William Thomas Edgemon was born July 20, 1844 and died January 20, 1920. He married Olvi Amanda Allen December 17, 1865. She was born March 10, 1845 in Iowa, Olvi died December 11, 1897. Will and Olvi were the parents of fourteen children:

1.  Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Edgemon was born January 24, 1867
    Married: E. J. Hall in 1894
2.  John A. Edgemon was born April 29, 1868
    Married: Mrs. Emma Elizabeth Owens Bonnell January 25, 1894
3.  Nancy Angeline "Annie" Edgemon was born June 13, 1869
    Married: William Marion McNabb March 22, 1891
    Annie died November 30, 1939
4.  Charles Jackson Edgemon was born October 7, 1817
    Married: Hulda Clementine Thomas October 8, 1881
    Charles died 1963
5.  Amanda Jane Edgemon was born January 4, 1874
    Married: George Lee Parr November 1, 1893
6.  Sarah Eveland Edgemon was born May 24, 1875
    Married: Joseph Christopher Parr January 8, 1892
    Sarah died October 18, 1953
7.  Hester Lee Edgemon November 24, 1878
    Hester died May 27, 1890
8.  Pleasant Hampton "Hamp" Edgemon was born October 14, 1879
    Married: Mrs. Florence Herron Wheeler December 18, 1897
    Hamp died December 14, 1949
9.  William Isaac Edgemon was born December 16, 1880
    Married:  Ada Gamble November 3, 1901
              Elsie Alice Noaks December 2, 1909
    William died December 24, 1952
10. Susan Ida Lillie Lou Belle Edgemon was born April 17, 1882
    Married: Bob Raulston
    Susan died October 11, 1918
11. Tipton Edgemon
12. Alexander "Alex" Edgemon was born March 21, 1886
    Alex died September 24, 1890
13. Olvi May Edgemon was born September 12, 1888
    Olvi died September 11, 1900 trying to save sister in a house fire
14. Esther Marion Edgemon was born December 16, 1890
    Married:  Willie Amos Stowe February 23, 1908
    Esther died January 7, 1960

Will Edgemon was the sixth child of Braxton and Polly Casey Edgemon. Who owned and lived on one of the best farms in Van Buren Township in Newton County, Arkansas. He was five feet nine inches tall, with black hair and eyes and a dark complexion. He was a farmer. At that time the country abounded with wild game such as bear, hogs, and deer, also, there were unlimited numbers of small game and fur bearing animals. Buffalo River was an excellent fishing stream.

William was discharged from service in the Civil War October 10, 1865 Fort Zarah, Kansas. On his way home through Kansas he got a job from Mr. Allen, a farmer, scaring prairie chickens from corn shocks. He fell in love with the farmer's daughter, Olvi Amanda. When they came to the Buffalo River, on their way to his home in Newton County, Arkansas, it was on a rise. William put his bride on his back and swam the river. They lived on a farm in the Boxley area of Newton County where ten of their children were born. About 1883 they moved to Montague County, Texas, where four more of their children were born. When going across the mountains the horses balked, William could not get them to move. So Olvi said "Give me the lines." Then she said, "Come on critters," and away they went.

William and his sons were farmers and in the freight business. June 18, 1896, a horse pawed William in the right side of the head and paralyzed the left side of his body. He spent the remaining days of his life in a wheelchair. Sometime after the injury the family moved to Indian Territory, Oklahoma, were there for a few years. Later they moved back to Dry Valley Community, Montague County, Texas. Olvi died December 11, 1877. She was buried in the Denver Cemetery Montague County, Texas. After the death of Olvi, Will lived with his son, Hamp Edgemon, and then in the Old Soldier's Home in Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1910, he went to live with his daughter, Esther Stowe and family. He lived with this family until his death on January 20, 1920. He was buried in the Oak Clift Cemetery Oak Clift, Dallas County, Texas.

The dates and facts of William Thomas "Will" Edgemon's life were taken from military records, history, Census, family Bible, letters and his diary. Also from newspaper articles that he had written and events recorded in the family history. The records are in the possession of Ida Mae Stowe Lehman, a grand daughter.

Note: The above picture appears in Old Folks Talking. In that book the picture is captioned with the wrong names. The female in the picture is said to be Belle Sexton, wife of Jack, that is an ERROR. The person appearing in the above picture is Nancy, known as Nan. She was pictured here with two of her brothers. Nan was the wife of Jim Sparks.

Ida Lehman does not have internet access. If you would care to contact her, she requests that you send to me and I will snail mail to her.

You can reach me by email, Judy Tate

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