History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

176 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
M. Hope, a graduate of the Compton high school. Mrs. Abell
BOW makes her home in Compton, where her many excellent traits
of mind and character have won her the esteem and confidence of
an extensive circle of warm friends.
FRANK EDWARDS.
Tlic firm of Edwards & Case, general merchants at Paw Paw,
enjoys a reputation second to none in the county for strict honesty,
progressive business methods and for carrying a stock of goods
which is not only reliable but complete. This happy result is
largely due to the efi'orts and ability of Frank Edwards, who
untiringly has given his energies toward building up this business.
He is one of the younger merchants of the city and worthily follows
in his father's footsteps, who also was engaged as a dry-goods
merchant in these parts. Frank Edwards is a native of Lee cormty,
his birth ha\iiig occurred at Paw Paw, December 18, 1883. His
father is AVilliam H. Edwards, also born in Paw Paw, and the
latter 's father came here in the early days of 1848. The mother of
our subject in her maidenhood was Eva A. La Porte. William H.
Edwards, the father of our subject, was one of the first to establish
a dry-goods store m this jDart of the county. After a long and successful
career he now resides retired in Dixon, Illinois. The
maternal grandfather of oin- suliject was one of the oldest settlers
in this part of Illinois and in IS-tT crossed the plains to California
in search of gold. He was a friend of the Lidian chief Shaliona and
when he and his family made their home here an unbroken wilder-
ness existed where flourishing farms now thrive. Both parents of
the mother of our subject are deceased and buried in Stevens
cemetery, near Rollo. William II. Edwards owns one of the finest
collections of Indian relics in that state of Illinois—a collection
which is so comprehensive that it has found a place of honor in the
Dixon library. The EdAvards family is of English origin, the
gi'andfather coming to the United States about 1840 and making
his way to this section of the nnddle west in 1848, as above
mentioned.
Frank Edwards received his education in the Dixon public
schools, leaving the high school at the age of eighteen. To com-
plenif'iit his education ah^ng commercial lines he then took a course
in tlie Dixon Business College and subsequently accented a posi-