Prince and Jennie Edwards

Jenny Cook Edwards

Jenny Cook was born into slavery in about 1853 in Georgia. Her parents, Anthony and Parthenia, were held on separate plantations. Her mother was owned by a family named Stokes and her last name was Stokes until emancipation.

Her second husband, Prince Edwards, deserted from forced service as a servant in the Confederate Army. On April 15, 1865 in Macon, Georgia, he mustered in as a private of Captain William G. Kinscott’s Company A, 136th Regiment, U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry. He received recognition for meritorious service with an Honorable Discharge at Augusta, Georgia on January 4, 1866.

In 1890, Prince and Jenny were among 13 founding members of the 2nd Baptist Church at Twelfth and Howard. In her role at the church, Jennie helped nurture the earliest families in Riverside’s African American community.