Thanks for the info. I'm going to pass this along to the guys interested in the Wilderness Road. Mike Flannigan > Subject: Re: [MOGreene] Edwards Spring - Greene or Christian County > Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 15:16:34 EDT > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > Two groups of Edwards families had settlements that might have lent their > names to the Edwards Spring. > > William B. Edwards, son of John and father of James, had a farm in the Wilson > Creek valley southwest of Springfield at the time the Civil War erupted. > William B. Edwards also had lands south of Springfield, extended south of > Nixa to the old Riverdale mill on the Finley. His financial involvement in > the mill lasted until at least the last 1870s. This Edwards family is > documented sketchily in some of the early histories of the Battle of Wilson's > Creek, and as I recall, they came to Springfield c. 1840 from the area west > of Davidson Co. (Nashville), TN. > > The Rev. James W. Edwards (1807-1893) owned, at one time, hundreds of acres > directly south of Springfield extending into and including much of the city > of Nixa. He was involved by the early 1870s in taking over control of the > Riverdale Mill and sold off much of his northern Christian Co. holdings for > the more valuable mill property. He ended up in considerable tax trouble with > the state and county, and although he was able to buy his property back from > auction once at cents on the dollar, he later lost the mill holdings. His > brother, William Carroll Edwards (1818-1901?), owned land north and west of > Nixa, too; his estate seemed to remain stable during these years. > > The Rev. Edwards also owned several city lots in Ozark, which he lost in the > tax troubles. He was married before 1830 in Maury Co., TN to Martha "Patsy" > Kenamore, who died after early 1865, and later to Susan Emily Sink, daughter > of David Sink of Franklin Co., VA/Michigan/and finally Nixa, the owner of > Davie's Jerk. William Carroll Edwards married Ursula Kenamore, Patsy's sister > who died young in Maury TN, and then Narcissa Johnson, the cousin of the > Kenamore sisters. > > This second family of Edwardses, the Kenamore and the Johnsons (descendants > of Revolutionary War vet Abner Johnson and Nancy Brackett of Amelia VA) all > lives in Maury TN before migrating to Christian Co., MO in 1852 and 1854. > > Randy McConnell