James Louis Edwards. One of the comfortable country homes of Philo Township, a place adding to the distinctive character of prosperity and well ordered enterprise in that section, is the Edwards place, now occupied by James Louis Edwards, who acquired it from his father, George Edwards. The Edwards family has been identified with Champaign County for over half a century. James Louis Edwards is unmarried and with his sister Anna looks after the management of the farm and they keep house together.
Mr. Edwards was born on the old homestead in section 18 of Philo Township in 1867, a son of George and Susan C. (Andrews) Edwards. His father was born in England and his mother in Baltimore, Maryland. The family came to Champaign County in 1865, locating in that year in section 18 of Philo Township. Land that was then only raw prairie was converted by the united efforts of the family into a fine and prosperous homestead. The father died July 3, 1916, and the mother in February, 1914. They had a large family of children: William, deceased; Anna, at home; John, of Urbana; Ruth, wife of Ora Lindley, of Urbana; Frank, of Warsaw, Indiana; Nellie, wife of John Elliott, of Cass County, Nebraska; James Louis; Minnie, wife of Irvin Maxwell; and Albert and Edward, both deceased.
James L. Edwards has farmed on the old homestead all his life and is now owner of 160 acres of the old place and besides has eighty acres not included in the original domain of his father. Mr. Edwards is a fine type of the Champaign County agriculturist and has proved the right man in the right place. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Philo.