Eleazer Edwards

Eleazer Edwards, his personal and family background, and his possible involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Eleazer/Eliezar Edwards

c. 1824-1893

Biographical Sketch

[There is uncertainty whether Eleazer Edwards participated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre or was on the ground when the Arkansas company was attacked or besieged.]

Eleazer/Eliezar Edwards was a native of Wales who immigrated to the United States and pioneered in southern Utah.

Early Life in Wales & Immigration to America

We have uncovered very little information about Eleazer Edwards's background. Based on his widow's application in 1910 for Indian War benefits, he appears to have been born in or around 1824. We have not yet found anything about his life in Wales, his marriage, his immigration to America, or his subsequent journey to Utah.

Settling in Cedar City and the Ironworks

What is known is that by the early 1850s, Edwards was living in Cedar City along with Scots, Irish, Welsh and English iron and coal workers who labored to establish an iron smelting capability in southern Utah. He is listed as a lot owner in the early Cedar City land records. Per the above application for Indian War benefits, in 1853, he served under Captain Robert Keyes for a three month period in the Walker War. In 1854, while the iron workers were constructing the Noble furnace, Edwards was the chief collier, producing coke in the coke ovens for the smelting operation. He was married to Jane W. Edwards, although when they were married or whether they had children is not known.

In the Iron Military District: Captain Eleazer Edwards, Company G, John M. Higbee's 3rd Battalion

In the 1857 Iron County militia muster rolls, Edwards was listed as a captain of Company G in John M. Higbee's 3rd Battalion. He was approximately 33 years old. He was among those from Cedar City who mustered under orders to Mountain Meadows.

According to John D. Lee, either Edwards or George W. Adair carried an express from the Meadows to Cedar City in the afternoon of Wednesday, September 9, about halfway through the four and one-half day siege of the Arkansas emigrant train. Little else is known of his role in the siege or whether he was present at the massacre two days later.

Edwards was not named in the 1859 arrest warrant or referred to during the Lee trials of 1875-76. But he was identified by John D. Lee in Mormonism Unveiled. Lee's attorney, William Bishop, followed Lee's lead and listed Eleazer Edwards in his list of "assassins." In Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Walker, Turley and Leonard do not list Edwards as a participant in the Appendix C, their list of the involved militiamen.

Later Life

Edwards was involved in manufacturing gunpowder and by 1859 had produced one hundred pounds of quality powder. However, sources on this militiaman are scarce.

Final Years

Per the Indian War benefits application, Edwards died November 11, 1893 at the age of 69. Seventeen years later, Jane W. Edwards, his widow, filed an affidavit in her application for veterans benefits that gives the limited biographical details about her husband we have outlined here. Additional information about Eleazer Edward would be particularly appreciated.

References

Bigler and Bagley, Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives, 70 fn. 14, 343; Gibbons, "Frontier Arms of the Mormons," Utah Historical Quarterly, 42/1 (Winter 1974), 24; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 229, 379; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 331, 349, 354, 492; Utah State Archive and Records and Service, Commissioner of Indian War Records, Indian War Service Affidavits, affidavit of Jane W. Edwards re service of Eleazer Edwards, accessed at http://archives.utah.gov/research/inventories/2217.html; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C, 393 fn. 2 (Edwards is not mentioned).

External Links

For further information on Eleazer Edwards, see:

• http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
• Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/

Further information and confirmation needed. Please comment or contact 1857_militia@roadrunner.com.