Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-06-27
5tllstcllanCOns.
JOHN STARK EDWARDS.

The following biographical notice of ont
of the early pioneers of Ohio, and for some
years resident of this town, which We
copy from the Cleveland Herald, IS from
the pen of Hon. John CrOwelL 1t is an
extract from a work which Mr.. C. has been
for some years occupying his leisure hours
in preparing for the press, and which will
soon be published, entitled-"Sketches Of
the Bench and Bar
1t will not be necessary to say to those
who are acquainted with the author, that
the forthcoming work will be not only re-
reliable in its historical parts, but will be
exceedingly interesting.
OF Mr.. Edwards, he says
The life of a man, it is said, is made up
of trifes; and though the incidents en-
braced in this sketch may not form an ex-
ception to the general rule, yet they may
be worth preserving as illustrating the
character and times of one whose blameless
life and honorable career at the bar have
endeared him to the legal profession in the
''old third Judicial Circuit" The mem
bers of the bar in newly settled countries
are frequently uneducated men, and the
profession draws Its recruits more frequent
ly from the field and the workshop than
from the halls and university.
But it was not so in the first settlement
of the country upon the southern shore Of
Lake Erie. A large number of prominent
and wealthy citizens in the State of Con-
necticut belonged to the Connecticut Land
Company, and owned, therefore, extensive
tracts Of land in the Connecticut Western
Reserve. The sons of some of these land
holders and others, animated and infuen-
ced by the spirit of enterprise and the love
of adventure, and who had enjoyed all the
advantages of education and intellectual
culture which the common schools, col
leges, and libraries of New England affor
dod, were among the first settlers in that
portion of the Northwestern Territory
now embraced in the Northeastern part of
the State of Ohio. These were the men
who assisted in laying the foundation of
the State Government, and in establishing
and giving character to the judicial sys-
TEN.
This brought to the bar in the old third
judicial circuit in early times, some men
Of high order of talents, of fine literary
and great personal worth
Among this class of lawyers no one occu-
pied more enviable position, or was more
generally esteemed and respected through
out the country, by all who knew him,
than John S. Edwards He possessed, it
IS true, some accidental advantages which
others did not He was descended from a
inc of ancestors that had been distin-
yuished for learning and professional emf
lence, in New England, for several gener-
itiOns, and though he was too good Re-
publican to claim any advantage or credit
N that account, yet he cherished with a s
pride the fair fame Of the Puri- :
an stock from which he sprang. 4
John S. Edwards, the eldest son of a
'ierrpOnt and Francis Edwards, was born /
t New Haven, Connecticut, August 23d
III. His father, Pierrpont Edwards. .
ne of the most distinguished lawyers of h
is time in New England, was son of the $
reat President Edwards, and was born at
northampton, in the commonwealth of 4