Background
John Edwards (granduncle of John East Leonard) was born in Ivy Mills, Pennsylvania.
United States representative lawyer politician
John Edwards (granduncle of John East Leonard) was born in Ivy Mills, Pennsylvania.
He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1807 and commenced practice in Chester, Pennsylvania.
He was deputy attorney general for Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in 1811. He moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1825 and shortly thereafter engaged in the manufacture of iron and later of nails near Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. Edwards was elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-sixth Congress and reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress.
After his time in congress, he resumed his former manufacturing pursuits, and died on his estate near Glen Mills in 1843.