E.T. Edwards, Gainesville Texas

Eugene Taylor Edwards

I wasn't sure I would be able to figure out which Edwards family this little guy came from or how he might be connected to the Moran family. Even with a photograph that has been annotated I sometimes come up with dead ends but I believe I came across enough clues to identify him as Eugene Taylor Edwards, a very distant Moran relative.

Eugene Taylor Edwards was born September 15, 1889, in Gainesville, Texas.   He was the son of Pattie Ophelia Taylor and Little Berry (L.B./Berry) Edwards.  

L.B. Edwards was born about 1843 in Dresden, Weakley County Tennessee.    His father was Thomas Cotton Edwards who was originally from Sumner County Tennessee but moved to Dresden sometime after 1820. L.B.'s mother was Pauline Bransford Bondurant, originally from Buckingham Virginia.  L.B. was just one of about 15 Edwards children.

L.B. Edwards served with John W. Moran in the 31st Infantry TN (Col A.H. Bradford) CSA. Records indicate he was just 18 years old in 1862. His future wife, Pattie, was just one year old in 1862.

Pattie Taylor Edwards

Pattie Ophelia Taylor was born in 1861 in Brownsville, TN. She was the daughter of Samuel E. Taylor and Mariana Green.  She and L.B. were married November 23, 1886, in Haywood County, Tennessee.  Their son Eugene Taylor Edwards was born September 15, 1889.  

L.B. Edwards died on April 8, 1900.  He was interred in Fairview Cemetery in Gainesville where several other Moran Texas relatives are interred as well.

Starting about 1912, I came across passport records for Pattie that even included a photo.  It seems she began to travel with some of her destinations being Cuba and Hawaii.  

Pattie Ophelia Taylor Edwards died August 17, 1936 in El Paso.  She was interred with her husband in Gainesville.

As for Eugene, I came across a wedding announcement in the El Paso Evening Post dated July 26, 1928, that indicated he was a graduate of the High School in Gainesville, Texas, where he lived prior to moving to El Paso.  From there he was a graduate of the University of Virginia and then of Harvard.  He was an attorney with the law firm of Lea, McGrady, Thomason & Edwards.

He married Mary Rebecca Hayes on June 18 1928 at the Methodist church of Morganfield, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Richard Foster Hayes and Mai Elizabeth Jenkins. Mary had made her home in El Paso a few years earlier where she taught at El Paso High School.

Eugene and Mary had two children: Katherine Elizabeth Edwards and Berry Hayes Edwards. Katherine was born in 1929 and died in 2015.  She married Edward Bruner Crain.  Berry was born in 1931 and died in 2010.  He married Ruth Helen Deutsch.

Mary Rebecca Hayes Edwards died August 11, 1977.  Eugene Taylor Edwards died the following year on May 20, 1978.  They are both interred at Restlawn Memorial park.

Scott Home, Gainesville Texas, ca. 1870's

We believe this is the home of Rufus Franklin Scott and his wife Martha Helen Moran, the sister of John Williamson Moran.  The Scott's made their way to Gainesville Texas in 1858 in a rockaway carriage with their three slaves which had been given to them as wedding presents.

The couple had five children: William, Moran, Arthur Carroll, Oscar Franklin and Berry.   Arthur Carroll Scott would go on to become a leading cancer specialist and co-founder of the Scott and White Hospital which is now known as the Scott & White Healthcare, one of the country's leading multi-specialty groups in the United States.  His death in 1940 was attended by such notables as Governor and Mrs. W. Lee O'Daniel, seven past presidents of the Texas Medical Association, a president of the American Medical Association as well as many other colleagues, friends and family.

Mr. and Mrs. James Moran Guests of Mrs. Scott

Mr. and Mrs. James Moran of Dresden Tenn. arrived in Gainesville Friday for a short visit with Mrs. Annie I. (Irvine) Scott, 326 South Denton street.

Mr and Mrs. Moran have been guests of their son, Harold Scott, in Oklahoma City, for several days.  From here they will go to Fort Worth to visit other relatives.

Mr. Moran is a nephew of the later Mrs. R.F. Scott of Gainesville, whose maiden name was Moran.  The Moran and Scott families' originial home is in Dresden, from which place Mr. and Mrs. R.F. Scott came to Gainesville in 1858, a year after their marriage in Tennessee.

James Moran is retired from active business.







We aren't sure who Harold Scott of Oklahoma City was.  The Moran's did not have a son named Harold.  I thought it might've been Annie Scott's son but at this time we haven't found any record of her having a son.  She and her ex-husband Oscar Scott had two girls: Orlean and Mary Irvine Scott

Orlean Scott - 6 yrs old

Orlean Scott, age 6.  Taken in Gainesville, TX.  She is part of the Scott branch of the Moran family tree.

Transcribed back side: With Love From Orlean Scott.  Age 6 years.  June 24, 1900.