I9§ EDWARDS. ELA. ampton during the winter seasons, and during the summer worked upon the farm on which he had been brought up. He was for thirteen years town clerk ; also served as postmaster, selectman, asses- sor, overseer of the poor, and for some fifteen years moderator of the annual town meetings. He is now acting as county commissioner for the twenty-second year, being for eighteen years chairman of the board ; and on the completion of his present term will have served twenty-four years. Mr. Edwards has held four military com- missions from the governor of the State. He commanded a regiment of militia three years, and was acting brigadier-general for one year. In 1861 he raised a company of volunteers and went to service in com- mand, and was with General Butler at the taking of New Orleans. He" has been trustee, secretary and treas- urer of the Sheldon Academy twenty-two years, has held a commission as justice of the peace for forty years, as notary public seven years, and for qualifying civil offi- cers seventeen years. He is president of the Southampton Library Association. Mr. Edwards was married at Southamp- ton, May 12, 1846, to Henrietta L., daughter of Silas and Anna (King) Sheldon, by whom he has four children : Alice Julia Anna, Emma Henrietta, Isabel Georgine, and Anna King. EDWARDS, OSCAR, son of Oliver and Laura (Starkweather) Edwards, was born in Chesterfield, Hampshire county, June 6, 1821. He received his education at the public schools of his native town, and at the Chesterfield and other academies, and when twenty-eight years old entered into part- nership with his father as general mer- chants, in Chesterfield, then a leading town of Hampshire county, on the direct stage route from Boston to Albany, N. Y. By President Taylor he was appointed postmaster in 1848, and the same year was elected town clerk and treasurer, which offices he held till 1852, when he removed to Northampton. In April, 1S51, Mr. Edwards married Katharine Wendell, daughter of Harmon- ius and Catalina (Hurm) Wendell, of New York. They have two sons and two daughters. Upon moving to Northampton, Mr. Ed- wards engaged in the drug business, and is still carrying it on in his original store. For fifteen years he has been president of the Northampton National Bank, which became widely known, two years after his election, from the fact that it was robbed of a million dollars. He has been a mem- ber of the board of water commissioners of Northampton since its origin, and is a director in the Connecticut River Railroad, the Ashuelot Railroad, and Glasgow Ging- ham Company, of South Hadley Falls, and the Hampshire Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He is also a trustee in the Northampton Institution for Savings, and has filled many other offices of responsi- bility and trust. Politically Mr. Edwards was a member of the old Whig party, and with many others became a Democrat, but his per- sonal popularity appeared in 1880, when, in a district that is largely Republican, he was elected by a very large majority, to serve upon the executive council of Gover- nor Long. ELA, DAVID HOUGH, son of Theodore and Priscilla (Woodward) Ela, was born in Canaan, Somerset county, Maine, January 19, 1831. He gleaned his early knowledge of books from the brief terms of the common school only, till fourteen years of age — then two years in a printing office, afterward learn- ing the trade of a machinist. He subse- quently determined to prepare for a differ- ent line of life-work, and entering Kent's Hill Seminary, Maine, he fitted for college, and in 1857 was graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., paying his way in preparatory school and college by occasional teaching, but mainly by working at his trade. He then entered the Methodist ministry, and joined the Providence Conference in 1858, and preached at Norwich, Conn., until i860. He has remained in the minis- terial work of the M. E. church up to the present time, and has been a member of the New England conference since 1S73- Mr. Ela has been principal of Provi- dence Conference Seminary, East Green- wich, R. I., three years (1871-73); dele- gate to the general conference of the M. E. church, 1872, '80 and '84; trustee of Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, and of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. His appointments have included Nor- wich, Conn. ; Bristol, Woonsocket, Paw- tucket and Providence, R. I.; Lynn, Low- ell, Worcester and Boston. He was pre- siding elder of the Springfield district, 1S78 to '81, and received the degree of I>. D. from Cornell College, Iowa, 1S76. He is at present pastor of the Mt. Belling-ham church, Chelsea.
