EGA #202-1555

OUR PIONEER ANCESTOR
Condensed from The Daniel Edson Story
by Opal Soetaert
Daniel Thomas Edson, son of Isaac and Sarah (Ford) Edson was born in the wilderness of Otsego County, New York in 1802. He was about three or four years old when taken by his mother 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.

The family of Noah Ford and the family of Elias Needham, father of Rachel Ann, had been friends for many years and had immigrated together from Otsego County, New York. Daniel and Rachel Ann were childhood playmates. During their boyhood days Daniel Edson and the Needham boys 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. Elias Needham, his brother Timothy and their families also joined the wagon train. Daniel was fourteen and Rachel Ann ten when they accompanied this group of hardy pioneers as they 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 notables as Daniel Boone.

In Hardin County, Kentucky, the Edsons and Needhams settled near Elizabethtown, the home town of Abraham Lincoln’s step-mother. During their sojourn here the young folks married. Daniel’s sister Hannah married the year they arrived,1816; his sister Sarah in 1821 and Daniel and Rachel Ann in 1824. Rachel’s brothers also married and started their families here. Lured by the love of adventure and the call of a new frontier these young couples and some of the old folks joined a long wagon train of immigrants on the way to Licking County, Ohio. For some unknown reason they didn’t stay here long and joined friends who had chosen to immigrate to Crawford County, Indiana. Part of this journey was made by river rafts down the beautiful winding Ohio River. They followed an old wilderness Indian trail, later known as the Leavenworth-Marengo road, climbed to a hilltop near Big Springs and here Daniel and his kin settled. Daniel and Rachel Ann’s first three children were born here.

By 1829 most of this group of hardy pioneers were pushing Westward, their destination Coles County, Illinois. Traveling the ridges, following old Indian trails, penetrating the untamed wilderness, crossing the Wabash river then following the buffalo
trace to Lawrenceville, Illinois, before turning North, they arrived in Pleasant Grove township, Coles County, Illinois the year before the county was organized. Daniel and the other members of the wagon train from Indiana settled near the head waters of Muddy Point Creek and their settlement became known as Muddy Point. Here Daniel and Rachel built their home, the remainder of their children were born and their eldest daughters were married.

Abraham Lincoln’s parents settled on a forty acres about a mile northeast of here. This site was known as Lincoln’s Buck Grove home. Daniel’s home was built of lumber cut from the great trees growing on this land. Every sill, joist, rafter, and weather board was constructed of walnut. As the wagon trains continued to pass by Daniel, realizing there was a business opportunity here, opened a General Store and a Harness and Saddle Shop. He sold everything from wagons to dry goods and made harness and saddles. In his dealings it was said “His word was good as his bond.”

As the years passed some of Daniel’s children become restless, and talked about going West to homestead. Fearing that their children might scatter to the far parts of the country, and after a third child, James William, died of “the fever”, Daniel resolved to move his family away from the swamps of Coles County.

Daniel his eldest son, Isaac, and son-in-law, W.W. Wiatt made an inspection trip through Iowa and north Missouri and decided Jefferson Twp of Harrison County, Missouri would meet their needs. The fertile soil was well watered, there was an abundance of timber, wild game and fruit and there was plenty of land available. Isaac and W. W. Wiatt came first and Daniel and Rachel immigrated the following year (1855). Alonzo and Sylvia Ann Russ remained in Illinois for a time but joined the family sometime later.

A location for a new home was selected on a grassy top hill with a panoramic view of the forested hills that encircled the sweeping valley. Here they constructed a large two story double log house, built a rock cave, a smoke house and a large barn. Daniel planted a large orchard west of the house. When Alonzo arrived (1858) he started operating a saw mill. In 1859 Sylvia Ann and her husband Henry Russ immigrated to Missouri and built their two story log house a few hundred feet north of Daniel’s home. Soon Jefferson Township became better known as the Edson Community.

Daniel was fifty nine when the Civil War broke out. He and the clan cast their fortune with the Union. The younger men joined the Union army and the women and children worked the oxen and put in a small crop and cut wood for the winter fuel. Daniel and a neighbor went to Iowa where they rented land so they could farm without being molested by raiders. About twice a year they would journey home with provisions to share with their children. Two members of Daniel’s family died in this war, Timothy in St. Louis and a son-in-law Isaac Smith in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Hard times followed the war. Pioneers traded work for there was little money in circulation. Banks operated on Eastern money with interest rates at ten percent. Life during the remaining years of Daniel and Rachel were spent doing all the necessary tasks. The women made clothing from the cloth they wove from cotton and wool they grew, wove blankets and cared for the sick. Meals were cooked over the fire in an open fireplace, clothes were washed in collected rain water. Sheep, calves, pigs, chickens and geese had to be secured in the barn at night or the wild animals would get them. Crops had to be planted and harvested. Horses and cattle were on open range identified by each owners special mark. Their homes were furnished with immense feather-beds, handmade quilts, embroidered curtains, and fringed tablecloths. The yards with their flowers were enclosed with a picket fence.

The St. Joe Trail passed through the Edson Community. The Edson families would drive cattle, sheep and hogs along this trail to market in St. Joseph. There was a stage coach relay station near the home of Alonzo Edson and a relay station for riders of the pony mail near Levi’s place. The Edson School was the center of social happenings such as debates, spelling matches, pie suppers, box suppers, ciphering matches, lodge meetings and church services. Contests were held in cutting wheat with scythe and cradle, in corn gathering and in cord wood cutting.

Neither Daniel nor any of his sons used alcohol beverages or tobacco. Young people were not allowed to associate with anyone who gambled. Dancing was frowned on and card playing was strictly forbidden.

Daniel died of pneumonia 3 April 1875, age 71 years 2 month and 4 days, without leaving a will. Levi C. Edson, his son was the Administrator of his estate.

Daniel’s personal property at the time of his death was listed as:
One Grey mare Queen 75.00
One sorrel Horse 20.00
nine sheep 19.25
one wagon 22.00
one buggy and harness 19.00
one double harness 9.00
saddle, grindstone, grain cradle, ax, single-tree, scoop, fork, saw, square, draw knife 2.00
pruning shears, five augers, two planes, steelyard and grab hook, sacks 2.50
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
safe 5.00
tin wear, two tables, nine chairs, clock 2.00
cupboard 4.00
washing machine, wash tub with ringer, buckets, kettles, jars, crocks

Total: 214.30

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 United States.171