INTRODUCTION

My interest in the Edzard line has a long history.  First, Edzard is not a very familiar surname.  And so I have always thought the ancestry line would be an easy find.  That has not been the case.  For 25 years, I have been compiling information.  Of course the critical source has been the internet.  Online sources have allowed me access to documents in England and Germany.  Searching sources has not always been easy and many translations from German have been conducted.  The persistence has paid off and I present to you the reader, a good history of the Edzard family.  I am sure there are other Edzard lines…but not many.  I will start as far back as is possible and present each ancestor as an individual.  As much information as could be found is included.  I am sure there is more – I just have not seen it!  Before I start, I present to you my lineage from me to the first known Edzard…13 generations!

Daniel Kenneth Drost

Mother Betty Lou Finnie

Grandfather Thomas James Finnie

GGrandfather Edzzard Gibbs Finnie

GGGrandfather Thomas James Finnie

GGGGrandmother Nancy Lightfoot Edzard

GGGGGrandfather William Edzard

GGGGGGrandfather James Edzard Sr.

GGGGGGGrandfather Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr.

GGGGGGGGrandfather Johann Esdras Edzard

GGGGGGGGGrandfather Esdras Edzard

GGGGGGGGGGrandfather Jodocus Edzardi

GGGGGGGGGGGrandfather Edzard Ludophi

The origin of the Edzard surname is historically associated with the Protestant Reformation, specifically in the region of northeast Germany.  The time was the early 16th century, a transitional era between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.  Edzard I (1461-1528), Count of East Frisia, was the most recognizable man of the day who was named Edzard.  There were a few others named Edzard before him in his ancestral line but Edzard I was most noteworthy.  His fame was not only defined by his rule over East Frisia and resistance to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.  Edzard I was a follower and proponent of Martin Luther and therefore a supporter of the Protestant Reformation.

Edzard I (top) and Martin Luther (bottom)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) initiated the Protestant Reformation when he questioned the practice of the Roman Catholic Church and the pope beginning in 1517.  Luther proclaimed that eternal life was dependent on belief and faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God.  Gifts or payments to the church for salvation and other good deeds were not the path, according Luther, to Heaven.  By 1530, Luther’s church had become the basis for the future of Christianity separate from the Roman Catholic Church.  This church would soon be officially known as the Lutheran Church and was located in Wittenberg.  And therefore, Wittenberg became the central location for Lutheran theology.

GENERATION I: EDZARD LUDOLPHI (circa 1560-1600)

Edzard Ludolphi, commonly called Middoch or Middochius (the Latin version of Middoch), was born between 1540 and 1570 (estimate based on son’s date of birth) in Germany to unknown parents.  His place of origin (and probable birth) was likely Middoge (also called Middoch or Muddoch), a small village in the Jever district, East Frisia (today a part of Friesland, Lower Saxony) on the North Sea coast.  Later in life, Middochius was a pastor at Tettens, a small village two miles east of Middoge.  His wife Dorothea (or Margaret) was a daughter of Jodocus von Glan (or Glanaeus – the Latin version of Glan, last name also found as von Glaner or Glan; born 1538, died 1614 in Jever) of Jever.  Middochius was probably a Lutheran pastor since he married the daughter of a Lutheran pastor (Father-in-law Jodocus von Glan was in Bremen as a pastor of St. Alsgar as early as 1569).  Middochius died at Tettens in 1600 as a young man (probably between 30 and 45). 

The ancestors of Middochius are not known but certainly they are, one way or another, connected to Edzard I, Count of East Frisia (1461-1528).  Middochius, whose given name was Edzard, was probably either 1) a descendant of Edzard I or 2) was named in his honor.  If an ancestor, Edzard I would have been approximately a great grandfather of Middochius (Edzard Ludolphi).  However, the descendants of Edzard I are fairly well known and no connection to Middochius is evident.

GENERATION II: JODOCUS EDZARDI (1595-1667)

Jodocus Edzardi was born 24 March 1595, the son of Edzard Ludolphi and Dorothea von Glan (also found to be Margaret von Glan).  Father Ludolfi was a pastor at Tetten, Oldenburg District, where the family lived at the time of Edzardi’s birth (birth location was also named as Jever).  According to the naming method of Dutch culture which strongly influenced the northwest German coastal region, patronymic names were included with given names to demonstrate lineage.  A child’s given name with a patronymic surname using the father’s given name with an added “-i” was a patronymic naming style of several European cultures.  Therefore, Edzard Ludolphi was the son of a man with the given name Ludoph and Jodocus Edzardi was the son of a man with the first name Edzard.  Note: Some sources present an alternate patronymic name for Jodocus Edzardi - Edzards, which also denotes “the son of Edzard.”

An early death of father Edzard Ludolfi in 1600 resulted in Edzardi’s move to Jever where he was raised by his maternal grandfather, the superintendent Jodocus von Glan (or Glanaeus – the Latin version of von Glan).  Edzardi assumed the name Glanaeus due to the influence of his grandfather and was henceforth known as Jodocus Edzardi Glanaeus. Grandfather Glanaeus recognized Edzardi as “talented and zealous” during his early studies at the town school in Jever.   He sent the youthful Edzardi to school in Ovelgunne and then to study Latin in Celle.  By 1615, Edzardi’s grandfather was dead, he had returned from Celle, and Johann Glaser had taken charge of his education.  Glaser sent Edzardi to Hamburg where his great uncle Lubberts von Glan (brother of Jodocus von Glan) placed him at the Gymnasium in Hamburg.  While at Hamburg, Edzardi began to attract attention from influential men such as Nicholas Hartkopf (senior pastor at St. Nikolai Church – Lutheran) and Sebastian von Berger (Hamburg mayor 1614-1623).  The connection to influential men would allow Edzardi to continue his intellectual advancement.  While in Hamburg, he met with misfortune when the house in which he lived burned taking all his books and notebooks.  He persisted and completed a public dissertation at the Hamburg Gymnasium.

  

Pictured first is Jodocus von Glan (1538-1614) and second is Wolfgang Franzius (1564-1628)

In 1617, Edzardi migrated to Wittenberg for the first Reformation Jubilee, a 100 year anniversary celebration of Martin Luther’s first reformation document that provoked the Protestant Reformation.  He was also drawn to the University of Wittenberg by the work of the recently deceased famous professor and Lutheran theologian Leonhard Hutter (1563-1616).  While attending the University at Wittenberg, Edzardi was infected by the plague and spent six weeks with exhausting fever, hovering between life and death.  He recovered and then immersed himself into theological, philosophical, and philosophical science studies.  His mentors were Jacob Martini, Balthasar Meisner, Friderich Balduin, Wolfgang Frankius, and Nicholaus Hunnius.  During Easter in 1619, Edzardi approached professor Wolfgang Franzius (1564-1628, Lutheran theologian) for an opportunity to preach at the Wittenberg castle church.  As the prophet of that Lutheran church, Franzius inquired what Edzardi would teach if offered a chance to preach.  Respectfully and courteously Edzardi replied that he would preach “the word of God…according to the…power given him by God.”  After Franzius posed a difficult bible passage, Edzardi quickly and skillfully explained to Franzius the proper way a listener should interpret that passage.  Satisfied with Edzardi’s response, Franzius exclaimed “Now, let thy preach.” 

About 1620, Edzardi earned a master’s degree from the University of Wittenberg and sought work in the Lutheran church.  During the next four years, he spent a few years at Magdeburg, where he began his work in August 1620.  At Billwärder an der Bille (River Bille), Oldenburg District in 1624, Edzardi was appointed pastor.  Billwärder was a Hamburgischen village about five miles southeast of Hamburg and close to his uncle Lubberts von Glan (his mother’s brother, 1566-1640).  While a pastor in the Oldenburg District, he married Barbara Gravelei (or Graveley) in 1624 (estimate; as late as 1628).  Note: Edzardi moved to Billwärder in 1624 which was the earliest in which a marriage into a Hamburg family could have taken place.  Edzardi’s son Esdras was born 28 June 1629 and therefore 1628 reveal that 1628 was the latest the marriage occurred.  She was the daughter of Claus Graveley (or Gravel) and his wife Elisabeth von Bergen, tenants of Hopfensaal (Hops Hall) in Hamburg.  Three children were known to have been born to this union.

Germany map (top) and (bottom) Lubberts von Glan (1566-1640)

His work in Billwärder was interrupted by a 1626 election in which the leaders of the St. Nikolai Church (the main Lutheran church in Hamburg) offered Edzardi the position of pastor at Michaelis Church (also St. Michael’s Church, at the time a small Lutheran church) in Hamburg.  Edzardi began his tenure in September 1626 under miserable conditions – in the midst of a Hamburg plague.  He spent every day visiting Hamburg residents who were sick and dying.  In the inner city Hamburg district of Neustadt (where Michaelis Church was located), 4,200 people who Edzardi considered his own parishioners died from the plague in 1628 alone.  Even his own young family was not spared (no evidence of whom in his family died, just that one or more members, likely young children, died).  During this plague, Edzardi maintained his health and was able to perform pastoral duties among a population that was suffering.

The plague in Germany

During Edzardi’s early life, several European peers (he may or may not have been familiar with) accomplished marvelous feats. Italians Bernini and Caravaggio, as well as Northern Europeans Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Rubens, produced historic artwork.  In England, William Shakespeare created wondrous written and performed plays.  German Johannes Kepler and Italian Galileo made significant astrological discoveries.  Rulers of the Holy Roman Empire were Ferdinand I (1619-1637), Ferdinand II (1637-1657), and Leopold I (1658-1705).  Kings of England were Charles I (1625-1649) and Charles II (1660-1685).

After the plague ended and over the next two decades, many Germans migrated to Hamburg repopulating the city.  This emigration occurred in the midst of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) when 8 million Europeans fell in religious wars across the continent.  As Hamburg grew, Michaelis church became so crowded during Edzardi’s sermons that windows were opened to allow those in the churchyard to hear.  The chapel was built around 1600 and six years later, the small attached expansion to accommodate a small congregation was erected.  After 40 years of growth, Edzardi led a charge beginning in 1646 to build a larger church to provide service to all Hamburg patrons.  The foundation stone was laid in Neustadt (200 meters from the existing small Michaelis church) during 1649 and the new Michaelis church was completed and inaugurated in 14 March 1661.  Edzardi delivered the introductory sermon from Psalm 84.  He was the first deacon at new Michaelis church.  He was supported by second deacon Johann Biester and third deacon Johann Surland.

St. Michael’s Church, completed 1661 (a photo of the church burning in the eighteenth century)

During his tenure at Michaelis church in Hamburg, Edzardi produced many written works, such as:

1.      1636 – Self-Defense for Children’s Baptism (Against the Rebrethren)

2.      1643 – Lutheran Reverberation: A True and Thorough Account of the Origin of Disputes in Religious Matters Between the Lutherans and the Calvinists

3.      1646 – The Temple Sermon Haggai, Declared and Repeated, the Christian Community in the New or Borstadt, and Other Heart-Loving Hearts to Build His House to the Lord

4.      1649 – Ground-Laying Preaching, Since the First Stone of the New Church was Laid in the New City of Hamburg, Which is to be Built and Consecrated to the Great Name of Saint Michael, the Prince of the Grotto, and the Living Son of God

5.      1651 – Spiritual Bath Cloth (Against the Re-Exhilarators)

The plague returned to Hamburg in 1664.  Edzardi’s second deacon Johann Biester perished in Neustadt, which was the most heavily affected district.  Those suffering in Neustadt were visited by the tireless pastor Edzardi who was on the road daily.  A young man newly infected by the plague approached Edzardi during one of his visits.  Edzardi “consoled him with God’s words and promised that he would come to him and give him the holy supper.”  However, once the man left, Edzardi was attacked by the disease.  Within three days, he had improved enough to continue his work though he still suffered.  In 1667 he became bedridden as a result of his most recent battle with the plague.  His wife Barbara was sickly and dying at the same time.  Though physically disabled, he retained possession of his spiritual powers, offering his wife holy conversations and prayers, particularly from Romans 8.  Edzardi perished on the same day he was born at age 72, the date was 24 March 1667.  He was buried in the choir of the Michaelis Church before the altar.  An epitaph was erected in his honor at Michaelis church praising him for having converted a Turk, an atheist, many Jews, and other opponents of Christianity in the name of his savior Jesus Christ.

Of the three children born to Edzardi and his wife Barbara, only one was alive at the time of Edzardi’s death in 1667 – Esdras Edzard, who was born 1629.  Another child was believed to have been Dorothea Edzard, born about 1636.  Historians believe Jodocus Edzardi dropped the patronymic surname suffix from his children’s names and hence his children held the surname Edzard.  Note: Several German biographies identify Esdras Edzard with the surname Edzardi.  Yet, other biographies caution that many biographies and histories incorrectly attribute Edzardi as Esdras’ surname and that is was indeed Edzard.

GENERATION III: ESDRAS EDZARD (1629-1708)

Esdras Edzard was born 28 June 1629 in Hamburg, the son of Jodocus Edzardi and Barbara Graveley.  He received a “careful” early education both from his father and at the Johanneum in Hamburg.  A period at a Hamburg gymnasium or high school completed Edzardi’s early instruction by 1647.  These learning experiences were accomplished at a time just prior to the end of the Thirty Years War (1648) and the start of his father’s Michaelis church cathedral building project (construction began in 1649).

Immediately after his early education, Esdras was sent by his father pastor Jodocus Edzardi (Glanaeus) to universities in Liepzig, Wittenberg, and Tübingen.  His training during this time was focused on theology and oriental languages.  Also, Esdras spent half a year at Zwickau where he studied under local rectors Johann Zechendorf (1580-1662; orientalist) and Christian Daum (1612-1687; philologist).  At Basel in 1650 and barely 21 years old, he became a disciple of the famous Johannes Buxtorf (1599-1664), chair of Hebrew language at the University of Basel.  Under Buxtorf at Basel, Esdras acquired a deep knowledge of the nature and language of Rabbinic Judaism and the Talmud.   After his work with Buxtorf was complete and with a bit more travel to broaden his knowledge (Strasbourg, Giessen, and Greifswald), Esdras returned home in 1655 at the request of his parents.  His “extraordinary thirst for more extended knowledge” compelled him to then journey to Rostock where he studied at the Protestant and Lutheran-supporting University of Rostock.  While at Rostock, Edzard made known his views about the Christian doctrine controversy between the Lutherans and the Jews.  His boldness earned him the privilege of holding theological public lectures at the university.  In 1656, he earned his doctorate from Rostock in theology and then returned to his home and his family in Hamburg permanently where he had departed nearly 10 years earlier.

Christian Daum (1612-1687) and Johannes Buxtorf the younger (1599-1664)

Esdras applied for many offices but never actually ran.  He was presented various faculty positions at universities but did not accept any of the propositions.  He was offered a professor position at the Johanneum in Hamburg but declined.  Instead, Esdras chose to serve as a “voluntary soldier of Christ serving the church.”  In other words, he worked unhindered as a missionary without salary.  His goal was to bring religious truth (according to Lutheran beliefs) to Catholics, Reformed, Anabaptists, Turks, Negroes, and especially Jews.  Perhaps his interest became focused on the conversion of Jews during his time spent with Buxtorf or any of the other men from whom he gained knowledge of the Jewish people, their history, and their language.   Note: some have stated that his interest in converting Jews and supporting Jewish converts was connected to a personal Jewish ancestry.  However, there is no credibility to that assertion and almost certainly a false legend.

To fulfill his religious objectives, Esdras was aided financially by his father Jodocus Edzardi’s estate (the Hamburg pastor of St. Michael’s Church), a vicarie (foundation) at the St. Michael’s church cathedral, and a rich maiden he made his wife on 26 January 1657.  This woman, also identified as a “rich virgin,” was named Angelika Leß, the daughter of George Leß (1604-1649) who was a businessman in Hamburg (he was originally from Goslar).  Her mother was a female in the merchant business named Amalie or Amelia (Pilgrim) Leß.  A Protestant history was passed to Amalie Pilgrim Leß from her father and Angelika Leß Edzard’s grandfather Pancratius Pilgrim.

Esdras and Angelika Edzard would have 10 children, including eight sons and two daughters.  However, only four sons and one daughter survived to become adults:

·         Jodocus Pancratius Edzard, born 1659 Hamburg

·         Georg Eliezer Edzard, born 22 January 1661 Hamburg

·         Johann Esdras Edzard, born 23 June 1662 Hamburg

·         Sebastian Edzard, born 1 August 1673 Hamburg

Edzard perfected his knowledge of the Hebrew language and the Talmud under the guidance of the chief Rabbi of Hamburg.  Because of Edzard’s developed Hebrew skills, many men visited him in Hamburg to perfect their own Hebrew efficiency.  They flocked to him in large numbers from Hamburg, across Germany, and beyond Germany’s borders.  Visitors included Lutheran clergyman August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), Lutheran theologian and oriental linguist Johann Andreas Danz (1654-1727), German linguist and Lutheran theologian Theodor Dassov (1648-1721), oriental linguist Hermann von der Hardt (1660-1746), and oriental linguist Johann Jakob Schudt (1664-1722).  Edzard would often speak to his visitors in the afternoons during which 50 to 60 listeners gathered to hear their teacher.

Francke (top), Danz (middle), and von der Hardt (lower) were students who visited Edzard to learn Hebrew

Edzard offered instruction in eastern languages to all those who were interested and would accept no compensation.  In addition to teaching oriental language, Edzard also preached regarding correct Lutheran understanding of sacred texts and of the evangelical Lutheran faith.  Because he was so popular, Edzard was involved in publishing several books.  Probably the most famous was the Consensus Antiquitatis Judaicae Super Locum Jerem (Consensus of the Place of Jewish Antiquity), published in 1670 at Hamburg.  Another book known as “the richly described Edzardian handbook of Yalkut Shimoni” was preserved at the Library of Inchsen.  The Yalkut Shimoni (or Yulkut) was a compilation or abridged version of the books of the Hebrew bible.

Beginning in 1671 and to 1708, Edzard led at least 148 Jews to baptism within his church.  Legend records that he steered as many as 100 Jews to Christianity between 1691 and 1698.  Many Jews across Germany verbally converted to avoid prosecution and then later apostatized (or reverted back to Jewish faith which meant they were never really convinced that their Jewish belief was incorrect in the first place).  However, Edzard’s converts consistently remained practicing Christians proclaiming Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah (only about one out of 40, on the average, apostatized).  Hamburg was a perfect location for Edzard’s work since so many Jews called Hamburg home.  Unlike many Lutheran theologians who converted Jews, Edzard cheerfully, laboriously, and lovingly cared for his own Jewish converts.  Loyal Jews were known to have guarded their own, fearful that Edzard would convert members of their community, especially their impressionable children.  One rabbi sent his son to Barbados yet upon his return, met Edzard and was “won to Christ.”  Another apostatized dying Jew and his children were reenergized by Edzard and the old Jew died soon after “rejoicing in the faith of the true God (in the form of the trilogy).”  Jesper Swedberg also reported that “he was much impressed by (Edzard’s) daily blessing his children by laying his hands on their head” (A Study of the Documentary Sources of His Biography, Covering the Period of His Preparation 1688-1744, Alfred Action, 1958).

Hamburg, Germany in the 1600s

Hamburg, Germany in 1680

To further support his converts, Edzard started a Hamburg foundation in 1677 called Proselyte-Anstalt (roughly translated Religious Convert Institution) that provided funding to care for Jewish proselytes (converts).  The foundation still exists and is commonly known as The Esdras Edzard Asylum for Jewish Proselytes.  During his fifty years as a Jewish missionary among the Jews of Hamburg, he was called “a veritable apostle to the children of Israel."

Edzard survived the 1664 Hamburg plague.  His father Jodocus Edzardi (called Glanaeus) died in 1667 and his wife Angelika died in 1688 after 31 years of marriage.  Fifteen years later after his mother’s death, he lost an adult son Jodocus Pancratius Edzard in 1703, the sixth child who had passed to heaven.  Edzard enjoyed exceptional health in his old age, which was a change from the ill health he often experienced during his youth.  Old age eventually affected his strength in the last two years before his death.  He remained professionally active even through sleepiness and loss of appetite in his last two weeks when he became bed ridden.  In his final days, he was delivered the Lord’s Supper by Pastor Hieronymus Pasmann (1641-1716), appealed to his sons to continue his Lutheran works, and charged his Jewish converts to remain faithful Christians.  About midday on 1 January 1708, Edzard fell into a soft sleep and never woke.  At the time of his death at age 78, Edzard’s congregation of Hebrew Christians in Hamburg numbered more than 500 members.

GENERATION IV: JOHANN ESDRAS EDZARD (1662-1713)

Johann Esdras Edzard was the third known son of Esdras Edzardi and Angelika Leß Edzard.  Johann’s parents had married in 1657 and he was born 23 June 1662 in Hamburg.  Young Johann attending school during his early years at Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums (Academic School of the Johannuem), a Gymnasium (grammar or high school) in Hamburg, Germany.  The school focused on teaching young children Latin and ancient Greek languages.  Also at Johannuem were his older brothers Jodocus Pancratius Edzard (born 1659) and Georg Eliezer Edzard (born 1661). 

After his early education, he was sent away from Hamburg by his father to further prepare for theological work.  He spent time at universities in Germany and Switzerland, specifically studying at Gießen in 1683 and Rostock in 1684.  His enrollment record at the University of Rostock was recorded in July 1684, the summer semester.  He was enrollee number 28 of 55 in 1684 while his brother Jodocus Pancratius Edzard was enrollee number 27.  They were each notated as originating in Hamburg.  While in Rostock, Johann was a private docent.  He graduated in 1685 and by 5 May 1685 was in Hamburg and among candidates for the Lutheran ministry.  Though no documentation exists, Johann may have achieved his doctorate at Rostock (Jesper Swedberg notes many times in his autobiography that Johann Esdras Edzard was known as Dr. Edzard or Dr. Edzardus).

Looking south across the Warnow River at the city of Rostock, about seven miles south of the Baltic Sea (H. P. Haack).

In 1686, Johann was appointed as pastor of the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, the oldest Lutheran church in London, England.  This church had received a Royal Charter in 1672 from King Charles II to accommodate German Lutheran merchants (mostly from Hamburg) living in London.  This Lutheran church was given the site of the former Holy Trinity the Less church that had been destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London.  The German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, named in honor of the former church located at that site, building was completed in 1673 and was located in Queenhithe ward at the eastern end of Knightrider Street on the south side.  The church was known by many names such as the Lutheran Trinity Church, the Protestant Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, the High German Lutheran Church, and the true Protestant High German Lutheran Church.

The previous pastor of the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane was Swede John Barkman.  He had been pastor there since 1672.  At Barkman’s death in 1686, the church recruited Johann Esdras Edzard as their new pastor.  Johann worked with church vestrymen Theodore and Jacob Jacobsen, sons of a Hamburg silk merchant and housemaster of the London Steelyard.  They were original members and founders of the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane.  The church was known to have actively assisted German countrymen who were preparing journeys to the New World (America) via a stop in London.  Also the church was known to follow the Lutheran principle – “faith, not nationality, ties Christians together.”

Queenhithe Ward on the north side of the Thames River.  The Lutheran Church is identified in this 1756 London map on the south of Trinity Lane, which is an extension of Knightrider Street.

The Lutheran Church on Trinity Lane in London

Johann was married to Agneta Brodermann of Hamburg.  She was born in 1662 and was the daughter of Hamburg native Diedrich Brodermann and Margaretha Held.  The location of their marriage is unknown but since Agneta’s father was born and died (1676) in Hamburg, the marriage was likely in Hamburg and occurred between 1685 and 1690.  They had the following known children:

·         Esdras Theodore Edzard, born 1691 in London

·         Angelica Margaretha Edzard, born 1692 in London

·         Gustav Jacob Edzard, born 1694 in London

·         George Eberhard Edzard, born circa 1694 to 1695 in London

1691 Baptismal Record of Esdras Theodore Edzard

The naming pattern for Johann’s children reveals some interesting information.  Obviously, Johann named his first known son after his father Esdras.  Theodore could have been used to honor Johann’s vestryman at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane – Theodore Jacobsen.  Johann’s second known son was given the name middle name Jacob which could have honored another vestryman at the church and brother of Theodore – Jacob Jacobsen.  Johann’s daughter was named after both his own mother and his wife’s mother.  And certainly George was named after Johann’s brother George Eleazer Edzard.

Many of the records left by Johann Esdras Edzard (at least those that are available to this researcher) are in the form of signed certificates verifying the acceptance of sacraments (the Lord’s Supper).  Lutheran pastors administered physical sacraments with God’s word to offer assurance that sins were forgiven and that salvation was eternal.  Johann’s recorded sacraments (the ones I have seen) were given to Gerrard Muysken (1690), Elizabeth Muysken (1690), John Dorryes (1690), Carl Isaacs (1690), John James Nicolai (1692), Henry Sperling (1695), David Langenmantel (1698), Reinier Sbuelen (1698), Hans Jacob von Strassen (1699), Servas Latomus (1699), John Nieman (1700), Baltzar Lyell (1700), John William Lutkens (1700), and Samuel Reimers (1700).  Other records reveal that Johann Esdras Edzard signed recommendations for congregation members to travel.  On 25 September 1705, Johann recommended Esdras Marcus Lichtenstein and his son to Hamburg.  On 28 March 1706, he recommended Frederick Pasdorff and Christopher Wilkins to Holland.  And on 16 May 1706, Johann recommended John Neiman, Daniel Kroger, George Prigg, George Seidell, Gethard Lupkins, son Gustav Edzard (12 years old), and himself to Holland.

On 17 May 1693, Johann Esdras Edzard (the record states Mr. John Esdras Edzard) received passes for his family to travel to Gravesend, England and Hamburg, Germany.  Those who received passes included his wife Angelika, two children (Esdras Theodore Edzard – born 1691 – and Angelica Margaretha Edzard – born 1692), an unknown man, and a maid servant (Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of William and Mary, volume 4, page 141).  Gravesend was located at the mouth of the Thames in London and may have been a port of embarkation for the group.  Their ultimate destination was certainly Hamburg to visit family and work that would have been related to Johann’s church or his education.

As a pastor in London, Johann wrote sermons that would be heard and read by Lutherans in London and across Europe.  These sermons were written in German and also translated into the English language.  In 1696, F. Collins of London printed a 26 page sermon delivered by Johann Esdras Edzard on 16 April 1696 to his congregation at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane.  James Knapton, who was involved in many published theological and religious books, presented the sermon to Collins to be printed at the Crown in St. Paul’s Church Yard.

Another Johann Esdras Edzard sermon was printed and published in 1702.  This sermon was known as “God Save the Queen! The Most Hearty Acclamations of the Lutherans in London, Expressed at the Royal Proclamation and Coronation of Her Most Sacred Majesty Queen Anne; By the Grace of God, Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith” and was  delivered to Johann’s German Lutheran Church congregation in Trinity Lane.  The translation from German to English was delivered by publisher Thomas Bennet to printer F. Collins at the Half Moon in St. Paul’s Church Yard.

Johann was both similar and different to his father Esdras Edzard.  Unlike his father, Johann held the position of pastor.  Yet Johann also sought to convert Jews to the Christian belief so that their souls could be saved and find eternal rest in Heaven.  When Johann Edzard was in Strasbourg, Germany, he met a Jew who feared for his life due to his beliefs.  The discrimination of Jews was common in Germany and across Europe.  This particular Jew reported that Johann “begat me into Christ utterly convincing and faithfully instructing me and by the grace of God, made me a member of the church of Christ presenting me to his congregation where I delivered my confession and was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”  In another account, Johann happened to meet a rabbi named Yom Tov of Prague who was visiting London in 1693.  This Jew, who changed his name to Theodore John, reported “like a spiritual father (Johann Edzard) begat me into Christ, utterly convincing and faithfully instructing me.”  One source reported that (Esdras) Edzard’s son (John Esdras Edzard), a preacher in London, brought several Jews to a knowledge of Christ (History of London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews from 1889 to 1908).

The method Johann used to convert Jews revolved around convincing Jews of the “gross and blind errors of Judaism and of their vain waiting for the Messiah.”  Johann instructed that all Jewish doctrine was incorrect and that waiting for the Messiah was a waste of time since the Messiah had already come.  Johann produced his own baptismal catechism that included fifty four questions which persons baptized must answer with agreement.  These questions dealt with the New Covenant, the Virgin Birth, the meaning of baptism, and mostly – the true Messiah.  The emphasis on Jesus Christ as the Messiah was nothing new to Lutherans however Johann’s distinctive approach featured the profound emphasis on the Messiah.

Johann Esdras Edzard was not the only Esdras Edzard offspring that followed their father into Lutheran supportive professions.  Johann’s oldest brother Jodocus Pancratius Edzard, as a student, traveled to German cities densely populated with Jews.  His goal – to dispute religious beliefs.  He even visited the famous Rabbi Abendada at his Frankfurt synagogue to discuss theology.  While traveling, he oversaw the conversion of many Jews.  His work prepared him for a return to Hamburg where he worked with his father converting Hamburg Jews.  Brother George Eliezer Edzard first became a professor of history, Greek, and oriental languages and later Rector at the Akademischen Gymnasium (Academic High School) in Hamburg.  He produced transcriptions of Jewish texts and other Lutheran pamphlets from German to Latin.  Youngest brother Sebastian Edzard followed his older brothers to Wittenberg, enrolling there in 1694.  The next year he worked at Wittenberg as an adjunct philology faculty member.   He then accepted a job as professor of logic and metaphysics at the Akademischen Gymnasium in Hamburg where he worked alongside brother George.  His spare time was spent as a missionary to convert Jews and was credited with 24 conversions.   

On 15 May 1705, Theodore Jacobsen, a founder and vestryman at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, brought charges against Johann Esdras Edzard and others as defendants.  The complaint and trial specifics are unknown as are the remaining players named as plaintiffs and defendants.  Theodore Jacobsen and his family were merchants who were charter members of the first Lutheran Church in London.  The Jacobsen family ran the London Steelyard where Jacob Jacobsen served as housemaster from the 1660s until 1680 when his brother Theodore attained leadership.

Grandmother Angelika Edzard died in 1688 when Johann was 26.  Though he experienced the loss of siblings when he was a child, the first of his adult siblings to pass to heaven was his oldest brother Jodocus Pancratius Edzard who died in 1703 during just his 44th year.  However, perhaps the greatest loss was in 1708 when his father Esdras Edzard died at an advanced age.

Fulham to Queenhithe (location of the German Lutheran Church) map

By 1710, Johann Esdras Edzard lived at Fulham, a beautiful village upstream on the Thames north bank and about five miles southwest of London.  His home was also described as having a fine garden (A Study of the Documentary Sources of His Biography, Covering the Period of His Preparation 1688-1744, Alfred Action, 1958).  A neighbor in Fulham was the Bishop of London Henry Compton (1632-1713).  Compton often held open houses and would invite neighbors to eat at his home.  Just a few doors from Johann lived scandalous Adrian Beverland, a Dutch philologist and writer who wrote against English clergy and was considered exiled at Fulham.

Eric Alstrin (1683-1762)

Johann signed recommendations in his role as minister of the German Lutheran Church.  These recommendations appeared to have been related to travel.  On 16 May 1706, Johann Esdras Edzard signed recommendations for John Neiman, Daniel Kroger, George Prigg, George Seidell, Gethard Lupkins, and two others.  On the same day, he signed a recommendation for himself and his 11 or 12 year old son Gustav Jacob Edzard.  The record revealed that these men were destined to travel to Holland.

At Johann’s home in Fulham, Eric Alstrin (1683-1762) was asked to reside with his family and serve as tutor for Johann’s sons Esdras Theodore Edzard, Gustav Jacob Edzard, and George Eberhard Edzard (this was between 1709 and 1712).  For Alstrin’s service, Johann taught the young man oriental languages (Johann had many visitors who visited him to learn oriental languages, such as Jesper Swedberg).  The education would serve Alstrin well as he would later become a Swedish professor and Bishop of Strangnas, Sweden.  Alstrin was just one of many scholars who lived with the Johann Esdras Edzard family.  For example, another Swede named Martin Hegardt resided at the Edzard Fulham home (also between 1709 and 1712) and was later elected pastor in a Lutheran Protestant church, ordained by Johann Esdras Edzard, named professor of theology at Lund University in Sweden, and chosen to host Swedish King Charles XII in his home for two years (A Study of the Documentary Sources of His Biography, Covering the Period of His Preparation 1688-1744, Alfred Action, 1958).  Hegardt was naturalized by oath in Westminster, London in 1710 at the same time as German Agneta (Brodermann) Edzard (assumed to be the wife of Johann Esdras Edzard) and German Lutheran theologian Balthasar Mentzer (records from Letter of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland).

Henry Compton (top), Balthasar Mentzer (middle), and the 1713 City of London Tax Record for Portsoken (bottom)

According to London tax records, Johann owned a living in house at Portsoken which was less than a half mile due west of Johann’s church.  However, late in the same year, Johann Esdras Edzard died in London at the age of just 51 years.  The most accepted date for his death was 15 November 1713 (also found to be 4 November 1713 and 10 May 1714).  His will was written 28 April 1713 and he stated:

In the name of the holy and ever blessed trinity I John Esdras Edzard of the parish of Saint Michael Queenhith London, minister to the High German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane being through God’s mercy in health of body and of a sound and perfect mind considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the hour thereof and being unwilling to dye intestate do make this my last will and testament by which I remit my soul to God my maker and creator hoping through the full and everlasting merit of Jesus Christ my dear and blessed savior to receive a full and free pardon and remission of all my great and manifold sins whatsoever wherewith I have offended his dreadful majesty fully assured of his grace and mercy in his dearly beloved son towards all penitent sinners according to the infallible dictates of his holy spirit in the gospel I remit my body to the earth to be buryed without any pomp in the vault of the Lutheran Church at the discretion of my son Esdras Theodor Edzard…

He gave “…to the poor of the said Lutheran Church ten pound sterling in money to be distributed amongst them at the discretion of the said my son…”  Also he gave “…further ten pound in books towards the erecting of a small library for the use of the minster schoolmaster or any member of the congregation more particularly towards the information of the poor children in the German language and Christian religion.”  He revealed that he had assets “in the Bank of England (central bank of England, London), East Indian Company (a joint stock company, London), South Seas Company (a joint stock company, London), the Queen’s Exchequer (London), the Emperor’s Loan (London), and the Admirable Society for a Perpetual Assurance (the first life insurance company in the world, London).”  All those assets were given to his three sons.  And, a wife was not mentioned.  Some histories report her death as 1721 but since she was not mentioned in the will, she must have died prior to 1713.  A funeral oration was written for Johann Esdras Edzard by another Lutheran pastor in London - Balthasar Mentzer.  

Balthasar Mentzer IV

Who was Balthasar Mentzer?  He was actually Balthasar Mentzer IV, son of a German theology professor.  Mentzer was tutored by Esdras Edzard in Hamburg, Germany and became a German Lutheran theologian.  He traveled throughout Germany, Holland, and England.  In London, he preached to German Lutheran congregations and became the successor of Johan Esdras Edzard after his death.  Mentzer attempted to publish a British Church History started previously by Johan Esdras Edzard but he was unable to find a publisher to complete the book.  

After the death of Johann Esdras Edzard, his sons were less productive and therefore, harder to track.  Gustav Jacob Edzard married Astrea (unknown surname), lived Covent Garden where he attended St. Paul Church, lived later at Cordwainer, London where he attended St. Mary Aldemary Church, and had at least one son Gustav born about 1722 and one daughter Anna Maria born about 1730.  George Eberhard Edzard, like Gustav, lived at Covent Garden, Middlesex where he was married to Ann (unknown surname) and had at least one son named John Edzard (who was born about 1714 and died young about 1718).  Esdras Theodore Edzard moved to Norfolk and led an interesting life that was led him across the Atlantic Ocean…

This man’s name has been variously recorded in many different forms: Johann Esdras Edzard was also called Edzard, Johann E. Edzardi, Joann Ezra [Zedler] Edzardi, Joannes Ezra Edzardi, Johann Esdras Edzardi, Johann Esdra Edzardi, John Esdras Edzardi, Johann Ezra Edzardi, John Esdras Edzard, John Esdras Edzard, John Esdra Edzard, Johann Esdra Edzard, Johann Ezra Edzard, John Esdras Edzard, Jean Esdras Edzard, and Ioannes Esdras Edzardus.

GENERATION V: ESDRAS THEODORE EDZARD SR. (circa 1691-1734)

Esdras was almost certainly born in London during the first half of 1691.  His parents, Johann Esdras Edzard and Agneta Brodermann, lived in or near London where his father was the pastor of the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane.  On 3 July 1691, Esdras Theodore Edzard was baptized in London, England (unknown church).

He was reared in Fulham (near London) with two younger brothers: Gustav Jacob Edzard and George Eberhard Edzard (from their father’s will dated 1713).  They were provided an education by both their father and men he hired as tutors.  Their education was thorough and would have focused on theology and languages – a family tradition (assumed education content based on family tradition).  Having a father who was the leader of a large and influential church meant they lived comfortably.

His grandparents lived in Germany.  He only knew two grandparents as his father’s mother and his mother’s father died prior to his birth.  The Johann Esdras Edzard family were likely frequent visits to Germany (several records giving them permission to travel reveal this fact).  Yet in 1707 his mother’s mother Margaretha Held-Brodermann died and then the next year his father’s father died.  The connection to Germany had significantly diminished.

When only about 22 and in the year 1713, Esdras Theodore Edzard’s father Reverend John Esdras Edzard passed away.  His mother Agneta became a widow and whether she remarried is unknown (his mother was not mentioned in his father’s will so she may have been deceased; another records reports her death in 1721).  However, Esdras Theodore Edzard himself married within four years.  His wife was Elizabeth (surname unknown) and by 1717 they were in Norfolk County, England which was about 100 miles north of London.  Their first child of record was Esdras Theodore Edzard Jr., baptized 24 August 1717 (probably born 1717) at St. Mary’s Church at Houghton on the Hill Parish in Norfolk County (the record was also found at North Pickenham where Houghton on the Hill was located; Houghton on the Hill no longer exists).  A second child George Eleazer Edzard was born about 1717 or early 1718.  Sadly, he died and was buried 2 January 1718 (also found 23 January 1718) at All Saints Church, South Pickenham, Norfolk County, England.  George was baptized the same day he was buried (which meant he was likely very young or just born).  Note: The reason Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. was in Norfolk County is unknown.  His arrival there could have been for several reasons: 1) following his widowed or newly married mother, 2) as a clergy man, or 3) because his new wife Elizabeth was connected to Norfolk County.

St. Mary’s Church in Houghton in the Hill Parish

All Saints Church, South Pickenham Parish, Norfolk, England

No records have been found to establish Esdras Theodore Edzard’s whereabouts between 1718 and 1726.  Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr.’s mother Agneta Edzard is reported to have died in 1721.  A primary source for this record has not been seen and may have been incorrect (she was not identified in her husband’s will in 1713).  In 1726, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. reappeared in England clergy records.  Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. (known as Edzardus Theodorus Edzardi in the record) was ordained as a deacon on 5 June 1726 at St. Paul’s Cathedral Church.  This action was in the jurisdiction of Edmund Gibson of London.  Four days later, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. was ordained as priest on 9 June 1726 at the Chapel Royal Church at St. James’s Place in London.  This action was also performed under Edmund Gibson of London.  His movement from deacon to priest in four days is somewhat unprecedented for an English clergyman seeking an English post as a minister.  Most priests were deacons for at least one year to more than two years before their promotion.  However, the short turnaround from deacon to priest was status quo for preparing ministers for service in the American colonies.

Recruitment of English men for church leadership in the American colonies was made easy because there was an oversupply of English clergymen.  Rather than risk working toward a career that offered little chance for promotion, English men often took a chance across the Atlantic.  These risk takers generally viewed the colonial appointment as temporary and merely missionary work.  Clergy work in the colonies was not much to look forward to – modest and normally tardy income, poor living quarters, scarcity of books, and uncertain job security.  Because Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. would have viewed this assignment as temporary, his family most likely stayed in England.

On another note, the connection between an Edzard and the Protestant Church of England is surprising due to the long Edzard connection to the Non-Protestant Lutheran church.  Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr.’s father was a pastor in the German Lutheran Church but had died in 1713.  So likely at some point soon after 1713, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. became active in the Church of England.  Interestingly, the Church of England was not completely opposed to Lutheranism.  They actually maintained a doctrine that was in agreement to both Lutheran and Catholic traditions.  In other words, when the Protestant Reformation occurred, the Church of England agreed with many of the reformation positions.

Note: Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. could have lived prior to 1726 in the American colony. For example, James Maury served the colony’s established church in the colony and sailed to England in 1742 to seek ordination from Edmund Gibson.  He returned soon after his ordination and took charge of St. John’s Parish in King William County, Virginia.  William Douglas was an Englishman serving as a private tutor in Virginia.  He returned to England, was ordained by Edmund Gibson, was offered the King’s Bounty, and returned to Virginia as rector for Goochland Parish.  These examples provide an alternate explanation of how and why Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. ended up a minister in the American colonies and possibly why he has not been found in English records between 1718 and 1726.  However, he is not found in American records during that time either.  

The Bishop of London Edmund Gibson (1669-1748)

Within a month of being ordained a priest, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. (recorded as Esdras Theodor Edgardi) was appointed a minister on 8 July 1726.  The diocese or geographic jurisdiction on the record was designated as West Indies and the location was to be at the Island of Virginia.  The appointment was once again within the jurisdiction of Edmund Gibson of London.  Also appointed minister on the same day and for the same location was Thomas Pender.  Georgius Thomas was appointed a month before sending him to the same location.  Minister was the designation for the leader of a church in the American colony.  These ordainments and appointments must have been unique since they were carried out for leaders of American colony churches.

So at some time before June 1726, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. was planning to take charge of a Church of England parish in the American colonies.  On 12 July 1726, just four days after he was appointed minister, he received the King’s Bounty for Virginia and 20 pounds.  A King’s Bounty was given to clergymen licensed by the Bishop of London Edmund Gibson for passage to the colonies.  Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. arranged his own travel and used the 20 pounds to defray the overall expenses (unless the American colony parish had raised funds for his travel).  The total one way expense was about 30 pounds for the four week sea journey.

Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. was definitely in the American colony by 1727.  Documents report he had settled in King George County, Virginia by 1727 and was the Church of England leader of Hanover Parish, also in King George County (The Colonial Clergy of Virginia).  Other sources identify Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. as an Episcopal minister.  On 6 February 1727, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. presented a petition to the Virginia House of Burgesses for their consideration.  According to the Journal of the House of Burgesses (1727-1734) “The petition of Esdras Theodor Edzard clerk, Minister of Hanover Parish in King George County, (was presented to the House) praying that the Vestry of the said parish may be compelled to pay him for extraordinary services and boarding, and that the Laws concerning Glebe-Houses may be explained.”  Unfortunately for Edzard, the House of Burgesses resolved that the petition be rejected. 

By 1730, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. appeared to have removed to Maryland, probably due to the hardships he endured as the leader of Hanover Parish.  He was listed as one of 25 clergy in the Maryland colony in 1730.  He was also found to have been rector for Westminster Parish and headquartered at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church throughout the early 1730s (1730 until 1734).  Westminster Parish was one of four parishes in Ann Arundel County, Maryland.  The position was left vacant in 1730 by a Reverend Samuel Edgar’s removal (assorted records).  Edgar came to Westminster as an unmarried clergyman holding a previous rectorship for a parish in Virginia.  Edgar had been removed from his Virginia position after being accused of inappropriate drinking habits.  Reverend Jacob Henderson of St. Anne’s Parish wrote a letter to the Bishop of London Edmund Gibson on 27 October 1730 – “Two clergymen that were drove from Virginia for immoralities have been inducted here (Maryland), the Revd. Mr. Edzar and the Revd. Mr. Wye. In short our Governor sticks at nothing.  He joyns in the loud cry of the immoralities of the clergy and, at the same time, rejects none that come to him.”  Possibly related to that letter was a complain several months earlier (July 1730) by Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. who wrote a letter to Bishop of London Edmund Gibson complaining of poor treatment by a Reverend Jacob Henderson.  Note: Considering Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. was rector of Westminster Parish by July 1730 and the Henderson letter written in October 1730, the reference to Edzar would appear to relate to Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr.  However, Samuel Edgar did not leave Maryland after he left Westminster Parish and he retained rectorships at other Maryland parishes (he was rector at St. Anne’s Parish in Ann Arundel County by 1744).  So, the Reverend Mr. Edzar that Henderson mentioned was actually “Edgar.”

The location of Charles County, Maryland, just across the Potomac River from King George County, Virginia

In March 1733, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. was still rector of Westminster Parish in Ann Arundel County, Maryland.  He was one of thirteen Parish rectors that petitioned the Province of Maryland on 30 March 1733.  At this Maryland Court meeting, the clergymen requested that payment for their services be made in paper currency, like other public officers.  Jacob Henderson led the petition as the commissary for the Bishop of London. 

Later in 1733, Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. appears to have removed to William and Mary Parish, Charles County (1734 & 1735 Charles County probate).  He must have become the rector there but only for a short time (1734 and 1735 Charles County probate).  Note: William and Mary Parish appears to have been without a rector during some part of 1733 and Edzard likely filled that spot.  Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. appeared to have died in late 1733 or early 1734.  His estate was first mentioned in Charles County records as early as 1 February 1734.  A subsequent record was dated 5 December 1734 (some family histories list his death date as 5 December 1734 but this is not correct).  This record identified Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr.’s appraisers as Charles Yeats and Edward Ford, creditors as Barton Waring and William Warder, and administrator as John Philpott of Charles County (this could have been the inventory).  There appears to have been no actual will and so the estate was intestate.  However, in the estate record, administrator John Philpott identified “no kin in Maryland.”  Note: other probate records simply list “no kin” and therefore the statement “no kin in Maryland” certainly means that he had kin elsewhere – in this case England.  Note: In July 1752, the Charles Musgrave estate of Charles County paid Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. “representatives” on a debt owed.

On 13 January 1735, the estate sale was conducted with sureties Charles Musgrove and Charles Philpott, and also John Philpott as administrator, all representing the interests of Edzard.  The estate paid many individuals and received payments on debts from William Cumming and the vestry of William and Mary Parish (which may support the hypothesis that Edzard had become the William and Mary Parish rector).  William and Mary Parish would have owed Edzard for his services to the parish as rector.  On 12 July 1736, the Edzard estate made additional payments to individuals and received payment from Nicholas Maccubbin.

Clergymen in the colonies often left detailed instructions for the administration of their items in the event of their death.  This was true mainly for bachelors and men who family who had remained in England.  For example, Reverend Samuel Edgar, who was rector of Westminster Parish prior to Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. and later of St. Anne’s Parish, died in 1745.  He left instructions that he wanted no funeral sermon at his burial, his affairs settled by a parishioner, his clothes left to the family he lived with, a sale of his belongings, and the money from that sale sent to his family in London.

Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. obviously did not have a family living in Maryland.  His family was not there as they were still in Norfolk, England where two of his children had been baptized (Esdras Theodore Edzard Jr. and George Eleazer Edzard).  His other known son James Edzard must have been born between 1718 and 1734 (no record of birth or baptism, probably closer to 1718 to 1724).  After Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. died in 1734, his widow Elisabeth/Elizabetha may have married Thomas Scarlett, a widower.  She was listed as a widow in their marriage record.  Both were living in East Harling, Norfolk County, England and they married at St. Peter and St. Paul Church in East Harling.  After this marriage, Elizabeth’s activities were unknown.  Her hsuband Thomas Scarlett may have died in Norfolk County in 1742 (a Thomas Scarlett was buried 3 May 1742 at East Dereham, St. Nicholas Parish, Norfolk County).  She was still alive in 1762 (and appeared to be in America living in Virginia) but was known then as Isabel (a variant of Elizabeth) Odle (or Odell).  Her second husband must have died and she married an unknown Odle/Odell in either England or America.  Her arrival date in America is unknown.  

Norfolkshire and London, England.  East Larling (marriage of widow Elizabeth Edzard), South Pickenham (burial of George Eleazer Edzard), and Houghton on the Hill (actually North Pickenham; baptism of Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr.)

Two Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. children are known from baptismal records.  Others are known from one of those son’s (Esdras Theodore Edzard Jr.) 1762 will.  This will identifies the following additional siblings of Esdras Theodore Edzard Jr.: James Edzard (who he shared at least a father with), Rebecca (who was married to a Platt in 1762), and Mary (whose last name was Odle/Odell in 1762).  The sisters of Esdras Theodore Edzard Jr. could have been half-sisters that were born after his mother Elizabeth/Isabel remarried (either/or Scarlett or Odle/Odell).

So the known children of Esdras Theodore Edzard Sr. were:

·         Esdras Theodore Edzard Jr., born circa 1716-1717

·         Georgius Eleazer Edzard, born circa 1717-1718

·         James Edzard, born circa 1720-1734

And other possible children were (these are considered full or half siblings of Esdras Jr.):

·         Rebecca

·         Mary