My EDWARDS line — Emanuel EDWARDS of Beaufort County (possibly son of Isaac EDWARDS)

I'll begin this post by saying that I think the father of Emanuel EDWARDS of Beaufort County is Isaac EDWARDS, Sr. (b. abt 1730) based on a couple of facts that I'll include at the bottom of this post, but for now, I'll just focus on what I know:

Emanuel EDWARDS (abt 1753–1828) married Elizabeth (possibly Elizabeth FORNES. I'm not certain that she's a Fornes, but in 1811, she (and Emanuel) sold her interest in a piece of land in Pitt County, formerly belonging to Thomas FORNES along with John FORNES, Sr. and Ransom B. CAMPBELL to John FORNES, Jr.

They had the following children:

• Elizabeth "Betsy" EDWARDS (12 January 1776–bef June 1850) m1. Joel WALL (1761–1816). While her widow's pension application for her husband's RevWar service claimed she was much older, her son Robert's Bible says she was born 12 Jan 1776. (It looks like 1796, but that would be impossible.) Elizabeth says she and Joel were living in Pitt County when they married in his Rev War pension application, but based on when her son's Bible says she was born, this seems unlikely, as she'd have only been 12 years old. Their children were:
  • Robert WALL (1804–1857) m. Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" BOYD (b.17 Apr 1793), daughter of Joseph BOYD and his wife, Elizabeth.
  • Joel WALL, Jr. (1806–?) m. Mary "Polly" GODLEY (1823–?)
  • William WALL (1812–?)
  • Rachel WALL (1813–?)
• Thomas EDWARDS (1794–bef 1880) m. Nancey (LNU)
• Eliall EDWARDS (abt 1800–aft 1850) m. Lovey (possibly Lovie HOLMES, daughter of John HOLMES, Sr. and Esther). Their children were:
  • Frances EDWARDS (abt 1823–?)
  • Harvey EDWARDS (abt 1824–1895) m. Jane HOLMES (daughter of John HOLMES, Jr. and Selah AVERITT)
  • Barbara EDWARDS (abt 1825–1910) m. John CAMPBELL,
  • Emanual EDWARDS (abt 1827–1864; Was killed at Drewry's Bluff while serving for the Confederacy during the Civil War.) m. Nancy MORRIS (1822–1865)
  • Thomas EDWARDS (abt. 1828–?)
  • Eliall EDWARDS, Jr.  (abt. 1830–?)
  • Henry EDWARDS (abt. 1832–?)
• Mary "Polly" EDWARDS possibly married William BOYD
• John EDWARDS

Regarding some of the speculation

• The reason I think Emanuel EDWARDS was the son of Isaac EDWARDS, Sr. is that Emanuel and Isaac EDWARDS bought land together from Reading BLOUNT which suggests they may be brothers. It seems possible, then, that Isaac Sr. would be the father of Isaac, and Emanuel.
• The reason I think Eliall EDWARDS's wife may have been Lovie HOLMES is because of various pieces of circumstantial evidence. In the 1810 census, Eliall's father, Emanuel, is living just a few houses away from Esther HOLMES and her children. Unfortunately, the well-meaning census taker of 1820 put the names in something resembling alphabetical order, so we get no clues on that one, but on 1830, John Holmes is just two pages over from Eliall, but Eliall is on the same page as James Creamer, to whom Lovie Holmes and her other siblings (Polly, Sevil, and William) sold land in 1820 (deed recorded in 1826). Finally, the EDWARDS and HOLMES families were very intertwined over a few generations so they were moving in the same circles. Eliall and Lovey's son, Harvey EDWARDS married Jane HOLMES, daughter of John HOLMES, Jr. (Lovie HOLMES's brother) and his wife, Selah  AVERITT (aka Celia AVERY).