George Edgington I (1707-1791) - The Immigrant - Part One: The Stowaway

George Edgington's life reads like an adventure novel.  It is said that he arrived as a stowaway, lived as a frontiersman, was kidnapped and taken to Canada, his wife married another man, and he fought in a war.  But what, if any, of this true?  Join me as we take a deep dive into his life.


George's descendants are passionate about their family history and about telling the stories that have been passed down to them by their forebears.  There are even books about early America that recount the stories of George and his family.  

Given all this attention, you’d think we would know some essential facts about him…details like...where and when was he born?  Who were his parents? 

Well, we don’t.  All we have is what's been told to us…those stories that have been handed down from his children to their children and so on through the generations.  

As the story goes, George was born in England…or perhaps Wales…in about 1707.  At the time, birth and christening records were maintained by the local parish church.  So…until we know exactly where he was born, we can’t know when he was born…nor can we know the names of his parents.  

Perhaps someday a male with the name Edgington who has documented his descent from this George Edgington will test his DNA.  And, perhaps another male who has documented his descent from a brother or male cousin of our George will test his DNA.  And, perhaps these two will discover that they are a DNA match and they will shout it from the rooftops so that we can all finally know the truth about George's origins.  Until then, it will remain a mystery.

So, the next logical question is, of course, when and how did he come to America?  Despite all the research that's been done on this family, no one has ever found documentary evidence that would prove when George journeyed to America…no ship’s manifest…no passenger list…nothing to tell us when he left England nor when he arrived in America.  Thus, we again turn to the family stories which say:

When George was 14 and attending school in London, he was severely punished for some breach of discipline and, fearing that when he went home he would receive another punishment, he ran away to the docks where he stowed away on a ship bound for America.  His presence wasn’t discovered until they were well out to sea, so he was taken to Philadelphia.

The Edgington’s were squires or a family of some means.  George’s sisters reportedly sent him chests full of beautiful clothes.  The family estates were confiscated after the Revolutionary War. 

One version of the story says that George ran away from home and not from school.  It is otherwise the same as written above.

The story seems pretty outlandish doesn’t it?  A 14 year old boy, the son of an English squire, stows away on a ship bound for America to escape being punished?  Could it possibly be true?  Let’s see what we can find out.

Could George have been attending school?  Many are quick to dismiss this because George later signed legal documents with an X as his mark, an indication that he didn’t know how to sign his name.  In 1700’s England however the amount and type of one’s reading or writing skills depended on class, occupation, and gender.  Children who attended school were routinely taught reading and simple arithmetic.  Learning to write however was usually deemed important only for students studying to be a lawyer, law clerk, scholar, physician, clergyman or business person.  Thus, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that George could have attended school and simply wasn't taught to write.  

Could George have come to America as a stowaway?  Stowaways were not particularly uncommon in 1700s London.  However, most were found before they left the dock and thrown off the ship.  Those that weren’t found until after they sailed, were forced to work off the price of their passage.  Ships captains were also known to "spirit" boys from the docks, essentially kidnapping them and forcing them to labor on their ship.  The only way to disprove that he stowed away would be to find proof that George came as a passenger on a ship.  Since no such record has been found, we have to concede that it is possible that George did come as a stowaway.

Was George 14 years old?   Since we can't prove when he was born and we can't prove when he arrived in America, there's no way for us to know his age.  As an aside, I have to wonder what it must have been like for that 14 year old who impulsively left everything he knew to then find himself in a new country with no family, no friends, no place to live?  Did he meet someone on board the ship who took him in and gave him a home to begin his new life in America?  I hope so.

Was George from a family of English squires or a family of some means?  There is no lack of online trees that show our George Edgington as a descendant of one or another Edgington in England or Wales.  Some even speculate that our George descends from a Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.  However, until we can prove where George was born, or until there is a DNA match made to another Edgington family, we simply do not know his origins and thus cannot know their social status.

And lastly, were the Edgington family estates confiscated after the Revolutionary War?  To us the “Revolutionary War” means the American Revolution.  The only property confiscated during or after that war was property that was owned by Loyalists…those who were loyal to the King of England.  We know that six of George’s sons were Patriots who fought for America’s freedom.  I’m therefore confident that George was not a Loyalist and that his property was not confiscated after the Revolutionary War.     

But, what if we’re misinterpreting the meaning of “Revolutionary War” or someone changed the name of the war from its original telling?  During the French and Indian Wars (1754-1763) the British military did forcefully take over some private homes.  George fought in the French and Indian Wars so it's possible that the British could have confiscated his “family estates."  Further research is needed to see if documentation exists that would prove this.

After reviewing the family stories more closely, I now view them differently.  I'm much more willing to embrace the fact that we have a true adventurer for an ancestor.

Next in this series:  

Part Two:  The Young American

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How we’re related: 

George Edgington I & Margaret Broome

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George Edgington II & Mary Naylor

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George Edgington III & Betty Lindsey

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Brice Viers Edgington & Margaret Gutridge

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Thomas Edgington & Isabel Walker

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Margaret Annabel Edgington & James Horatio Bladen

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Gertrude Ethel Blayden & James Iver Creger

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Helen Pauline Creger & John Robert Nielsen

References:

1. During the mid to late 1800’s, Lymon C. Draper interviewed and corresponded with three grandsons of George:  George (son of Thomas), Jacob (son of Isaac) and Jesse (son of Jesse).  The information obtained was collected and included in the 500 volumes that now comprise what is known as the Draper Manuscripts. Draper Manuscript, MSS, Series S, Volume 16, Page 271.  
2. Edgington, Thomas Benton (1837-1929); Lawyer & Edgington family genealogist; son of Jesse Edgington (1792-1842), grandson of Jesse Edgington (1759-1821), great grandson of George Edgington (1707-1791).  It is thought that Thomas got some of his information from his grandmother, Margaret Parramore wife of Jesse Edgington, who lived with his parents from the time Thomas was born until he was 10 years old. 
3. Highland Pioneer Sketches and Family Genealogies, Elsie Johnson Ayres, H.K. Skinner & Son (1971).
4. Historical Collections of Adams County Ohio, Carl N. Thompson, Adams County Historical Society (1991)
5. Further Materials on Lewis Wetzel and the Upper Ohio Frontier, part of the Draper Manuscript, edited by Jared C. Lobell, published by Heritage Books, Inc. (1994)
6. Descendants of George Edgington and Margaret Broome, Volume I, Howard Edgington, Apple Valley, CA, self published (undated)
7. Pioneer Days: Early History of Jefferson County, Ohio, Mary Donaldson Sinclair, Shenandoah Publishing Co. (1962)