Edward Sedgwick [parents unknown] Emma Rose [parents unknown] According to "family lore" Edward Sedgwick was born in London (census records show only England), that Emma Rose was the daughter of English parents who had a plantation in Jamaica, that she was sent to England, and that she and Edward were married there. It is unknown whether Rose was her surname or a middle name. One "Edward Sedgwick & lady" arrived in New Orleans on March 13 1847, Brig Lyra, from Kingston, Jamaica.3 These is no doubt this Edward and Emma, as their first son was born in Louisiana within about a year of that date.2 Their arrival from Jamaica makes it a possibility that they were married there, or they may have stopped to visit her parents on the way to the United States. An Edward Sedgwick of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana was naturalized at East Baton Rouge on May 20, 1856.4 This is likely to be this Edward, as family records indicate he had moved to New Orleans. When they moved to Goliad County, Texas, they are believed to have lived near Berclair, about fifteen miles northeast of Beeville. Census records: Emma:Children:
Daniel Sedgwick
b. abt 1848, [Iberville,] Louisiana2 d. abt 1880, Sealy, Austin, Texas1a m. abt 1868, Goilad County, Texas, Julia Smith1a Alice Sedgwick b. abt 1851, [Iberville,] Louisiana2 m. Henry Clay Young1a,2 |
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Descendants / Researchers: ![]() Joyce Williams Blackman |
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Sources:
1. Records of descendant/researcher of this family 2. Census records, any of those indicated. 3. New Orleans Passenger Lists March 1847 4. Records of the Immigration and Natuarlization Service, New Orleans District Office 5. Texas Marriages, 1851-1900
6. Newspaper Obituaries 7. Texas Deaths, 1864-1998
A portion of an e-mal message from Joyce Williams Blackman: Edward Sedgwick was born in London, so goes the family lore. He grew up there and he married Emma Rose. Whether Rose is her middle name or her maiden name I don't know. There is quite a story about her growing up in Jamaica, daughter of English parents who headed a plantation there. Unfortunately, I could find no information about her there by correspondence; that was some years ago when I was trying to learn more. The story goes that she was sent back to England and there she met Edward and they were married. I did not discover their marriage date but learned there were other Edward Sedgwicks there, none of the right generation to be this Edward. They came to America in the late 1840's, presumably to New Orleans, but I found no ship record on the microfilm I searched. They moved northward to a plantation where they are listed on a census (not sure if 1850 or 1860) and it appears the children, Daniel and Alice, were born there. Later they lived in New Orleans where Edward is listed in a city directory as a draysman. From there they moved to Texas and were living in Goliad Co. when the Smiths were also living there. It is said they lived near a place called Berclair. There Julia Smith married Daniel Sedgwick, but stayed with him only a brief time. They had the one daughter, Mary. Julia moved with her folks when they moved to Atascosa Co. She left Mary with her parents when she married James Milligan and moved to north Texas to "Red River". I'm not sure where in that area they lived. She had a son, Elmer, and also was said to have another child or two who did not live. When her husband died, she returned to Atascosa Co. Edward and Emma died in Goliad County and are said to be buried in a small cemetery in the country. From what my uncle said, it is not easily accessable; he worked for a gas company and inspected pipes for them, and he was in the area but did not go to the cemetery to confirm that they were buried there. Daniel, not remarried, and Alice and her husband, Henry Clay Young, moved from place to place and lived in several parts of Texas before the Youngs settled in Edwards County. Daniel died in southeast Texas, a town called Sealy, it is said, but I have not found any trace of him in that area; likely he had no gravestone as the family at that time was quite poor. It is said that Edward had interests in the London Water Works and that Mary Sedgwick, at a young age, signed away her rights to her share in this to her Aunt Alice. Whether or not Alice gained anything from this inheritance I don't know. I found nothing regarding it. However, my research was limited to bits of library research and correspondence with county people... My grandmother, Mary Sedgwick Williams, did not talk much to me about her family. I did not write down much that she did tell me. It is said that she was sent to college by her grandfather, Cornelius Smith, and that she taught school a while before she married William L. Williams. He was an uneducated man, having no schooling that I know of, having been put in a sheep camp to stay with the sheep at the age of nine and remaining there several years until he ran away. Grandmother tried to teach him to read and write but he was an unwilling pupil and he could barely read anything and could write nothing but his name. He did farming and ranching but never owned any land. The family lived in Atascosa Co., San Marcos on a dairy, in Dewitt Co., in the Rio Grande Valley, and in their late years in Bexar Co. W. L. and Mary are buried in the Sunset Memorial Park in San Antonio. Julia is buried in the old cemetery, Smith-Borrego, in Atascosa County on land that either was on or bordered the Smith Ranch. When I was there in the 90's, there was only a dirt road through the ranch, long ago bought outside the family, which wound and twisted to the cemetery. The only sign of improvement was a high, strong fence around the cemetery. Trees and bushes had grown so tall they covered many of the graves, and Julia's was almost covered by a bush. |
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Questions? Have more data? genealogy@sedgwick.org | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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