ANCESTOR NO. 22: EDWIN BARLOW DOWNS (1833-1901)
My grandfather’s grandfather was Edwin Barlow Downs. I found no document during his lifetime that called him that, and he was often called E. B. Downs (in the late 19 th century most records of men used only their initials), but his daughter Eleanor recorded that his middle name was Barlow. [1] Although he lived when photographs were common, I have never seen a picture of him. Almost all of my ancestors lived in the same place for their whole lives, but not Edwin! He crisscrossed the U.S. Edwin Barlow Downs was born on August 21,1833 in Connecticut, the son of George Downs, a shoemaker and grocer, and his wife Sophia Plumb Downs. [2] He grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, where his family lived on George Street from at least 1840 until 1845, later moving to Dow Street in the early 1850s. Edwin had two sisters, Ann Augusta and Harriet Brooks, and three half-brothers, Henry S., George N., and Newton W. Downs, from his father's first marriage. [3] The earliest record I found f...
