Samuel E. Edwards Family

Samuel E. Edwards was known as "The Ohio Hunter" and was the author of two books, "The Ohio Hunter" and "The Western Pioneer". Both books told of his experiences hunting in the wilds of Northwesfern Ohio during the earlier 1800's. He once said that he wrote the books so that his grandchildren and their children could learn of his early days in Ohio as a hunter.

Samuel was born on March 22, 1810, in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, a son of Samuel and Catherine Clark Edwards. Samuel and Catharine's family is also in this book. Samuel E. Edwards died on September 3, 1895 in Henry County, Ohio.

The Henry County Signal, in 1883, had an item that stated "Uncle Samuel Edwards was the man the state employed years ago to cut out the old Turkey Foot Road that led from the south to north sand ridges in Henry County." Samuel E. Edwards was also remembered for many years as a favorite Pioneer Day speaker that related his early experiences in Henry County. This day was usually celebrated on the Fourth of July, and Samuel stood on the top courthouse step to deliver his speeches. Unfortunately, none of the speeches were recorded.

Samuel E. Edwards married twice. His first marriage was to Mary Aultman, of Hancock County, Ohio. His second marriage was to Rachael Hill, of Henry County.

He married Mary Aultman on September 22, 1832, at a Lutheran congregational meeting in Hancock County, Ohio. Mary was born in 1812 to John Aultman, Sr. and his wife. John was a Dutchman and the family lived across the line from Hancock County in Pickaway County, then called Piqua County by the residents, in a Dutch settlement. Mary was a sister to John Aultman, Jr.

Mary Aultman Edwards died in the fall of 1848, at the age of thirty-six years, and is thought to have been buried on the farm the Edwards family owned in Hancock County. However, some descendants think she was buried in the Lutheran Church cemetery in Hancock County, so her grave site is not known.

Samuel and Mary Aultman Edwards had eight children. Samuel is described as having been over six foot tall and weighed one hundred and eighty pounds in 1829.

Early in 1834, Samuel bought ten acres of land, cleared it and built a cabin on it for a home. By 1836, the land was paid for, and so he sold the ten acres for five dollars per acre and bought forty acres of wooded land with the money and cleared the land and built a house on it.

In 1833, Samuel and Mary had moved along with her parents, to Hancock County, Ohio. Samuel's brother already lived in Jackson Township, Hancock County. The move, made with oxen and wagon, was about one twenty-five miles.

Samuel and John Edwards started to work on the Erie and Wabash Canal in 1838. This was when Samuel first came to Henry County.

During the winter of 1846, he hunted throughout Putnam County. He had been going on hunting trips since the fall of 1838. That year, from

October until spring, he killed thirty-eight deer. In 1846, Samuel found himself in what he called "straitened circumstances". By 1846, both the Indians and the whites had seen their rich hunting grounds laid waste by the axe of the woodman and settler. The nearest valuable hunting grounds to Samuel's home was Putnam and Paulding Counties. Here there were still bear, deer, wolves, wild cats, foxes, coon and other game. During a thirty day hunt that winter, Samuel caught sixty-two coons, and sold their skins for one dollar and twenty-five cents each. That one hunting trip paid his debts and he had money left over.

After the death of Mary Edwards in 1848, Samuel's mother, Catharine Edwards, came to take care of the family of eight children. In the fall of 1849, Samuel and a friend started on another hunt. This time they hunted the immense forests of Wood and Henry Counties. When winter broke up, they met at Mr. Hill's on Turkey Foot Creek in Henry County. It was there that Samuel met his second wife.

The Hill cabin stood on the bank of Turkey Foot Creek and the creek waters were rising from the springtime flood of the river. By bed time, the water commenced coming into the house and rose so rapidly that the floor was afloat since it was not nailed down. Scaffolding was built above the water and the beds and valuables placed on this rough scaffolding. Since there were not enough beds for all to sleep, Samuel and Mr. Hill's daughter, Rachael, sat up all night. The scaffolding was just wide enough for two chairs, side by side, and by morning Samuel and Rachel were well acquainted. Samuel stayed for several days until the waters went down, then returned to his home in Hancock County.

The family were all well, but Samuel's mother, who was then past seventy years old, said she had raised one family and could not raise another, and now Samuel must find a housekeeper.

Samuel remembered his stay at the Hill home in Henry County and rode back on a horse to the Hill home and asked Rachel to marry him. Samuel and Rachel Hill were married on April 12, 1849. Rachel was the daughter of Michael and Sarah Bost Hill and was married in the Hill home. Michael Hill was a Seventh Day Adventist minister and the family lived on a farm at the confluence of Turkey Foot Creek and the Maumee River in Harrison Township. The U.S. Census for 1860 lists Rachael as Mary Rachel Edwards. She was born on July 25, 1830, in Perry County, Ohio, and died on June 13, 1918 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Loretta Punches, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Samuel and Rachael Edwards are buried in the old Shunk portion of Hoy Cemetery, Harrison Township. Samuel and Rachael had ten children.

Samuel E. Edwards died in Marion Township, Henry County, Ohio. Children living at the time of his death were: George Washington; Joseph; William H.; Thomas Jefferson; Grant Edwards; Elizabeth Hill; Mary Booher and Loretta Punches. No mention was made of Adaline Waltner or Robert F. Edwards in his will. Robert was living in Arkansas when his father died. Two grandsons, Wilson and Warren Edwards, are mentioned in Samuel's will.

In the year 1850, the Edwards family left Hancock County and settled in Henry County. Samuel built a hewed log house, the first one built in the township. He bought a farm, built a house, then bought another quarter section of land. The first year, Samuel hunted very little. The next fall, the three oldest sons, George, David and Squire, could carry on the farming and clearing work of the farm, and Samuel was free to go hunting that winter. During that winter season he caught one hundred and thirty-two coon, eighty-nine opposum, twenty-two mink, and a number of deer.

In the winter of 1857, Samuel and two sons started on a bear chase. That chase took them from Henry County deep into the woods of Wood County. They eventually killed the bear they were chasing. It was a very large male whose hide brought sixty dollars when sold. Samuel's last big hunt was in 1866.

By 1861, Samuel and family were living in Monroe Township. His family now numbered thirteen and they lived in a two story hewn log house with framed kitchen that stood on the quarter section of land that Samuel owned. One night the house burned completely and the only possessions saved were the garments the family were wearing when the fire broke out. One child died in the fire, but the rest of the family were unharmed except that Rachel was in ill health for about a year.

During the 1880's, he acted as a guide for people who wished to purchase land in Henry County. He also acted as a trader and interpretor to the Indians in Michigan.

Although Samuel fathered eighteen children, all did not live to adulthood. Two sons died while serving their country in the Civil War. A daughter died in the fire of 1861.

Samuel's obituary was headed "The Ohio Hunter – Samuel E. Edwards" and he is known, even in 1979, as the greatest hunter that ever lived in Henry County.

The rest of the Edwards family history appears in this book.

Submitted by: Genevieve Eicher