William G. and Paulina Renfro Edwards
William G. Edwards and Paulina Melvina Renfro Edwards were the maternal grandparents of Birdie Rhyne Simpson. William G. Edwards was born February 20, 1818 in North Carolina, where his parents were also born.
Paulina Melvina Renfro was the daughter of Absalom Carty Renfro and Levica Shelby Tipton. Her father, Absalom C. Renfro, was born Sept. 7, 1794 in Montgomery County, Virginia. Absalom Renfro’s family moved to Carter Co., in eastern-Tennessee. It was in Carter County, Tennessee that Absalom C. Renfro and Levicy Shelby Tipton were married March 13, 1817. After his marriage to Levicy Shelby Tipton, who was born Feb.4, 1799 in Tennessee, Absalom and Levicy (also called Levica) moved farther west to the vicinity of Maryville, Blount Co., Tennessee. Seven children were born to them in Blount County, Tennessee. Their second child, Paulina Melvina, was born Dec. 23, 1821, and is the Rhyne and Simpson family ancestor.
A Renfro descendant wrote in 1957: “ For a number of years I have been collecting all the Renfro data I could find....The first record I have found is of John Renfro (also spelled Rentfro, Renrfrow, Renfroe, Rentfrow,etc.) in Chester Co. PA in 1740....The Renfros seemed to be among the first settlers in each new territory that opened up and included many ministers (especially of the Baptist faith) among them. They appeared to be, in general, a handy respectable pioneer group, and held prominent offices in their pioneer settlements, and also were active in defense of their country.”
Absalom Renfro and Sam Houston became friends in Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee. The friendship was renewed several times through the years in Texas. Always among the first settlers of new territory, in 1836 the Renfros moved to Peavine Valley in Walker County, Georgia. Paulina was about fourteen years old. This area was known as “The Ridges” and was a vast grazing area and sparsely populated. Absalom and Levicy bought land near the Rock Spring post office and joined the Peavine Baptist Church east of Rock Spring, where they were very active in Baptist church affairs. Their friends were the Cherokee Indians. By now there were ten children: six boys and four girls. Paulina Renfro and William G. Edwards, Birdie Rhyne Simpson’s grandparents, were married Jan. 26, 1843 in Ringold, Walker Co., Georgia. (Paulina’s younger brother Henry Carty Renfro at age 15, was baptized in 1846 in a watering hole near the Peavine Baptist Church.)
By 1851 many settlers had arrived, and the Peavine Valley became too populated for Absalom Renfro, who turned the farm over to his eldest son, Jefferson Tipton Renfro, and his wife Lucinda. Absalom and his father, Joseph, considered moving to Kentucky or Texas. The decision was Texas. In June 1851 a wagon train of Renfros and William G. Edwards, his wife Paulina and their first four children, Allison, Sarah (called “Sallie”), Cicero Judson and Mollie 0. Edwards crossed the Red River and into Cass County, Texas. Absalom Renfro received a land grant of 320 acres and William G. Edwards received a 262 acre grant adjacent to Renfro’s acreage near Barnes Lake six miles NE of Avinger on Hwy. 155. This is within several miles of what was to be the original Rhyne land. Soon after the families arrived in Hickory Hill near the present-day Avinger Henry C. Renfro, Paulina’s younger brother, left on horseback to enroll at Baylor University at Independence, Texas on September 1, 1851. Henry began his first year at Baylor the same time Rufus Burleson became President of Baylor. Henry C. Renfro and Rufus Burleson began a lifelong friendship.
William and Paulina Edwards were founding members and leaders of the Hickory Hill Baptist Church begun in 1852. The early history of the church lists William Edwards, and later his second wife and his two older sons Allison A. and Cicero Judson Edwards as delegates representing the church at association meetings and serving as church clerks. William Edwards served as a delegate in 1869, the year after his wife Paulina died. The second Mrs. Tennessee Paralee Edwards served as church clerk in 1878 and 1879. Cicero J. Edwards served as clerk in 1881 while his older brother Allison A. Edwards served as a delegate from 1881 to 1884. In 1880 the Hickory Hill Baptist Church became the Avinger (Missionary) Baptist Church.
In 1854 William and Paulina Edwards’ fifth and last child, Margaret L. Edwards, was born. This was their only child born in Texas.
Paulina’s parents, the Renfros did not live in Cass Co. long. In June 1856 Paulina’s parents, Absalom and Levica Renfro, traveled to Alvarado in Johnson County, southwest of Fort Worth, to stay with their daughter Margaret Renfro Harris, who was next youngest to Paulina. Margaret’s husband Benjamin Harris and their oldest child Amanda had died. In 1857, the A.C. Renfros sold their Cass County land to Henry C. Renfro and made Johnson Co. their permanent home. In 1859 Paulina’s younger brother, Henry, left Cass County and bought land and married in Johnson County. He became a prosperous rancher, a well-known Baptist minister and, with his father and mother, one of the founding fathers of Johnson County. In 1881 Henry C. Renfro named the town of Burleson after his closest friend and mentor Rufus C. Burleson, President of Baylor University. The Renfros became prominent citizens and landowners of Burleson. The main street of the town is Renfro. The A.C. Renfros and Cicero Judson and “Dora” Rhyne Edwards and many of their descendants are buried in the two cemeteries in Burleson. The 1860 Cass Co. census states that the Wm. G. Edwards family lived in Hickory Hill and that Margaret L. Edwards was six years old. Paulina Renfro Edwards died Nov. 27, 1868. Margaret (or Maggie), her fifth child, was fourteen years old when her mother died.
The following year on Jan.14, 1869 the Edwards’ oldest child, Allison Alonzo Edwards married Sarah Susannah Hooton, who was born Aug. 2, 1853 in Henry Co., Georgia, and moved with her parents to Cass Co. Texas in 1856. Allison and Sarah (Sallie) Edwards continued to live in Avinger and became active citizens of the town and of the First Baptist Church of Avinger. They had four children— James Wm. Edwards who died as an infant (1869-1870), Mary Anna Edwards (1873-1911), Lela May Edwards (1876-1959) and Minnie Eugenia Edwards (1880-?).
The 1870 Davis (Cass) Co. census shows that the Wm. G. Edwards family and the Jacob G. Rhyne family lived on adjacent property in Avinger. Two of the Edwards children eventually married two of the Rhyne children. On Oct. 16, 1873, the Edwards’ third child, Cicero Judson Edwards married Margaret Madora (called “Dora”) Rhyne, the eldest child of Jacob G. and Susan Cloninger Rhyne. Cicero and Dora’s second child, Hattie, was born Sept. 27,1877 and died Aug.21, 1878. This infant is buried in the Avinger Cemetery next to the grave of Uncle Ben Cloninger in the Rhyne section. Two more children were born in Cass County. They were Eldo born in 1874 and Robert Oscar born in 1879. Cicero and Dora Rhyne Edwards sold their Cass County land to Jacob G. Rhyne sometime after the 1880 Census and moved to Burleson, Texas to be near the Renfros. Cicero bought a farm adjoining Henry C. Renfro’s original farm halfway between Bethesda and Burleson. Garrett born in 1883, Lester (1886-1959), Elmer Judson (1887-1970) and Elmer’s twin who died at birth were born to the family.