BIRTH: 20 Oct 1766, Bedford, Virginia Colony, North America
DEATH: 4 Oct 1846, Cherryville, Crawford, Missouri, USA
FATHER: Unkonwn
MOTHER: Unknown
SPOUSE: Parmelia Jane Ewing (1770–1824)
William Coner Edgar was born on October 20, 1766, in Bedford, Virginia. He married Parmelia Jane Ewing on June 27, 1789, in his hometown. They had 11 children in 27 years. He died on October 4, 1846, in Cherryville, Missouri, having lived a long life of 79 years, and was buried there.
The Life of William Coner Edgar Sr
A Frontier Life Built on Mystery, Movement, and Family
William Coner Edgar Sr. entered the world in 1766, in a Virginia that was still a British colony. His birth came at a time when records were sparse, churches were scattered, and frontier families often left few written traces. For that reason, the names of his parents remain unknown, lost to the gaps in early Virginia record‑keeping. Yet the arc of his life — the places he lived, the family he built, the people he traveled with — tells us much about the world that shaped him.
A Young Man of the Virginia Backcountry
Though his parentage is unproven, William almost certainly grew up in the Virginia backcountry, a region defined by small farms, Scots‑Irish migration, and the constant push westward. By the 1780s, he was a young man of marriageable age living in or near Bedford County, a place where the Ewing, Dillon, and other frontier families were establishing themselves.
It was there, on 27 June 1789, that William married Permelia Jane Ewing, a young woman born in 1770. Their marriage bond survives in the Bedford County records — a rare and precious document that anchors William in a specific time and place. The surety on the bond was John Ewing, almost certainly a close relative of Permelia’s, and the minister was William Leftwich, a well‑known Bedford County officiant.
This marriage record is the earliest solid evidence of William’s life, and it marks the beginning of a partnership that would carry the couple across hundreds of miles of frontier.
The Move to Kentucky
Sometime between 1789 and 1804, William and Permelia joined the great migration into Kentucky, settling in Logan County, a region of rolling hills and fertile land. Their son, William Coner Edgar Jr., was born there in 1804, confirming the family’s presence in the county by that date.
By 1810, the Edgars were well established in Logan County, living among a cluster of Ewing, Dillon, and allied families. Although William Sr.’s own 1810 census entry is missing — likely due to lost pages — he appears clearly in the 1820 Logan County census, heading a household that included his wife and several children.
A Large Frontier Family
William and Permelia raised a large family typical of the era. Their children included:
- William Coner Edgar Jr. (1804–1880)
- Vicianus Edgar (1805–1880s)
- And several other sons and daughters whose names can be reconstructed from census patterns and later Missouri records.
These children would carry the Edgar name into the next generation of frontier settlement.
Widower and Westward Pioneer
In 1824, William’s wife Permelia died, leaving him a widower with children still at home. He never remarried — a notable choice in a time when widowers often sought a second spouse quickly for practical reasons. Instead, William seems to have relied on his older children as the family prepared for another move west.
By the late 1820s or early 1830s, William followed his adult children into Crawford County, Missouri, part of the expanding American frontier. There, in Osage Township, the Edgar family took root once again. William did not appear as a head of household in Missouri census records, suggesting he lived with one of his sons — most likely William Jr. or Vicianus — as he aged.
Final Years in Missouri
William lived long enough to see Missouri grow from a raw frontier to a settled state. He witnessed his children marry, establish farms, and raise families of their own. He died in 1846, likely in Crawford County, and was buried in a place now lost to time — another reminder of how easily frontier lives could slip from the written record.
Legacy of William Coner Edgar Sr
Although his parents’ names remain unknown, William Coner Edgar Sr.’s legacy is unmistakable. He left behind:
- A documented marriage in Bedford County
- A clear presence in Logan County, Kentucky
- A migration trail into Missouri
- A large family whose descendants spread across the Ozarks
- A name carried forward by generations who built farms, communities, and histories of their own
His life is a testament to the thousands of frontier men whose stories survive not through written records, but through the families they built and the paths they carved across early America.
Parents
FATHER: Unknown
MOTHER: UnknownMarried
Parmelia Jane Ewing (1770–1824) on 27 Jun 1789 in Bedford, Virginia
Children
- Mourning Edgar (1788–aft. 1839) married William R. Parrish (1782–1861)
- John Edgar (1790–1784)
- Mary Edgar (1795–1872) married John N Potter (1783-1864)
- Elizabeth Edgar (1800–?)
- William Coner Edgar Jr (1804–1880) married Charlotte F Dillon (1811–1880)
- Vicianus Edgar (1805–Aft. 1870) married Adelaide —- (1812–?)
- Sara Edgar (1807–?)
- James Edgar (1810–?)
- Nancy Edgar (1812–?)
- Permelia Edgar (1815–?)
- —- Edgar (?–?) a son (perhaps Lewis Edgar)
Documents
- Birth Records
- Find a Grave > Name: William Coner Edgar Sr, Birth: 20 Oct 1766, Bedford County, Virginia, USA
- Wedding records
- Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940 > Name: William Edgar; Gender: Male; Marriage Date: 27 Jun 1789; Marriage Place: Bedford, Virginia; Spouse: Parmelia Ewing; FHL Film Number: 30591; Reference ID: pg 220
- Death records
- Find a Grave > Name: William Coner Edgar Sr, Death: 4 Oct 1846 (aged 79), Crawford County, Missouri, USA
Relation of William Coner Edgar Sr to Karen Edgar: 4th great-grandfather
Page last updated May 18, 2026
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