DR. ELISHA B. EDWARDS, Postmaster at Elkton, Ky., was born in Elkton, Todd County, February 2, 1824. He descends from one of the first families of the county, in point of settlement, and from one of the first in the State in point of honorable and intelligent men. His parents were Elisha B. Edwards, Sr., and Martha F. Upshaw; the former a son of Hon. Benjamin Edwards. Elisha B. Edwards, Sr., was a brother of the Hon. Ninian Edwards, so noted in the early history of Kentucky and Illinois, and was born in Maryland, May 11, 1781. He came from his native State to Kentucky with his father’s family in 1800, and with them settled in Nelson County. In February, 1810, he married Lucy Richardson, who bore him a daughter, Mary B. Edwards. She became the wife of Judge L. Lindsay and died in Texas, in December, 1882. Lucy Edwards having died, Elisha B., Sr., in August, 1811, was married to Martha F. Upshaw, near Hopkinsville, Ky., by Rev. Peter Cartwright. He came to Elkton at the time of the organization of Todd County, and was elected the first Clerk of the infant county, an office he held until his death, on the 13th of October, 1823. His wife was born in March, 1792, in Essex County, Va., and died September 22, 1854. They had a family of four children: Martha M., wife of H. C. Boone; Margaret L., who died unmarried in February, 1883; Tazewell N., died in infancy, and Elisha B. Edwards, Jr. Dr. Edwards received an English education, which he completed in Princeton College of Kentucky in 1840. He began the study of medicine with his uncle, at Alton, Ill., and continued his studies afterward in St. Louis; began practice in his native county, with which he combined a general practice of dental surgery, to which he finally gave his entire attention. On the breaking out of the Civil war, he entered the Federal Army as Captain of Company F, of the Twenty-fifth Kentucky Regiment. After the battles of Donelson and Shiloh, in both of which he participated, his regiment was consolidated with the Seventeenth Kentucky, and the law of seniority governing such cases, deprived him of his ‘command. In 1864 he was appointed Deputy Provost-Marshal of Todd County, holding the position until the close of the war. In 1867, he received the appointment of Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, which he held until the office was abolished in 1873. Since the latter date he has served in the office of Postmaster at Elkton. Dr. Edwards was married in Elkton, November 20, 1849, to Miss Sarah B., daughter of James W. Porter. She was born in Fauquier County, Va., October 7, 1822. Of eight children born to them, but two are living, viz.: James H. and Cyrus Edwards., Mr. Edwards is a Mason of high order, and member of the Baptist Church. James H. Edwards, son of Dr. Elisha B. Edwards, was born August 22, 1850, and has served the county of Todd as Deputy Sheriff, and was enumerator of the census in 1870. He is a practical business man, and at present engaged in the grocery business on the south side of the public square in Elkton. He was married in Louisville, Ky., December 21, 1883, to Miss Mary E. Morton, daughter of the Rev. David Morton, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and present Secretary of the Board of Church Extension, and located in Louisville.
