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Archiver > EDWARDS > 1998-04 > 0893107646


From: Gay Eckes <>
Subject: [EDWARDS-L] Edwards Heirs Hoax of the 1920's
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 15:27:26 -0600


Hello,
I too am new to the list. My paternal grandmother was an Edwards--Jewel
Edwards Eckes, born 26 Jan 1889 (or 1891) in Hackett City, OK. In the 1920's
she got involved in the Edwards Heirs Hoax. I compiled this information to
distribute to other family members, but thought it might be of interest to
the list also. Anyone wanting the EARLY EDWARDS (Heirs descendants) as a FTW
or GED file, please contact me privately and I'll send it as an attachment.

Edwards Heirs Hoax

This part was written by my uncle, William Harold (Bill) Eckes, of Stone
Mtn, GA, about May 1988. I think he had occasion to write this down as part
of the materials he wanted to distribute at our Edwards family reunion in
April 1989.

OUR PART OF THE SPINOFF FROM THE GREAT EDWARDS HEIRS HOAX

My brother Charles and I were just small boys at the time. Our younger
brother, Alan, hadn't even been born. Therefore the beginning of this story
happened in the late '20s.
(Gay's note: Brothers Charles, Bill and Alan Eckes were born 1915, 1919 and
1927 respectively.)

The Edwards Heirs Hoax is without any doubt well documented, and there may
even be some criminal procedings that could be found to embellish the origin
of this ocurrance. That it happened, and that it fooled a lot of decent,
upstanding people is not the point of this story. Now that I think of it,
this hoax probably came as a result of the rollicking, excited good times of
the Roaring '20s. Sort of a new game that seemed like fun. After all, there
were a lot of Edwards', and Mother was one of them.

My hazy understanding is that some Edwards brothers lived in the New York
area in the early days of this country. One of the brothers died without any
direct descendants, so his will gave his land to anyone who could prove a
blood relationship to him. Well, the normal reaction would be to say, "so
what?", but in this case the land in question was the land at the end of
Wall Street, New York, on which the Trinity Church is built. I also think
that the story goes on to show that the present owners of the land don't
really own it, due to a bad title to the land, so there would be a good
basis to prosecute a law suit to regain clear title to the land according to
the terms of the will.

An association was formed to represent all the Edwards Heirs in the
acquisition of this clear title and to split up the proceeds of this giant
pie in the sky. Naturally, you had to pay money up front to join.

So, I think the early names that follow were probably supplied by the
Central Edwards Heirs Association, Point Pleasant, West Virginia. All my
folks had to do was trace their family back to them, a matter of only two or
three generations. Sounds easy, but it isn't.

THE EARLY EDWARDS

What follows is an outline descendant chart, which I have input into
Family Tree Maker ver.4.4, and saved as family file hoax.ftw. Bill's
mother, Jewel Edwards Eckes thought there was a connection from her Edwards
line (Henry Edwards Sr.[1770?-1830]) to William Edwards [1745- ], son of
Thomas Edwards [7 July 1723-1777] and Elizabeth Nickolas [March 1743- ].
William being brother to Robert Edwards [1743- ], supposedly the one who's
will left the land to any Edwards descendants.

Family Correspondence--Edwards Heirs
What follows is two transcripts (taken from original documents) and an
excerpt from correspondence relating to the Edwards Heirs.

Letter from Edmonia Edwards Jordan of Slick, OK, dated 22 November 1925;
addressed to Mrs. Chas. Eckes (my grandmother, Jewel Edwards Eckes) of
Tulsa, OK. Envelope with a 2 cent stamp!
My Dear Mrs. Eckes.
I rec'd your letter of Nov. 14 a few days ago and will say when I went to
Tulsa I hoped to have time to call you up for a few minutes but was so very
busy had no chance whatever.
No, I did not have to write to Washington for any of the information I had
relative to my ancestry.That was given me years ago by my aunts and my
father but I know of the authenticity of it from the 2 old Family Bibles I
have each of which are over 100 years old, and a part of another small bible
the records of which were written in 1756 by my great great grandfather who
was born in 1722. You know Virginia people are strong for keeping records of
all dates of their families and years and years ago this was all kept so I
do not have to look up much of it. My great great grandfather wrote the
names of his children but not that of his wife so a genealogist is to look
that up. My father's cousin, Chas. G. Edwards of Washington D.C. was one of
the lawyers in the case 50 years and more ago. He was a son of Gen. Samuel
Murrey (Gay's note: it's hard to tell if this is ey or uy--written into
edge) Edwards who was my grandfather Edwards's oldest brother.
If you are from West Virginia I wonder if you aren't from Virginia. I belong
to the Greenville S.C. association but it just happened that I learned of
the re-opening of litigation and the organization and incorporation of the
heirs thro' a lady who was pres. of the Tenn. organization who wrote to my
brother asking if he meant to join the organization so in that way I got in
touch with the organization.
The "Mid West Heirs" are getting out a right interesting little paper "The
Edwards Heirs"
If you'd like a copy send 15 cts to Mrs. Jessie Aughe, 464 W. 30th St,
Indianapolis, Indiana and ask her to send you a copy of it.
Well, hoping we may have an early settlement and a satisfactory one.
I am very sincerely
Edmonia Edwards Jordan
P.S. I hope your little son is entirely recovered.

Letter from Perry Edwards of Of Boynton, Okla., dated 26 Jan '26, to Mrs.
Mollie Tramell:
Dear Cousin:
I received your letter several day ago but have been very sick the last
month, so I sent your paper down to (uncle Jim--crossed out) Brother Jim but
he didn't get it, and I don't know anything to fill out only that Hannah
Williams was my grandmother's name before she was married. The Edwardses in
Cherokee Nation signed a contract to give 25% of the estate to get it
collected. You can write to Lizzie Grant, Akins, Okla to find out about that.
I wouldn't pay any myself all I will do is give them a legal percent, but I
thought 1/4 was too much. I didn't sign the contract. Brother Jim did and
most of the Edwardses in Cherokee nation. Lizzie Grant is Brother Billies
oldest child for any more information about what they have done toward
collecting the estate you can address your letters to her, but she don't
know any ages or names of the ones you sent me. I would be glad to help you
any time.
I hope you people are well, I'm up now, but have had severe attacks of the flu.
We had a big snow, come last Wednesday, & Thursday, not so very cold tho'.
Well, I will be glad to hear from you people again at any time. So if you
learn anything about the estate would be glad if you would write me.
Sincerely a Cousin
Perry Edwards

Excerpt from long letter from Wanda Edwards Steward of Albuquerque (and
later of Truth or Consequenses), NM, dated 1 March 1991; to Bill Eckes of
Stone Mountain, GA:
"A few years back, I bought a book titled "The Edwards of Northampton" by
Bruce Montgomery Edwards. I was sure that this was my Edwards family but I
hadn't proved it.
The William Edwards in your papers could very well be the father of our
Henry Edwards. This book I have has Thomas Nathaniel Edwards, his wife
Elizabeth Downing & their children, the same as the family that you sent.
They traced another line of the Edwards family and not Wiiliam. I was so
excited about all this. I will write to the Publishing Co., if you would
like, to get you a book. It has alot of info in it and tells all about the
land in New York. When I was a small girl (Gay's note: Wanda was born in
1926), we lived near an Edwards family, not related to us, and the man
talked about the land in New York. Of course then, I wasn't impressed and
then when we started visiting with Aunt Jewel, she spoke about the land also."

When Wanda started corresponding with uncle Bill in 1991, she had been
working on the Edwards family history for quite some time. She called
genealogy her "mad passion".
She gave this info to Bill on his descendancy, working backwards:
Bill Eckes-->Jewel Edwards-->Benjamin Franklin Edwards-->Silas
Edwards-->Henry Edwards-->Henry Edwards Sr.-->William Edwards-->Joshua
Edwards-->Richard Edwards Jr-->Richard Edwards
The family group sheets that she sent to Bill are well documented with
source materials. But I don't find one that goes father back than Henry
Edwards, Sr.
I tried contacting Wanda at the Truth or Consequenses phone number in
February 1998, and reached her son. He said she had passed away about three
years ago. Her genealogical materials are still at the house.

Does this hoax jog any memories. Any names ring a bell?
Regards,

Gay D. Eckes

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