Bio of Bazil Brooke Edmonston

Bazil Brooke Edmonston, second or third son of Ninian Edmonston and Dorothy Edmonston (cousins who married), plays a major role in My Own Edmonstons and a Few Others, the family history written by Charles Ninian Edmonston. Bazil Brooke Edmonston was born in Prince Georges county Maryland 14 May 1766 and died January 1841. As a young man he migrated first to North Carolina and then to Indiana where he first set up on the White River in Harbison township, and later settled closer to the future town of Jasper in Dubois county Indiana. In a letter written by Bazil Brooke Edmonston Jr, the next to last son of Bazil Edmonston and Hannah Rose, we have some very valuable family information, birth dates of all the immediate family which were probably taken from a family Bible. All of their children were born in North Carolina and we can assume Bazil Edmonston and Hannah Rose were married when their eldest son James Edmonston was born 3 October 1786. Just where they were married has not been discovered, but son James Edmonston gives his birthplace as North Carolina in several census records, and biographies of son Ninian Edmonston give his birthplace as Burke county North Carolina. Keep in mind that Rutherford, Burke and Buncombe counties of North Carolina enclosed some of the same lands during this period. In 1790 Bazil Edmonston (Basdel Edmison) was in Morgan District of Rutherford county North Carolina with probably sons James and Ninian, probably wife Hannah, and an extra man and woman. In 1800 he is listed in Buncombe county North Carolina as Bazil B. Edminson and the ages of wife and children fit almost perfectly. In 1810 he is shown in the same county as Bazil B. Edminston with family ages correctly accounted. Their son James Edmonston, now 24, was shown seperately, apparently with a wife and young son. The fact that Bazil Edmonston moved with most of his family to Indiana in 1818 is recorded in several places.

A remarkable gentleman with a large family, and even larger heart, Bazil Edmonston's entertaining and abundant correspondence, so painstakingly gathered by Charles N Edmonston, gives considerable insight into this entire family line. Charles N Edmonston includes some correspondence of other family members also. The following excerpt may set the scene for appreciating this good man's humor, and obvious love for his family in spite of all their failings. Note that, for many years, Bazil Edmonston was postmaster at Jasper, Indiana and no doubt had special opportunities for posting off epistles to his large family. By way of explanation, the William Edmonston he speaks of was one of his many sons, a rather pompous politician in later years, who happens to be my ancestor! From a letter written 6 June 1834 by Bazil B. Edmonston, Sr:

When William expected to be called off [die] with the quinsy in a few hours, he observed that his family was the least of his thoughts provided I [his father, Bazil] had days to live my life for my children and grand-children who looked up to me for succor. My breast is theirs, my help in time of need is theirs. I beg to be indulged while I relate an incident that took place at the time William was expected to be snatched off hourly. His little son, John Royce, in his seventh year, hugged me around the thigh and cried out, 'Grand-daddy, what will become of me, Mommy and the other children?' The reply I made was I would take them all home with me. He then cried out in these earnest terms 'Grand-daddy, I'm afeared my daddy will die and if he does I'm afeared the black man will git him. If I thought the good man would git him, I'd give him freely!'

Charles N Edmonston comments "the particular God these people appear to have worshipped was a vengeful one, apparently." William Edmonston's political and financial successes seemed to go to his head a bit and his father at one time said William thought himself "important as an English Lord."

Children of Bazil Brooke Edmonston and Hannah Rose: James Edmonston, Ninian Edmonston, Archibald Edmonston, Sarah Edmonston, William Edmonston, Nancy Edmonston, Enoch Edmonston, Bazil Brooke Edmonston Jr, Benjamin Rose Edmonston, and Dorothy Ann Edmonston.

Charles N Edmonston does not have proofs on the parentage of Hannah Rose, wife of Bazil Brooke Edmonston, but he does offer a very likely possibility with good evidence. He suggests that Hannah Rose, 14 February 1765, was the daughter of Hosea Rose and his wife Sarah Bradford Taylor. Sarah Bradford had first married William Taylor (b. 1730) of Prince William (later Fauquier) county Virginia. Sarah Bradford and William Taylor had two sons: Parmenas Taylor and Leroy Taylor, both of whom became rather famous colonels in the Revolution. After the death of their father William Taylor, their mother married Hosea Rose and all moved with him to Burke county North Carolina where her two sons were raised with the name Rose until they volunteered for the Revolution. There is evidence for this in Virginia records. Charles N Edmonston thinks Hannah Rose may have been a half-sister of Parmenas Taylor and Leroy Taylor. Rutherford county North Carolina, where Bazil Edmonston and Hannah Rose first appeared in the census of 1790, bordered Burke county North Carolina. The land portion that later became Buncombe county North Carolina, where Bazil Edmonston and family are shown in both the 1800 and 1810 census, was taken from both Burke and Rutherford counties. Parmenas Taylor was born 4 April 1753 in Prince William county Virginia and died 28 February 1827 in Jefferson county Tennessee. He married Betty White and they had eleven children, among them Albert Gallatin Taylor. Leroy Taylor was born 25 July 1758 in Prince William county Virginia. He claimed 24 children by two wives and is buried in Leesburg, Tennessee. [update: Present research suggests that Sarah Bradford married first William Taylor and second Bennett Rose. Bennett Rose and Sarah Bradford were the parents of Hannah Rose who married Bazil Edmonston.]

To be found in the family correspondence are many details that give a good picture of the life and times of Bazil Edmonston, Hannah Rose, and their ten children. It is unfortunate that the letters, found spread around the country by Charles N Edmonston, don't cover a larger period of time. Much of what Charles N Edmonston gives in his book is paraphrased and not quoted. We mostly have a picture of Hannah Rose Edmonston as a very sick woman and then Bazil Edmonston as a widower, concerned with all the affairs about him and especially the affairs of his children. When he reports Hannah's death, 6 March 1831, he also says he has been appointed postmaster for the new town of Jasper which was made the seat of Dubois county Indiana in place of Portersville. He was building a new house. Bazil Edmonston was one of the first judges of the county Probate Court and served until his death in January 1841. Benjamin Rose Edmonston, youngest son of Bazil Edmonston and Hannah Rose, is buried in a cemetery near the original farm of his father, and it is likely that Hannah is buried there also. It is more probable that Bazil Edmonston himself is buried in the old Jasper Cemetery.

Comments by Blanche Aubin Clarkson Hutchison, drawn from "My Own Edmonstons and a Few Others", by Charles Ninian Edmonston, 1971. Update and additions by Pam Garrett, September 2012.