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Below is a family biography included in The History of Obion County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Thomas J. Edwards, M. D., of Union City, is familiarly known throughout the South as one of the most eminent oculists of the day. He was born on his father’s farm in Obion County, this State, three and one-half miles east of Union City, November 17, 1833, and was there reared to early manhood. Hugh H. Edwards, his father, was of Scotch lineage, and was born in North Carolina in the year 1801, his father being William Edwards, also a native of North Carolina and a soldier of the war of 1812. Hugh H. Edwards was one of the pioneers of Obion County. He was a farmer by occupation, and was a man who commanded the esteem of all by reason of his upright conduct through life. He wedded Judith Hill, an estimable lady, born in Virginia in 1807, and a member of one of the first families of that State. Their respective deaths occurred in this county in 1865 and 1882. The Edwards family immigrated from North Carolina to Tennessee about the year 1823, first settling in Wilson County. Two years later the family removed to Obion County, which was ever afterward the home of our subject’s parents. Dr. Thomas J. Edwards’ boyhood was passed in assisting his parents on the farm, and during a portion of the winter seasons he was accorded the privilege of attending the country schools. Here the rudiments of a common school education were acquired, which only created in his mind the earnest desire to greatly better it. Obtaining the consent of his father, he left home at the age of seventeen years and began the battle of life upon his own responsibility. He was a student at the Dresden Seminary for some time, and afterward taught school about one year. In 1853 he entered Andrew College, of Trenton, Tenn., where he remained until nearly the completion of his junior year; but afterward completed his literary schooling at McKenzie Institute, near Clarksville, Tenn. Previous to this time (in 1854) he had begun the study of medicine, and while in attendance at the last named school was enabled to defray his expenses by the proceeds derived from the practice of his chosen profession. He attended the St. Louis (Mo.) Medical College, from which he graduated with honors. He practiced at Salem, Mo., for some time, then took another course of lectures at the University of Nashville to better fit himself for his specialties. After graduating at the latter institution he moved to California, where he practiced surgery with marked success until 1863. While at San Francisco he was made professor of Institutes of Medicine at Toland Medical College; but, owing to being absent on a professional trip to Mexico, where he was taken ill, he was unable to fill the chair, as he was compelled to return to the Atlantic States. In 1863 he visited Europe, and while there studied at the ophthalmic hospitals of London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna. He made a complete tour of the continent, spending considerable time in the Holy Land, and then returned to America, where special degrees were conferred upon him by the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, Bellevue Hospital of New York, and the New Orleans School of Medicine. He located at Union City, and has since made it his home. For the past twenty years Dr. Edwards has made diseases of the eye a special study, and so eminent has he become in this particular field of science, that his fame and practice are not confined by State lines, but extend all over the South and throughout many States of the North. Dr. Edwards is a Democrat in politics and an Episcopalian in religion. He is an honored member of the Masonic, I. O. O. F., and K. of P. fraternities. In 1872 occurred the solemnization of his marriage with Miss Clara Bird, daughter of John Bird, of Missouri, and two sons and one daughter have blessed their union, whose names are Dick A., Birdie K. and Harry T. In every sense of the word Dr. Edwards is a self-made man.

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This family biography is one of 179 biographies included in The History of Obion County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed.  The History of Obion County was included within The History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley & Lake Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley, and Lake Counties of Tennessee

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