"John (Edwards), b. in Dec. 1638 (aged '26 yeares in December laste 1664'); d. unmarried 19 Dec. 1675 in the Great Swamp Fight in King Philip's War (Stiles, Wethersfield, 1:267; 2:314; death date from inventory). John Edwards Jr., aged 20, and his brother Joseph, 10, 'sons of John' at Wethersfield, were seen by Winthrop on 24 March 1658/9 (JWJ Med. Rec, 343). In 1664, John bought from John Graves 42 acres on the east side of the River, which he sold to James Richards (Stiles, Wethersfield, 1:267; 2:897), the Hartford merchant who had married William and Ursula Gibbons's daughter Sarah. As administrators of his father's estate, John and his mother sued his half-brother Thomas in May 1665 over east-side lands, but in Sept. 1667 John provided the cider for the funeral of his cousin Samuel Molton at Thomas's house in Hockanum (Hartford Dist. Prob. Recs., 3:60). John was presented for freeman at Wethersfield in May 1669, and he owed money to the estate of his brother Thomas's stepson John Loveland in Nov. 1670. On 21 April 1675, John Edwards was granted liberty 'for two years to build upon his house lott,' perhaps in contemplation of marriage (Conn. Colonial Court Records, 3:149), but as 'Corporal John Edwards' he was killed that December. Four weeks later, Benjamin Adams and Samuel Williams testified 'that being in the late service against the enemie in the Company of John Edwards of Wethersfield, the said Edwards being mortally wounded did order that his estate should remaine to his mother her lifetime and after her decease he willed that his brother Joseph should inherit all the estate.' The nuncupative will and inventory were presented at court in April 1676, and administration was granted to his mother, then 'widow Towsley' of Saybrook. The inventory included part of his father's estate 'which was put into his hands by the Court as joynt administrator with his mother' (Hartford Probate District, File 1819)."
