Nathan W. Edwards
Nathan W. Edwards, for more than thirty years a leading citizen and successful business man of Fairmount, was a native of Madison County. He was born near Alexandria, October 27, 1847, and died at his home in Fairmount, May 24, 1910. Peter Edwards, his paternal grandfather, was one of the early pioneers of Madison County and the first citizen to build a brick residence in his neighborhood. During those primitive days in the wilderness the builder and owner of a brick house usually marked its possessor as a man of substantial taste and discrimination and he was regarded by his neighbors as a person unusually thrifty and prosperous.
Henry and Thurza (Ellis) Edwards were natives of North Carolina. They were the parents of eight children, namely, Wesley and Benson, both of whom died of injuries received in the Union Army during the Civil War; Granville, Orville, Nathaniel, Mary, Isabelle F. and Nathan W.
The latter years of his life were spent by Henry Edwards at the home of his son, in Fairmount, where he passed away August 21, 1900, at the ripe old age of eighty-six years. Though stricken with total blindness during the latter part of his life, he remained cheerful and optimistic to the last day, and example of patience and fortitude. Mrs. Thurza Edward died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Tilden, in Miami County, in 1887, at the age of sixty-seven years.
Nathan W. Edwards was educated in the common schools of Madison and Starke Counties, and also attended Richmond Business College. he taught a number of terms in Starke and Madison Counties. He gave up the teaching profession for a business career and entered a drug store at Alexandria. he later owned and managed drug stores at Rigdon and Elwood. In 1877 he bought the Pioneer Drug Store of Dr. P.H. Wright and made Fairmount his home.
In politics he never wavered in his support of the Republican party. In recognition of his capacity and fitness for the position, voters of Fairmount, in 1881, elected Mr. Edwards Town Clerk and Treasurer. He served in this office as the practically unanimous choice of citizens from July, 1881 to May, 1887, almost six years. On June 9, 1890, in appreciation of good work performed as Clerk and Treasurer, he was unanimously elected for a term of three years as member of the School Board, an office he filled with exceptional diligence and ability for many years, until June 21, 1909, when he was forced by failing health to resign the position. He was succeeded on the Board by his son Xen H. Edwards, who filled out his father's unexpired term.
N.W. Edwards served as receiver for Rau Bros., and for a brief time was connected with the reorganization of the Farmer's and Merchants' State Bank. The exactions and confinement of this work were not suited to his tastes or desires and he relinquished his connection with the institution. He was at one time a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellow orders. He was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, having served as one of the trustees and a member of the official board.
On May 21, 1879, Mr. Edwards was married to Miss Lenora Galloway, born at Ogden, Henry County, Indiana, march 6, 1860. Her parents were Irvin and Jeannetta (Daniels) Galloway. They were parents of five children, namely, Frank (deceased), Elmer, Lenora, Alice and Ella, the latter deceased. Nathan W. and Leonora (Galloway) Edwards were the parents of three children, namely, Xen H., who married Miss Ethel Harvey, January 15, 1905; Gladys, who married Burl W. Cox, June 27, 1907, now residing in Alexandria, and Forrest, who resides with her mother in Fairmount.
Nathan W. Edwards was always interested in the welfare of the community, and was especially efficient in his efforts on behalf of improved educational facilities. He was among the first to see the need of higher learning, where boys and girls who passed out of the grades might have a chance without leaving home for increased knowledge and additional equipment for the life before them.
Submitted by: Gina Reasoner