Dr. John P. Edge

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Husband Dr. John P. Edge ¹

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           Born: 22 Jun 1822 - Caln Twp, Chester Co, PA 1
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         Father: John Edge (1785-1832) 1
         Mother: Ruth Wilkinson (      -      ) 1

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Wife

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - Dr. John P. Edge

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He was born in the old "Ship" tavern-house, in East Caln, later Caln township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was a farm-boy until eighteen years of age, and attended the neighborhood schools, except three years which were spent at Westtown Friends' Boarding-School. He then taught private and public schools, read medicine, and graduated M.D. at Jefferson Medical College in 1846, and entered upon the practice of his profession in Downingtown, which he pursued with success for thirty years.
He was a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania from Chester County during the sessions of 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878. His nomination was entirely spontaneous and unsolicited, and was an instance in which the office sought the man, and not the man the office. He served as chairman of the committee on Geologic Survey, and was also a member of the committees on Education, Agriculture, and Constitutional Reform. He originated and had passed the bill establishing the Board of Agriculture, which promised more of benefit to the farming interests than all else that had been done in that direction in the state. G. H. Morgan, in his "Legislative Sketch-Book," in speaking of Dr. Edge, says, "That his interest is especially centred in three questions that relate to the moral, industrial, and sanitary welfare of the masses was shown in the active part he took at the last session (1875) in his efforts to secure more enlarged accommodation for the poor of the State, and especially for the separate treatment of insane criminals, and by the fact that he presented more petitions, etc., to the House from the farming interest, and on questions of moral reform, than any other member."
He was a member of the Chester County Medical Society from its revival, and frequently represented it in the State and National Associations, and always endeavored to maintain the honor of the profession.
At the organization of the Board of Agriculture, in January, 1877, he was nominated by Governor Hartranft as a member for the State at large, and was, against his expressed wish, reappointed by Governor Hoyt.
On July 4, 1876, he made an address to the people of Downingtown, giving the history of the town and surrounding neighborhood, which was replete with interesting and instructive information.

1 J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1881), Pg 528.