The Lonely End of a Sound Pioneer
John F. Edwards, a sea captain and early pioneer who built his own boat to trade among Puget Sound ports, dies in poverty.
John F. Edwards, an old resident of the Sound, died yesterday at the corner of Yesler and Squire avenues of cancer of the stomach. He had been in the city since February 20, under the care of the I.O.O.F. relief board. Edwards was widely called 'captain' because about 1880 he built a boat at Tacoma and went around the Sound ports trading. J.W. Honney, who knew him in the early days, recalled that Edwards married a Miss Harmon from Port Townsend, but the couple separated long ago. Officials are now attempting to locate his estranged wife or siblings in New York to manage his affairs.
“Edwards was called captain, because about 1880 he built a boat at Tacoma and went around the Sound ports trading.”
This story captures the precarious nature of life for many early maritime pioneers, whose individual histories were often absorbed into the broader mythos of the region, leaving their final years unrecorded and isolated.
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