Edward Wilson

Quick Facts

Significance:

Florida Homesteader

Place of Birth:

Georgia

Date of Birth:

About 1840

Edward “Ned” Wilson appeared first in Suwannee County, Florida, records when he registered to vote on August 6, 1867. He was recorded in Voter Registration Book 1, p. 196, in the Live Oak precinct. Wilson reported to have been in the state for twelve months previously.

On May 21, 1869, Edward Wilson appeared before the Registrar, Charles Mundee, at the Land Office in Tallahassee, Florida. There he made application under the Homestead Act of 1862 for 39.89 acres in the SE ¼ of the SE ¼ of Section 12 of Range 13E, Township 2S. He paid $7.00 for the application fee.

Seven years later, on May 16, 1876, William Forsyth Bynum and Isreal Samuel Whitehurst Sr. provided testimony for Edward’s Final Proof for his Homestead. The witnesses stated in their testimony that Edward was the head of a family which included a wife and child, and that he settled on his land on May 21, 1869. They stated he cleared and fenced “16 or 18” acres, planted 300 fruit trees, and cultivated the land yearly. Bynum and Whitehurst noted that Edward began living on the land permanently around “August or September” 1869. They stated Edward had fenced and cultivated 4-18 acres of land on which he had, “built a house with two rooms, corn crib, chicken house, planted and cultivated almost 300 fruit trees, and now in good repair and in cultivation.” They swore to this at the local circuit courthouse on account of distance to the Gainesville Land Office.

The final receipt noted the $2.00 fee paid for the recording of the land entry that was received by S.F. Halliday at the land office in Gainesville, on May 19, 1876. Final Certificate #1058 was issued on March 19, 1877. The Patent was sent to the Recorder on May 22, 1877. It was recorded on June 15, 1877, in Book 2, page 395, of the federal land records. The Patent was forwarded to the Live Oak Registrar of Deeds on October 7, 1880, however there is no record of its recordation in the Suwannee County Deed Index, nor of its sale at any future date.

The 1880 census listed Edward along with his wife "Ida", there is no child listed in the household. To date no record has been found for his marriage to Ida. Five years later, in the 1885 census, Edward "Ned" was listed as unmarried and lived in a household with Randel Farnell and his family who had patented their homestead claim in 1884 next to Edward's claim.

On December 6, 1903, there was a marriage record for an Edward Wilson and Mary Blalock in Suwannee County, Florida. There is no way to know if this is the same Edward Wilson since no other evidence of his residence at that time in Live Oak has been identified. There is no known information about when or where he died.  

More about Edward Wilson's witnesses William Forsyth Bynum and Isreal Samuel Whitehurst Sr. -

The record does not show whether the witness was William Forsyth Senior or Junior. William Jr. was closer in age to Isreal Whitehurst Sr., but William Sr. was closer in age to Edward. However, William Sr. was Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court. He was also a witness along with Randel Farnell, for the homesteader Henry McGehee.

William Bynum Sr. was born in Virginia, but moved to Dooly County, Georgia, where he married his wife, Elsie Ann Posey. They had three sons, William Jr., John, and Francis. William, and family, moved to Florida, where he served in the Confederate 4^th Florida Infantry. In 1902, he applied for his own Homestead land. However, he died in 1904, in Live Oak, and is buried in Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery. William’s son, John, filed for his own Homestead land in 1892, in the same quadrant as Randel Farnell, Henry McGee, and Edward Wilson.

Isreal Samuel Whitehurst Sr. was reportedly born in Live Oak, Suwannee County. He was married to Chloe Eliza McKinney. They had fourteen children. Isreal, Edward, and Randel Farnell, were friends. At least two of Isreal’s daughters, Rebecca and Senter, attended the Florida Normal and Industrial College in Tallahassee (now, Florida A & M University) with Randel’s daughter, Lela, as evidenced by their entries in Lela Farnell's autograph book. Isreal died in 1921 and was buried in Eastside Memorial Cemetery, in Live Oak.

~ Contributed by Margo Lee William

Margo Lee Williams

About the contributor: Margo Lee Williams is the granddaughter of Lela (Farnell) Williams and great granddaughter of Randel Farnell who was a Florida Homesteader and friend of Edward “Ned” Wilson.

Williams is an award-winning author and genealogist/family historian, having published three award-winning books. She is also a contributor for the book Black Homesteaders of the South. Williams is currently the Deputy Registrar for the National Society Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) and the Historian for the Strieby Congregational Church, School, and Cemetery Cultural Heritage and Literary Landmark Site in Randolph County, North Carolina. She is also a former editor of the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society.

Williams is a graduate of Marquette University and has her M. A. degree in Sociology from Hunter College, as well as an M. A. in Religious Education from The Catholic University of America. She worked as a Religious Education director for over 20 years at various Washington, D. C., area churches and another eight years as a National Service Officer with Vietnam Veterans of America. Though born and raised in New York City, she currently lives in Maryland.