Richard Lovell Edgeworth
Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1767-1849) the father of the immigrant, Richard Edgeworth, was an amazing man. In fact, there is a biography of his life entitled The Ingenious Mr. Edgeworth. Richard Lovell and his first wife, Anna Maria Elers, had four children, the oldest being Richard, immigrant to Cheraw District. His younger sister, Maria Edgeworth, the second child of Richard Lovell and Anna, was a renowned authoress, whose books are now in process of being republished. After the death of Anna Maria Edgeworth in 1773, and remarriage to Honora Sneyd, Richard Lovell relocated to what is now Edgeworthton, Ireland.
Richard, born May 29, 1764, in Oxfordshire, England, had an eventful youth, and is well documented in the book The American Edgeworths by Edgar E. MacDonald. This book is mostly a collection of letters written after the death of Richard between his wife and children, and Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Maria Edgeworth in Ireland. Here we find a wealth of genealogical information on the descendants of Richard Edgeworth. Richard arrived in the colonies sometime in the late 1780’s, first being in Virginia. Later he relocated to Charleston, and then to the upper Pee Dee River, in Marlboro County, where he was a tutor in the house of Claudius Pegues. There he met and married Elizabeth Knight. In 1795, the General Assembly of North Carolina passed a charter to Richard, William Pegues, and William Johnstone as commissioners for the purpose of building a town in Anson County, North Carolina, that became Sneedsboro, a well known resort town. Richard lost all this property and it was bought by William Johnston. Richard’s health failed, resulting in his death at the age of 32 years of age on August 19, 1796. His will of 1792, probated in Georgetown, was recorded in Anson County, NC. Richard and Elizabeth Knight Edgeworth had three children, the first two being named after their mother’s brothers, Nathaniel Lovell Edgeworth (May 1789-1872), Achilles Sneyd Edgeworth (December 25, 1791-August 4, 1858) and Richard Edgeworth (November 4, 1795-June 3, 1861). Around 1809, Elizabeth and her sons relocated to the Angelus area of Chesterfield County, SC. All three brothers moved on to Georgia and Alabama, but Richard returned and lived the remainder of his life a few miles east of current day Pageland.