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As a child I remember "going down the country" to a little place called Chaptico in St. Mary's County, Maryland to visit my great-grandfather THOMAS COLUMBUS EDWARDS on his tobacco farm known as "Suttles Rest." Great GrandPa was something of a well known personality in St. Mary's County because he owned the very bed that John Wilkes Booth had slept in while plotting the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. I remember the old bed well. I used to sit on this bed during my visits "down the country" because Great Grand- Pa was already bed-ridden. He died in 1945 at 95 when I was eight. He seemed to enjoy my company as I did listening to him talk about "the old days..." From ever since I can remember I was intrigued by great grandPa Thomas Columbus Edwards and his bed.
I was equally intrigued by my maternal great grandmother, LAURA WELCH WILLETT who died at 96 on the 4th of July 1945. We all called her "Little Mother." One of her claims to fame was that she had been in Ford's Theater the night Abraham Lincoln was shot.
However, The person with whom I was the most intrigued was my maternal grandmother, AGNES WAGGAMAN WILLETT. A few years after her death at 91 in 1976 I seriously undertook my family history and genealogical research. I criss-crossed the U.S. meeting truly wonderful cousins who encouraged me and with their help I pub- lished my first book in 1983: THE WAGGAMANS & THEIR ALLIED FAMILIES. In 1986 I co-authored with a cousin, Grace Waggaman Holtzman: CLARKE WAGGAMAN A.I.A. 1877-1919. Uncle Clarke as he was known in the family was an important classical architect in Washington, D.C. (my hometown) in the early 1900s. Several of the Clarke Waggaman Houses are along Massachusetts Avenue (Embassy Row) and are indeed today embassies or offical residences. A year after this book came out The Smithsonian organized a tour of sev- eral of the homes featured in the book in which my wife, Evelyn, myself and our three children were invited guests.
In 1989 I contributed some articles to the book: SEMMES AMERICA and was an active prticipant at the Semmes Family Reunion in Washington, D.C. and St Mary's County Maryland.
Now I hope to complete our various EDWARDS Lines of Southern Maryland: Some of our allied families include: SPALDING, HEARD, MATTINGLY, LLOYD, MIDDLETON, PAYNE, JENKINS, EDELEN, BOARMAN, SIMPSON, WHEELER, DELOZIER, ABELL,YATES, COOPER & HALL.
I'm always looking for new cousins who share the same passion as do I for those who got us to where we are today.
If you're out there I'd love to hear from you...
Thomas Clarke Edwards
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