John Cummins Edwards

John Cummins Edwards was born on June 24, 1804 or 1806 (Conflicting sources list each) in Frankfort, Kentucky[1][2] to parents John and Sarah (Cummins) Edwards. He was raised in the Murfreesboro, Tennessee area and completed preparatory education at Black's College in Kentucky.[3] He studied Law at Dr Henderson's Classic School in Rutherford County, Tennessee and further studied under the Rutherford County states attorney before being admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1825.[4]

After working as an attorney in his native Murfreesboro for three years, John Edwards moved to Missouri in 1828, establishing a law practice in Jefferson City and becoming involved in local politics. In 1830 Missouri Governor John G. Miller appointed Edwards as Secretary of State, a position he would hold until 1835, and then again briefly in 1837.[3] In a move that would seem unusual by today's standards, Edwards also concurrently held the post of district judge of Cole County, Missouri from 1832 to 1837.[2] Politically John Edwards was a Jacksonian democrat and a staunch ally of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. In 1836 Edwards was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives but would serve only briefly as in 1837 he was appointed a judge to the Missouri Supreme Court, a position he would hold until 1839.[2]

John Edwards entered national politics in 1841 after being elected to the 27th United States Congress, serving one term until March 1843. While in the U.S. House of Representatives he worked on several key issues of importance to Missouri, such as opposing the Tariff of 1842 and helping block Federal settlement of the Missouri-Iowa border dispute, a.k.a. the Honey War.[1] Congressman Edwards chose against seeking a second term in Washington D.C., instead setting his sights on the Missouri Governors mansion. In the election of 1844 John C. Edwards narrowly defeated Democrat-turned-Whig candidate Charles H. Allen to become Missouri's 9th Governor[3]

John Edwards didn't stay in Missouri long after leaving office. Within months he had organized a stock train headed for the California gold fields. He became a prosperous rancher and merchant after settling in the Stockton area. Edwards would return briefly to politics in 1851, being elected Stockton's mayor.[3] A bachelor to this point, Edwards finally married in 1854. He and his wife, the former Emma Jeanne Catherine Richard of New Orleans, would parent eleven children. John Cummins Edwards died on either September 17 or October 14, 1888 (again, sources list conflicting dates)[1][2] in Stockton, California and is buried in the Rural Cemetery there.

• Congressional biography