Edwards, Henry L.

Submitted by Mike Miller The career of the lawyer is a succession of contests, and the successes made in the legal profession are probably more than in any other calling, in life examples of the "survival of the fittest." Henry L. Edwards of New Orleans possesses the requisites of a successful lawyer, and his career at the bar has been a succession of conquests. Born in the perish of Iberville La., on December 19, 1851, he first saw the light of day within three-quarters of a mile of the point on the Bayou Plaquemine where Evangeline (made immortal by the "good gray poet") and her lover passed each other in their wanderings. His birthplace was also within 500 yards of the spot where Bienville first landed after leaving New Orleans.

Mr. Edwards' father, William Everet Edwards, was born on "blue grass soil," was a lawyer of ability and a sugar planter by occupation. His untimely death occurred in 1857. He was a son of Travis Edwards, a native and planter of Kentucky, who died, as he has lived, in the state of his birth. The father of the latter, William Everet Edwards was also a native of Virginia and with his father, James Edwards, removed from the "Old Dominion" in 1786 and settled in Kentucky. Upon the farm which James Edwards vacated, upon his removal west, was fought the battle of Bull Run during the Civil war. He was a native of Scotland, but when sixteen years of age came to America. Robert, a brother of James, was the founder of the Edwards estate which now amounts to many millions of dollars, and concerning which so much is now said in the newspapers. It may be said in this connection that Henry L. Edwards is one of the claimants to this estate.

James Edwards, the great-great-grandfather of Henry L., removed from Kentucky to Ohio in 1796 and founded the town of Aberdeen, which he named after his birthplace, Aberdeen, Scotland. The mother of Henry L Edwards was Miss Lavinia Wilson, a native of Iberville parish, La., and a daughter of William Wilson, a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 1874. Her mother was a Miss Irwin, a daughter of a Tennesseean. A great-aunt of Henry L Edwards was the wife of Charles Dickinson, who was killed in a duel with General Jackson. Henry L. Edwards was graduated from the Louisiana State university in 1873 as an A. B. and during the commencement exercises he won the orator's medal. In October, 1873, he organized a military school in New Orleans called the New Orleans Military school, but at the end of one year he retired and accepted the principalship of the public schools of Jackson, Miss., which position he held for one year. In 1875 he organised the Jackson Military school, which he successfully conducted two years. In the meantime he had taken up the study of law and on June 17, 1876, he was admitted to the bar in Mississippi, his legal preceptor having been Nugent & McWillie of Jackson. Up to the time he was admitted to the bar he had studied common law only. He then entered upon the study of civil law and in November, 1877, he was admitted to the Louisiana bar. He at once began the practice of his profession in New Orleans where he has continued uninterruptedly ever since. He was a member of the board of supervisors of the Louisiana State university during the administration of Governor Wilts, In which capacity he served with efficiency and ability.

Although a stanch democrat in politics he has never been a candidate for office, much preferring to devote his energies to his profession, in the practice of which he has met with remarkable success. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and was the first chancellor commander of Lucullus lodge, No. 63, which was organized in January, 1886. In 1887 he was its representative to the grand lodge of the state and assisted in organizing the first Louisiana regiment, Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias, of which he has been adjutant for nearly five years, and holds the position at the present time. Mr. Edwards has, on two different occasions, delivered the alumni address of the Louisiana State university and is the only man that has had that honor conferred upon him twice. He is related to the Barrow., Gays, Craigheads, Dickinsons and Robertsons of Louisiana, all of whom are among the leading families of the state. The Hon. William Hayden Edwards, United States consul at Berlin, is his third cousin and the late Judge William A. Seay, United States minister to Bolivia under President Cleveland, was his brother-in-law.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), p. 399. Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.