Edwards, John W.

Born: 1832-10-20 Illinois

Died: 1867-09-26

Flourished: 1850 to 1867 Shawneetown, Illinois

John W. Edwards was working as a printer in Gallatin County by the time of the 1850 census. In 1851 his father William Edwards was the publisher of the Shawneetown Southern Illinois Advocate along with a son, apparently John W. Edwards. The following year that same firm of W. Edwards & Son began publishing the Southern Illinoisan. William Edwards retired from the newspaper about 1856 and following a suspension in publication due to financial issues, in 1858 John W. and James Edwards revived the Southern Illinoisan as the partnership of Edwards & Brother. Publication of the Southern Illinoisan ceased about 1860. Edwards represented Gallatin County at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention and from 1861 until his death he served as postmaster of Shawneetown. He married Sarah (Sallie) E. Long in 1859 and the pair had four children.

Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 315; History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Goodpseed, 1887), 113-14, 539; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Gallatin County, IL, 394; Southern Illinois Advocate (Shawneetown), 2 May 1851, 1; Andrew McCallen to Abraham Lincoln; The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 10 June 1858, 2:2; Alton Daily Courier (IL), 2 July 1858, 2:1, 3; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 7 January 1860, 2:5; The Gibson Courier (Gibson City, IL), 18 June 1915, 2:5-6; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Shawneetown, Gallatin County, IL, 18; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1865-1878, 32:138; Gravestone, Westwood Cemetery, Shawneetown, IL.