J. Edwards, farmer and stock raiser, near Saundersville, was born in Norfolk County, Va., in March, 1815. He is one of five children of Thos. and Mary (Bartee) Edwards. The father was born in England in May, 1765, and came to Rutherford County in 1818 as a farmer; he died in 1849. The mother, of French origin, was born in Norfolk County, Va., in 1782, and died in 1857. With common-school advantages, he began for himself, at eighteen, as salesman for J. R. Daniel & Co., of Murfreesboro. Two years later he took a like position with John W. Walker & Co., general merchandise, Nashville, of which firm he became partner. In 1848 he married Sarah E., daughter of Thos. and Calpurnia (Gray) Keenan, and born in Courtland, Ala., in 1829. Their four children are Sarah A., wife of John F. McCreary, traveling for Goodell, Lite & Jones, Nashville; William H., farmer; Mary B., wife of J. W. Foster, lumber dealer, White Bluff, Tenn., and Jos., Jr., bookkeeper for Cowan & Co., Nashville. Previous to the war a Whig, he has since been a Democrat. His wife and two daughters, Sarah and Mary, are members of the Presbyterian Church. Since 1859, when he bought his present 316 acres, he has lived in Sumner County.