OUR PIONEER ANCESTOR

The complete text from “The Daniel Edson Story.”

THE FRONTIERSMAN

DANIEL THOMAS EDSON

Daniel Thomas Edson was born in the wilderness of Otsego County, New York. He was about three or four years old when taken by his mother, Sarah Ford Edson, to Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Bradford County at that time was far beyond the frontier. Daniel, his two sisters, Hannah and Sarah, and his mother made their home there with Noah Ford and his wife, Nabby.

Noah Ford and Elias Needham, friends for many years, had immigrated there from Otsego County, New York. Elias and Betsey Needham were the parents of Rachel Ann, the childhood playmate of Daniel Edson and the girl he was to marry. Elias Needham and his brother, Timothy, pushed on westward into Lycoming County, which was teeming with nostile Indians, and began a lonely struggle with them and the unfriendly wilderness. After 1810 Elias Needham returned with his family to the homeplace in Bradford County.

During his boyhood days in Bradford County, Daniel Edson became very fond of the Needham boys. They thrilled to the tales of the great American West and could hardly wait to grow up so they could explore it themselves.

Sarah Ford Edson and her children left Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in 1816, with a wagon train bound for Hardin County, Kentucky. Daniel, the son, was fourteen. Noah Ford and wife Nabby sold their improvements to Cyril Fairman of Massachusetts and left Bradford County. Did they go to Kentucky? Elias Needham and his brother, Timothy, ever restless and adventurous frontiersman sold their property and joined the wagon train. Elias Needham's daughter, Rachel, was ten. This group of hardy pioneers traveled through Virginia and endured the rigors of the trek along the Wilderness Trail, over the Cumberland Gap, into the unbroken forests beyond, crossing the trails of such memorable pioneers as Daniel Boone. Years later, Isaac, the eldest son of Daniel and Rachel Edson, often told of the many childhood adventures of his parents on this trek, but none of the family are able to recall details at this date.

In Hardin County, Kentucky, the Edsons and the Needhams settled near Elizabethtown. There is a Needham cemetery near their old homesteads. Abraham Lincoln’s step-mother was from Elizabethtown.

During their sojourn in Hardin County several of the young folks married. Daniel Edson's sister, Hannah, married Cotton Tower, the year they arrived in Hardin County (1816). Then in 1821, the sister, Sarah, married Hull Tower. The Tower boys were the sons of Matthew and Nabby (Bates) Tower. Daniel Edson won the affections of Rachel Needham and they were married in 1824. Rachel's brother, Daniel Parkman Needham, married and started his family as did the brother, Elias Wells Needham.

These young couples, the old folks Elias and Betsey Needham, lured by the love of adventure and the call of a new frontier, were part of a long wagon train of immigrants, that set forth for Utica in licking County, Ohio. Did Daniel Edson's mother leave Kentucky with her children? For some unknown reason the Edsons and their kin did not stay in Utica very long.

They soon were on their way to join friends who had chosen to immigrate to Crawford County, Indiana. Part of the long journey from Utica was made on river rafts on the beautiful winding Ohio River. The mighty Ohio made a natural passage through the vast, forested hills. It was the means by which the early settlers transported their families and goods.

Floating down the Ohio river past lower Island and before making the great Horse Shoe Bend, Daniel Edson and his kin stopped at the Big Spring. There was a stretch of rich bottom land along the north bank of the river to the sheer bluffs of limestone that rose above the spring.

Near the Big Spring an old wilderness Indian trail led up the steep hill. There high above the river, the mighty hills of virgin timber stretched unexplored in all directions. It was there on the hilltop that Daniel Edson and his kin settled. The old Indian trail became known as the Leavenworth-Marengo road. The town of Leavenworth was laid out in the 1800s at the foot of the cliff near the Big Spring. The old wilderness trail became a narrow dirt road for ox and horse teams by Civil War times. It is now a busy highway.

While the Edsons and their kin were living in Crawford County, Rachel's brother, Daniel Needham and D. Beals served on a jury. The trial was held under a tree as there was no courthouse. The defendant was convicted of murder and hanged on the spot.

Daniel Edson's sister, Hannah, and her husband, Cotton Tower, remained in Crawford County, but most of this group of hardy descendants of Anglo-Saxons again pushed on westward in 1829. Their destination was Coles County in the far famed Wabash country of Illinois. Leaving Crawford County, Indiana, the caravan traveled westward on the ridges and followed old Indian trails. High spirited and adventurous they did not hesitate to face the unknown perils as they penetrated the untamed wilderness. They no doubt crossed the Wabash river on the ferry near Vincennes and followed the buffalo trace to Lawrenceville, Illinois, before turning north. This natural ford of the Wabash was created by the pre-historic migrations of buffalo, and was for this part of Illinois a true gateway to the west.

Daniel and Rachel Edson; J. Glenn; D. Beals; Elias Wells Needham; Daniel Parkman Needham; Elias and Betsey Needham; Rev. Hull Tower and wife, Sarah (Edson); William Dryden; Alfred Blach and probably the Landrus arrived in Pleasant Grove township, Coles County, Illinois, in the spring of 1829. (Illinois became a state in 1818. Coles County was organized in 1830).

Pleasant Grove township is eleven miles long and four miles wide. It has the headwaters of four streams, little Muddy, Indian, Clear and Dick's Creek. The soil, exceptionally rich, did not absorb the rains nor did it drain well. Many ponds were found in the prairie sections. The pioneers farmed around these ponds. (long after the Edsons left there, the land was tiled and the surface water drained. The heavy belts of excellent timber the, first settlers found there gradually disappeared).

Daniel Edson and the other members of the wagon train from Indiana settled near the headwaters of Muddy Point Creek and their settlement became known as Muddy Point. Muddy Point was not a town with houses on little lots but a community of about a hundred farming families who settled fairly close together (1829-30) for company and mutual protection.

The following year (1830) Abraham Lincoln with his father, Thomas, and step-mother, Sarah, came from Spencer County, Indiana, and crossed on the ferry at Lawrenceville. (An impressive stone and bronze memorial in a beautifully landscaped setting on U. S. highway 50 near Lawrenceville marks the place where the Lincolns first set foot in Illinois). The route then taken by the Lincolns led them through Coles County past Daniel Edson's homestead and is now the well marked Lincoln Heritage Trail.

Daniel and Rachel Edson built their home on N. E. 1/4 of N. E. 1/4, Section Eight , Township Eleven, Range Eight. Their land Grant certificate registered at the land office in Vandalia is dated October 16, 1835, and is signed by President Andrew Jackson. The certificate for their second land Grant dated August 10, 1838, on the S. W. 1/4 of S. E. 1/4, Section Five, Township Eleven, Range Eight, is signed by President Martin Van Buren. The north west corner of the first grant touches the south east corner of the second grant.

The Edson home was built of lumber cut from great trees that had grown for years on this very land. Every sill and joist and rafter and every weatherboard was constructed of walnut. The walnut lumber was cut, and fit and then secured by wooden pegs. The walnut joist are three and a half by seven inches. Between the walnut studs are one by fours of oak. The original chimneys were constructed of rock. The house has four large square rooms, one room up a steep flight of stairs. It appears all of the house may not have been constructed at the same time as the roof ridges are not of the same level, but the type of construction and materials are the same throughout. grand-niece of the second owner, Joshua Landrus, is certain the house was originally a two story house with fireplaces on both floors. Today, the house is in a sad condition. (Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Edson, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Lowmaster, and the writer, descendants of Timothy, Isaac, and Levi, went in quest of the old homestead. Soon after leaving Charleston we saw an old abandoned house far back in a field among aged trees. It seemed to beckon to us! None of the party could keep their eyes off the old house! Some one asked, "Could it be?" Then from neighbors we learned it was Daniel Edson’s home! There, on the old homestead we walked among the remants of the past where our fathers trod, toiled, and built this home on the raw frontier; where most of Daniel and Rachel's children were born; where the eldest daughters were married; where Abraham Lincoln often visited and was on many occasions an over-night guest. Looking back through the fog of time we could feel the touch of Rachel's guiding hand as we slowly wandered from room to room- in this her cherished home. We ate a picnic lunch in the yard and thoughts were of the days when others came in ox-drawn wagons and in fancy carriages with prancing steeds to feast at Daniel Edson's bountiful laden table.)

The winter of 1830-31 was "the winter of the big snow" in that part of Illinois. The pioneers suffered many hardships and lost many cattle. When spring finally came Abraham Lincoln's parents who had passed through Coles County the previous spring and settled about ten miles from Decatur arrived in the neighborhood again. They were on the way back to Indiana, but were persuaded to settle in Coles County. They selected forty acres, S. W. 1/4 of N. W. 1/4, Section Five, Township Eleven, Range Eight, which was about a mile northeast of Daniel Edson's home. This location is known as the site of Lincoln's Buck Grove home. Today, the road that passes the property is known as the Lincoln Heritage Trail. There is a Lincoln marker on the property. The Lincolns lived there a few years, then moved about one mile and a quarter southeast of the Edson home or in Section Ten.

The pioneers had to contend with the deadly rattlers and water moccasins that infested the region. Many of the settlers had their favorite snake story.

The few Indians that were in the county when the first settlers came did not tarry long.

The local school had as one of its very early teachers, Rev. Hull Tower, the husband of Daniel Edson's sister, Sarah. Rev. Tower was Methodist minister, school teacher, and farmer. He and his family lived in Coles County twenty years.

Daniel and Rachel Edson named most of their children in honor of relatives. The eldest son, Isaac, was christened in honor of Daniel's father. Mercy Ann was named in honor of a grandmother in the Needham line. Sylvia was christened in honor of her father's aunt Silvia Mrs. James Cyphers). Timonthy Needham was the name of Rachel's uncle. Armstrong is a family name in the Needham line. Sarah was christened in honor of Daniel's sister and of his mother. Years later, Daniel Edson's sister, Sarah Tower, sent a Bible from Oregon Territory “To Sarah, my namesake.”

Daniel Edson realizing the business opportunity of his location as he watched the snaking wagon trains pass by, opened a general store and a harness and saddle shop. The stores were about two hundred feet west of the house. The old trail probably passed between the house and the Edson stores. He sold every thing from wagons to dry goods. He made harness and saddles - a trade he learned in his youth. The general store soon became the social center of the community. Abraham Lincoln's parents being near neighbors stopped in the store often. In later years Abraham Lincoln always stopped at the Edson place when in that country. It was in Daniel Edson's general store that a group organized the 1849 trip to the gold fields of California (see sketch on Alonzo Edson). His pioneering and adventuresome spirit must have been tantalized by the gold madness as he listened to the planning of the journey. In Daniel Edson's dealings with his fellowman it was said of him, "His word was as good as his bond."

Wood was the only fuel. The ax was put in the hands of the sons at a very early age. It took many hours of hard labor to supply the home through the long bitter winters. The ashes were used for soap making.

The father taught his sons to ride Indian style, clinging to the saddle in with one leg while holding his head and body close to the side of the horse away, from the enemy. This training probably was very helpful to them as cavalrymen during the Civil War. The children were taught never to sit with their back to a window or open door and how to seek safety if caught by a prairie fire. Both the girls and the boys were taught the dexterous use of the rifle, including its use from various positions.

The Edsons used oxen to work their fields. Sometimes, to their sorrow, the Edson boys turned the oxen loose at noon so they could drink at a nearby pond (or swamp). Invariably the oxen would wade to the deepest part and stay there. Lively times were had when young oxen were broken. It was something none of the menfolks missed. The girls stayed in the house on these occasions, almost afraid to look outside.

The years passed and several of Daniel Edson’s children had married. Thousands of immigrants were pushing westward in search of land and opportunity. Some of Daniel’s children were getting restless, and talking of going west to homestead. Daniel and Rachel were alarmed that the children might scatter to far parts of the country. Then, a third child died of “the fever” and Daniel resolved to move the family away from the swamps of Coles County. In view of the two problems, he and Rachel decided the best thing to do was to move on west and resettle the Edson clan.

Rachel’s brother-in-Law, Rev. Elijah Elias Gibbs, was living in Atchison County, Missouri. They received favorable reports from him on the Grand river country in northwest Missouri.

Daniel Edson and his eldest son, Isaac, accompanied by the son-in-Iaw, W. W. Wiatt, made an inspection trip through Iowa and north Missouri. They concluded that Jefferson township, in the northern part of Harrison County, would meet the family needs. They found the fertile soil was well watered, an abundance of timber, wild game to be plentiful, wild fruit to be had for the picking, and plenty of land was available. They found the few settlers who were living in the county to be high standard citizens. Most of these first comers had settled south of Bethany.

Daniel Edson was born when Missouri belonged to France. Missouri, to most Americans at that date, was a jungle, swarming with murderous Indians and beasts. Kansas was called the Great American Desert. Now, fifty-two years later, Daniel Edson was in Missouri looking for a home site.

Isaac Edson and William Washington Wiatt immigrated to Missouri. Daniel and Rachel Edson completed plans to immigrate there the following year. They had lived in Coles County twenty-six years and contributed much to its development. They were leaving behind many kin and friends that they had known since childhood days in Pennsylvania. The connections by marriage of the first settlers in Coles County makes a fascinating puzzle. Some had married Fords as they treked west. Were these Fords relatives of Daniel Edson’s mother?

In the spring of 1855 Daniel Edson led his family west on the immigrant trail. Rachel’s brother, William B. Needham, and wife Elizabeth, accompanied them to Missouri. The Needham family settled at Eagleville and later opened a general store there. Two members of the Edson family, Alonzo Edson and Sylvia Ann Russ, remained in Illinois. They joined the family in Missouri several years later.

Back in Illinois, the son, Alonzo Edson, on September 12, 1856, acting with power of attorney, completed the sale of Daniel Edson’s property in Coles County to Joshua Landrus, Vol. W, p. 82 and 388. Joshua Landrus, it is believed, came to Illinois with the Edsons. They were neighbors in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Landrus was quite successful as a rancher. He and his wife are buried at Upper Muddy. The old Edson homestead is now owned by R. C. Hampton.

In Missouri, Daniel Edson selected a location for the new home on a grassy topped hill with a panoramic view of forested hills that encircled the sweeping valley. He and his sons then set about to construct a large two story double log house (two houses, side by side). The size of a log house was governed by the height of the trees available. Therefore, the Edsons scouted the virgin wilderness for the tallest and straightest of the trees. Each section of the house had its fireplace and stairway to the second floor. A kitchen and

buttery were built across the back. The covered entrance to the cave connected with the west end of the kitchen. Levi and Timothy hauled rock by ox-drawn wagon from the land Levi later homesteaded and the two sons built the cave. Next the barns and a smoke house were built. Daniel planted a large orchard west of the house. After the son, Alonzo, immigrated to Harrison County and started operating a sawmill, Daniel Edson covered the log house with clapboard.

These noble and good people then began the task of clearing the land for the planting of crops. Many days Daniel Edson and the two single sons, Timothy and Levi, toiled plowing stump ground on the homestead. Four or five yoke of oxen were required to break the prairie sod.

The township soon became better known as the Edson community, a title it retained some four decades. The Edsons soon knew every trail, hill, and stream, for miles around in this wild untamed frontier and loved it all. The nightly yapping of the coyotes and the piercing screams of the panthers were old familiar sounds to the Edsons.

Over in Union township — only a few miles from Daniel Edson’s homestead — Noah Snell built a grist mill on the north bank of Big Creek in 1854. A wilderness settlement of log cabin homes grew around the mill. The settlement was first called Snell’s Mill or Snellville. It was one of the first settlements in the country and became an important trading post on the historic St. Joe trail. Later the little settlement was dubbed “Lick Skillet.” After the Civil War it was given the name of Brooklyn.

Small bands of Indians frequently passed through the county. Usually they encamped a few days on Big Creek near the mill. Their little shaggy ponies could be seen grazing in the fringe of the timber. The Indians, in picturesque garb, strolled about in the street and traded for items in the stores.

One time, an Indian mother, whose baby was just learning to walk, was seen tossing the baby in the creek, and each time it swam to the bank. A crowd from the general store went to the creek to watch. The frightened Indian mother held her baby tightly as if in fear someone would snatch it from her. After repeated requests to throw it in again, the mother said, “Throw your own in the creek.”

In 1858 the son, Alonzo Edson visited about six weeks in Harrison County. Daniel Edson prevailed on the two children still living in Illinois to move away from the unhealthy swamp land. He became very generous to the ones living in Missouri. The two in Illinois selected land there and wrote papa for the purchase price as they wanted an equal share. His reply by return mail was, “Come to Missouri and I will give you land.”

In 1859 the daughter, Sylvia and her husband Henry Russ immigrated to Missouri. They built a two story log house very much like the home of her parents. It faced the west and was located a few hundred feet north of Daniel Edson’s home.

The bitter Civil War broke out in full fury when Daniel Edson was fifty-nine years old. The Edsons had no more than cleared their land and gotten reasonably comfortable. Daniel Edson was a strong Union man. His sons and sons-in-law cast their fortune with the Union. The settlers in the county were intensely excited by the startling reports of events along the Kansas border and across their state. Ruthless acts provoked bitter feelings that were never forgotten.

Many of the settlers in the county feared for their lives. Some moved their families to the safety of Iowa. By 1862 the men of the county, except a few who remained in hiding were away involved in the conflict. Most were with the Union Army.

Very little merchandise reached the county during the war. There was no one for hire to do the farm work. The women and children, working oxen, put in small crops and cut logs for the winter fuel. As for food, it was a matter of raising it or doing without. All worked hard during the war and some seemingly impossible tasks were performed by the wives. Speaking of the boys of that era, an old timer said, “They were men from the start.”

Daniel Edson and a neighbor went to Iowa and rented land, where they could farm unmolested by raiders. About twice a year they journeyed to the homes of their children in Harrison County in wagons loaded with provisions. Being familiar with the country, he and the neighbor were able to travel through the timber, avoiding the trails. Thus, thwarting any would-be marauders. The wagon of Daniel Edson carried corn meal, flour, dried fruit, sugar, salt, cloth, and any other necessities available. He used generously of his life savings to help his children and their families during the war years.

Rachel made clothing, wove blankets, and cared for the sick in an effort to ease the hardships of those about her. Daniel said, he and Rachel worked harder during those war years than at any period of their lives.

The war was over in 1865. Two members of the family died while in the service of their country. Timothy Edson, the youngest son of Daniel and Rachel died in St. Louis, Missouri, and the son-in-law, Isaac Smith, died in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Following the war, sounding off in public was not tolorated by veterans of either side in Harrison County. In the Brooklyn neighborhood a Confederate repeatedly made a big display of a ring he said was carved from a damn Yankee bone. He approached Union men soliciting orders. He did it once too often. He was tarred and feathered in the street of Brooklyn and tied to a horse. The horseman drug him through the creek, up the rocky bank, and miles through

the brush and timber. Unconscious, he was left to his fate. He survived, and was seen in Brooklyn about a week later, minus the bone ring and very meek.

Hard times followed the Civil War. The pioneers traded work for there was very little money in circulation. Banks operated on Eastern money and the interest rate was ten percent.

In 1866 Alonzo and Arloa Edson immigrated to Missouri, and there was a great celebration at Daniel and Rachel’s home. Now all the family was together again. Anticipating their coming, logs for their cabin had been cut and notched. Alonzo, on arriving, selected a location for the cabin a quarter mile north of the St. Joe trail, and the community gathered for the log raising. The cabin was soon covered with clapboard. Later the fireplace, with its swinging crane and iron support for pots and skillets, was concealed with a removable box like covering. (Many years later, Alonzo and his wife, Mary, uncovered the old fireplace and showed the younger Edson generation how cooking was done at the fireplace).

Daniel Edson’s son-in-law, Henry Russ, had returned from the war at the end of his enlistment, to find that the old Edson log school house had tumbled down. He had taught there since coming to Missouri in 1859. While he was away the children of the Edson community attended subscription schools held in private homes.

The Edson school district No.3, had been formed in 1857. Joseph Bryant, Bethany banker, at that time deeded one acre of land to the Board of Education (located about at the center line of the N. W. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4 of Section 8, Twp. 64, Range 28). Today, only the old well, dug and walled up by hardy pioneers, and now filled with rock, marks the site.

In 1867 lumber from Alonzo Edson’s saw-mill on Little Creek was used to construct a new Edson school. It was built on the site of the old log school house. This was the first frame school house built in Harrison County. According to school tax receipts the new school was paid for in one year. Henry Martin Russ was the first to teach in the new school. Other teachers were: Alva Millholand, Charles Stanton, J. V. Mills, Carter Ross, Arch Long, Miss Wilson, Rena Denton, and J. N. Rice. In the later years of the school, many terms the one teacher had sixty or more pupils, and most of them were Edsons. The Edson school burned in the winter of 1897. It was replaced that year on an acre of ground a half mile to the east. The acre was purchased from Morris H. Stanton and the name of the school was changed to Mahaska.

Daniel Edson’s grand children living on the raw frontier faced many problems in their struggle for an education. The younger children were kept at home when the creeks were up, as there were no bridges. The older children walked across on fallen trees. The older girls were often kept out of school to help at home. The boys had to help with the planting and the harvest. There was no time for idleness. The older boys ran their traps during the school noon hour. They set off for home at a fast pace at the close of the school day for they had chores to do that had to be finished before dark.

The sheep, calves, pigs, chickens, and geese, had to be in a secure barn at night or the wild animals would get them.

Horses and cattle were on open range. Each owner had his stock marked. Sometimes it was a notch on an ear. Other times only a strap around the neck was used. Rarely was a horse or cow stolen. The hogs also were turned loose in the woods to forage on nuts and what they could find.

The St. Joe trail passed through the Edson community. Long strings of swaying white topped wagons, carring humanity from every walk of life shared the trail with small bands of Indians.

There was a stage coach relay station near the home of Alonzo Edson. After the Civil War it was operated by a Mr. Rice. Near the home of Levi Edson there was a relay station for riders of the pony mail.

There is at least one trail grave in the Edson community. A nine year old son of immigrants died of measles in a bed of straw on the floor of the covered wagon. He was buried along the trail in a grove about a mile east of Carter Ross’ place or half way between Alonzo’s place and Martinsvile. The father marked the grave with corner posts and side rails. Later the grove was cleared and the land cultivated, but the posts with the side rails remained there for many years.

Cattle, sheep, and hogs, were driven along the trail to the market at St. Joseph, Missouri. With their stock, the pioneer farmers of the county met at the trail and traveled together, camping along the trail at night. Thus, they were able to help one another.

The deep ruts of the old St. Joe trail are still to be seen a quarter mile south of the site of Alonzo’s farm home (his old cave marks the home site).

The manner of travel in the days of old did not seem to retard visiting between distant points. Letters and notes in old ledgers indicate considerable visiting took place between relatives in Harrison County, Missouri, and those in Coles County, Illinois. Then when relatives spilled over into Kansas there was - most always some one in the family going one way or the other.

Rachel Edson had light brown straight hair and a fair complexion. Daniel Edson had dark hair with decided red overtones and a nice complexion. His grand children considered him handsome. Alonzo Edson had sandy red hair and red whiskers.

Daniel Edson developed his land into one of the finest and best equipped farms in the county. Rachel was a true homemaker. The home was furnished with immense feather-beds, handmade quilts, embroidered curtains, and fringed table-cloths. The yard with its flowers was enclosed with a picket fence.

Daniel’s personal property at the time of his death was listed as:

One Grey mare “Queen” 75.00

One sorrel Horse 20.00

one buggy and harness 19.00

one double harness 9.00

saddle, grindstone, grain cradle, ax, single-tree, scoop, fork, saw, square, draw

pruning shears, five augers, two planes, steelyard and grab hook, sacks

cane mill and borter 8.00

churns, trunk, three spinning wheels, reel, reeds, spoke, three bedsteads, nine

blankets, sixteen quilts 38.00

stand tables, flat irons, stove 4.00

tin wear, two tables, nine chairs, clock 2.00

washing machine, wash tub with ringer, buckets, kettles, jars, crocks

Land in the estate: held for rental property through 1/17/1880

30 acres Section 31, Twp. 65, Range 28

40 acres Section 4, Twp. 64, Range 28

80 acres Section 9, Twp. 64, Range 28

Rachel died 16 March 1888 after two days of illness.

Inscription on tombstones:

Daniel: Farewell dear wife and children all, From you a father Christ doth call,

Mourn not for me it is vain, to call me to your sight again.

Rachel: Our father and mother are gone, They lay beneath the sod, dear parents tho

we miss you much, We know you rest with God.

To sum up the life of Daniel Thomas Edson: He was born in New York, spent his

childhood in Pennsylvania, grew to manhood and married in Kentucky, his children were

born in Indiana and Illinois, he lived his twilight years and died in Missouri.

With this kind of genes no wonder we find his descendants scattered across the

Our Thanks to Opal Soetaert for the many hours she spent in researching the

families of Daniel and Rachel Ann (Needham) Edson and providing us with “The

Daniel Edson Story.”

The Story of Daniel Edson

Daniel is a gggg grandson of Deacon Samuel Edson. He was born in New York, spent his

childhood in Pennsylvania, grew to manhood and married in Kentucky, his children

were born in Indiana and Illinois, he lived his twilight years and died in Missouri.

Since 2 February 2002

Complete text added May 21, 2004