Prince and Jennie Edwards

Prince Edwards

Prince Edwards was born a slave in Mississippi. At the start of the War, he was forced into the Southern Army but deserted at the first opportunity. 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 a gallant record for meritorious service and soldierly conduct at all times, with an Honorable Discharge at Augusta, Georgia on January 4, 1866.

An early pioneer of Riverside, Edwards and his family arrived with other families from Georgia in the mid 1880s. Prince Edwards served as wagon master for the group from Georgia. He married Jennie Cook in Fulton County, Georgia on January 1, 1871. Jennie was born in Georgia, also a slave. Prince and Jennie were among the 13 founding members of the 2nd Baptist Church, established in 1890 at Twelfth and Howard avenues in Riverside.