, Etowah Co, Alabama; m. Joseph Wilson in Alabama.  Both are buried at the Methodist Cemetery, Turkeytown, Ala.  They raised 6 children.

10.  Thomas T. Edwards, b. 24 Jan. 1818, Haywood Co, NC; d. St. Clair Co,
    Alabama; m. Mary R. McBrayer.  They had 7 children.

11.  Rachel Edwards, b. ca 1827, NC; m. Samuel Rees.  They are on the 1850
    census of Cherokee Co, Ala.  Three known children.

Sources:  Deeds, Court Minutes, Census of Buncombe, Haywood, and Henderson
Co., NC.  Bible records of the Brittain Edwards family, the Narcissa (Edwards)
Rees family; the John and Elizabeth (Edwards) King family; old family letters;
census of NC, Alabama, and Texas; Bryson records from Mrs. Bill Bryson of
Williamson Co, Texas.

     Ellis Edwards does not appear on deeds of Buncombe Co, yet he married there ca 1806 to Amelia Brittain, born 11 April 1785, died 2 April 1852, daughter of James Brittain, Sr. and wife Delilah Stringfield.  Both Ellis and Amelia Edwards are buried in the Bethel Methodist Cemetery, Haywood Co. Amelia's obituary appeared in an old Methodist newspaper, and this compiler has a copy of it.
     There are many deeds recorded in Haywood Co. for Ellis Edwards.  Some of them are between Thomas Edwards who married Mary Brittain; others are between other members of the Brittain family.  Ellis Edward's estate was administered by his son, Benjamin Martin Edwards, and recorded in Bk. U., page 365-371, Haywood Co, NC.

     From Haywood Co. Court Minutes and Quarter Pleas Sessions, 1829 (from microfilm of the original):  "State vs. Henley Edwards, Thomas Edwards, Jay Edwards, Phillip Edwards, Ellis Edwards, and Asaph Wilson came into court and acknowledged judgement against themselves for the fines and costs as to Thomas Edwards and Jay Edwards.
Ellis and Amelia (Brittain) Edwards were parents of the following children:

1.  Joseph L. Edwards, b. 23, Feb 1807, Buncombe Co, NC; d. 14 July 1826; bur: Bethel Cemetery, Haywood Co, NC

2.  Thomas Stringfield Edwards, b. 26 Feb. 1809; d. 2 Sept. 1874; bur. Bethel Methodist Cemetery, Haywood Co, NC; m. Haywood Co, 23 Dec. 1832 to Harriett M. Coleman, b. 3 Feb. 1815; d. 15 May 1896; bur. Bethel Methodist Cemetery.

3.  Delilah A. Edwards, b. ca 1811, Haywood Co, NC; probably d. Buncombe Co, NC.  She married in Haywood Co. 17 Sept. 1840 to Rev. Andrew Pickins, as his second wife.  Andrew Pickins married first to Catherine Weaver on Sept. 4, 1815.  She was born 21 June 1796, and died in 1836.  She is buried at Weaverville, NC.  On the 1850 census of Buncombe Co, we find Rev. Andrew and Deliah (Edwards) Pickins on p. 217, #298; with two females in the household: Margaret S. Pickins, age 15, and Emily T. Pickins, age 5, both born in NC.  It is not known if Deliah (Edwards) Pickins had children or not.  Delilah married 2nd. in Buncombe Co, 1 January 1866 to a widower, Abner Jervice.

4.  Phillip W. Edwards, b. ca 1813 in Haywood Co, NC.  He married there 1 December 1834 to Elizabeth Truitt.  We do not have the death date for Phillip, but he continues to appear on census and deeds in Haywood Co, NC, indicating that he spent his life in that county.

5.  James S. Edwards, b. 11 August 1815, Haywood Co, NC; d. 14 January 1871 in Scott Co, Virginia.  He was a Methodist Minister.  He married Jane Hackney 23 July 1850.  (Obituary appeared in Methodist paper.)

6.  Mary M. Ann Edwards, b. 8 March 1818, Haywood Co; d. 31 January 1890; bur. in old Matt Cemetery on Jonathan's Creek in Haywood County by side of her husband, David Howell and his first wife, Naomi Edwards.  Mary Edwards married David Howell in Haywood Co. in 1853.

7.  Benjamin Martin Edwards, b. 6 January 1821, Haywood Co; d. 22 Feb. 1898; bur. Bethel Methodist Cemetery, Haywood Co.  He married in Haywood Co, 4 Sept. 1843 to Eliza Ratcliff, b. 27 Aug. 1825; d. 1 Sept. 1904; bur. Bethel Methodist Cemetery, Haywood Co, NC.

8.  Elmira Edwards, b. ca 1825, Haywood Co, was single on the 1860 census and was a school teacher.  No date of death.