By Frank Passic
One of the most famous sermons ever preached in American history was entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” powerfully delivered by the 18th century theologian, clergyman, and college president (Princeton), the Rev. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). This graphic hellfire and brimstone message was preached on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. The result was instantaneous and sparked the “great awakening” revival in our country at the time. One source stated, “Many who heard it trembled and cried out for mercy. Others fainted. Five hundred people were converted that day.” Another, “The response of the audience was one of screaming and weeping. They reached for building columns and chair rails, something solid to hold onto, because they were sure that the floor of the church would suddenly open up and swallow them into the fires of hell under their feet.”
There are audio re-creations of this homiletical masterpiece available on the internet. Oh, it’s not “easy listening,” either. You can delve further on the internet into the life and influence of Edwards, in biographical summaries of his life. Why am I mentioning Jonathan in this column?
There is an Albion connection. The grandson of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards is buried here in Albion’s Riverside Cemetery.
Edward Edwards (1763-1845) was one of 15 children born to Timothy (son of Jonathan) and Rhoda (Ogden) Edwards. A native of Elizabethtown, NJ, Edward first worked in Stockbridge, Mass. before moving to Broome County, NY around 1800. Over the next two decades the family lived in several locations in NY. During this time, Edward was elected to and served in the New York Legislature.
Edward was in the pine lumber business in Lisle, New York along the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers. Edward had acquired a significant stand of lumber in NY in payment for services he had rendered to the Continental Line during the American Revolution. After processing logs at his sawmill, he would transport the lumber to Baltimore where it was sold for a tidy sum. Edward married Mary Ballard of Hadley, Mass in 1783, and the couple had 11 children. She died in Binghamton, NY in 1824.
How did Edward end up in Albion? We know that at least two of his children lived in Michigan. Daughter Mary McKinney lived in Sturgis. Son Edwin Edwards might have lived in the Waterford, MI area where his wife Nancy died in 1836. There apparently were numerous descendants. The mother of Rev. Jonathan Edwards was Esther Stoddard. Esther’s father was Rev. Solomon Stoddard, the spiritual leader of Northampton, Mass. for many years, who had a profound influence upon Jonathan Edwards.
There were Stoddards that lived in Albion area, such as Rufus Stoddard who arrived here by ox-cart with his family from New York in 1836. Dr. Sampson Stoddard was one of the founders of Albion College, and served on the original board of trustees as its second vice-president when the board organized in his Jackson home in 1835. Perhaps Edward was visiting a Stoddard “cousin” if that were the genealogical case, and stopped in Albion in 1845 to take a look at our new educational institution, or he could have stopped off at Albion to renew old acquaintances while traveling across Michigan.
Whatever the reason may have been, Edward Edwards died here in Albion on September 3, 1845, at the ripe old age of 83, and was interred in Riverside Cemetery the very next day. He was buried in the “Stranger’s Ground,” a triangular-shaped piece of land just east of the Old Grounds.
This small sliver of land, known today as Block 3, was reserved for single burials. It included people who didn’t live here, and any indigent burials. It also became known as a “Potter’s Field.” Unfortunately, there is no tombstone for Edward Edwards, and numerical grave numbers were not designated in cemetery records for burials that occurred here.
From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of the “Stranger’s Ground” in Riverside Cemetery, the burial location of Edward Edwards. How many of our readers took Colonial American history in college and read about the Rev. Jonathan Edwards?
