The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-03-02

10 Inc free freSS. Wnen your
reporter called at my office Monday
and handed me a clipping taken
from The Minneapolis Joural EMIT
led Life of Defeats in Game Against
Fate Ends in Hotel Fire." and after
reading it, l must confess that
was filed with indignation at the
differences cast therein and also as
to other statements. l further take
exceptions to a paper of good stand
ing like the above journal undertake
ing to write up the history of a
family without first getting anthem
tic information when same could
have been obtained with little trouble.
Commenting on the above article
permit me to say, while l am not in
the habit of giving the history of
our family's past l feel justified in
so doing at this time to remove any
thing misleading or sntrue in said
article.
First, Lewis F. Edwards was the
second son Of Rev. Edmond S. Ed
wards, Lewis being born in Septem
Der, 1857, at Calcutta, India, fifty
years ago last September. Father
at that time was a Baptist mission
airy in India, but there was no suf-
fering from loss of property, fam
inc or sickness. At the time father
left India the writer was one year
old and had a special servant to
look after him. From India, We
moved to Parry Sound Harbor, on
Georgian Bay, Canada, where we
stayed for seven years, moving to
Minnesota in 1879. Father proceed
ed us in the spring, preempting 100
acres in Lac Qui PafM county, a
few acres of which he had broken
and had some sod corn planted. He
came back in the fall for us. He
had built a small shanty. The win
ter of 1880 we moved to the vii
lage of Lac Qui Parle, returning to
the farm in the spring, father hav-
ing gone to India to look after
mothers interests in her fathers
estate there. The winter of 1S80-81
was a winter to be remembered by
all who went through it. But our
"house" was not built in slough
as stated in the article but was
flooded On account of the sudden
melting of the snow, which happen
ed to go off with a rush and found
it's way to our cottage. The flood
was only of half a.. day duration.
Our principle food that winter was
not corn but good old No. Hard
Northern wheat, ground in a coffee
mill, mostly because we could not
get to town to buy anything differ
ent. This diet seemed to be good
for us, two of us boys being over
six feet tall, the writer being the
shortest of the four. Father return
ed from India the summer of 1881
and that fall we built what was in
those days considered a mansion.
The building was 1892. In the
winter of 1882 father taught school
with an enrolment of about seven
ty-six scholars. The following year
he again returned to India, trying
to get mothers estate closed but
while there he was doing mission
airy work, establishing missions,
etc. Two of these missions were
known as the Burmah and Akeab
missions. I have several idols in
my possession given father by con-
verted idolitors. Before leaving for
India beside the preempting of one
quarter, he had purchased two more
quarters of land. On this second
trip to India he was gone for sew
eral years, but mother and we chill
dren never left the United States
after leaving India the first time. On
fathers return he bought 400 acres
and sold one quarter that was too
far from home. We then had 720
acres of good old Minnesota land.
In 1891 father went TO Louisiana
and bought close to 5000 acres of
land at $3.75 per acre and worth
the money, but owing to the panic
that followed he met with less.
He had sold some of the Minnesota
land, to my brother on time pay