Edwin Tewksbury (1858 - 1904)

Born 1858 in California

Ancestors

Died 1904 at about age 46 in Globe, Gila County, Arizona

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Biography

Edwin was born in 1858, In California to James Tewksbury and a Native American woman. In his life Ed, as he was called, became known as a gunman and lawman. His mother was Native American, his skin was much darker than any of his siblings, and it was said that sometimes he was mistaken for a black man. Stories say that he dressed like a 'dandy' and was always on the defensive over real or imagined insults.

A cattleman by trade, Edwin moved with his family to the Pleasant Valley of Arizona, an area that was later named Young, Arizona. It was in 1880 when they arrived and began raising livestock.

Some years later, the Tewksbury and Daggs families began to raise sheep, which brought the ire of the local cattlemen. The Tewksburys quickly found themselves at odds with the Hash Knife cowboys and the nearby ranching family of the Grahams, even though the two families had been friends. Ed had even invited Tom Graham to move his family to Pleasant Valley where both families established cattle ranching businesses. Over time, the Grahams and Tewkburys actually had many financial ventures together, including cattle rustling. They preyed upon the herd of a big cattleman in the area and it was said that the big cattleman sided with the Graham family against the Tewksbury family.

The cowboys always felt sheep ruined grazing land for cattle, calling them range maggots. In what became known as the Pleasant Valley War, the cowboys suddenly began to ambush the Tewksburys. In one instance of aggression, several cowboys tried to sneak up on the Tewsburys when in their camp in 1887. Edwin spied them, shouted a warning and his brother Jim Tewksbury shot and killed one of them. In another instance, the Tewksbury camp was ambushed again and Ed's other brother, John Tewsbury, Jr., and a man named Bill Jacobs were killed. The feud escalated with the Tewksbury and Daggs families along with the local law enforcement outfits against the Grahams, the Blevinses, the Wells family and the Hash Knife Outfit on the cattleman's side. Over the course of the next couple of years It is said that upwards of 50 people were killed as a result of the Pleasant Valley feud between the cowboys and the sheep herders.

The hostilities in the area soon slowed down and came to a halt when a large vigilante group became involved. It was calm until years later when John Graham was shot and fatally wounded, near Tempe, Arizona. Before he died the next day, he let it be known that the shooters were Ed Tewksbury and John Roades. Ed and his compadre' were arrested but eventually won acquittal. There were no more Grahams and only Ed Tewksbury left from the original feud.

Given his background, it's interesting that Edwin would later become a constable in Globe County, and then a deputy sheriff of Gila County. He died of natural causes in Globe, Arizona, passing away in 1904 at about 47 years of age. ________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a good video of the feud entitled "Forgotten Gunfighters: Pleasant Valley Feud" [1]

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In 1887 Ed married Braulia Rivera Lopez in the town of Pinal, Gila County, Arizona and together they had four children:

Ella Tewksbury (1897–1961)

Edwin F. Tewksbury (1900–1956)

James Henry Tewksbury (1902–1924)

George Wilson Tewksbury (1904–1943)

Ed died in his home in 1904, from a stroke resulting from pneumonia. He was buried in the Globe Cemetery. His wife remained in Globe to raise their family, and she and their children are also buried in the Globe Cemetery, except George, who moved to Phoenix shortly before his death and is buried there.

From Jayne Peace Pyle: I want to add- My husband, Jinx Pyle, wrote "THE PLEASANT VALLEY WAR " and I wrote THE WOMEN OF THE PLEASANT VALLEY WAR" in which we gave every detail availble to us. The Pleasant Valley War was a blood feud between and Tewksburys and Grahams that was caused by outside forces. These two families were friends until other people wanted their cattle land. A man named James Stinson managed to turn the two families against each other in a war of divide and conquer. There were four Tewksbury brothers and two Graham brothers in the beginning, then a Graham half brother joined in-- all in their early 20s. My husband's family, my familiy and every cattleman in northern Gila County became involved in the war. The one thing I don't agree with above is -- the cattlemen sided with the Tewksberrys who were also cattlemen. Men who sided with Grahams rode onto Tewkberry property and started shooting at them. Ed was the only Tewkberry home at the time and he shot back in self defense. He shot, but did not kill two of the intruders. Ed was a deadly shot and could have killed them if he chose but he wanted to just run them off. The the Grahams sued the Tewksburys over this, with James Stinson paying for their attorney and backing them. The Tewksberrys had no money for attorneys until Daggs Brothers stepped in and helped. Tewksberrys won the case, but now owed the Daggs. What did Daggs want? They were sheep men and wanted to get sheep into Pleasant Valley. So even though the Tewksberrys were not "sheep men," they were forced to handle Daggs sheep because they owed him. The locals knew all about this and stood behind the Tewksberrys all the way. This war lasted ten years 1882-1892 and over 50 men were killed, many by hanging. This feud made the Hatfield and McCoy feud look like a school yard fight. But it was covered very little by the press so it was not known until much until 1961 when the last man involved in shooting and killing died. By then a lot had been lost. There had been a code of secrecy -- no one was to talk or they died. My husband and I spend seven years researching this war before we started writing - and we knew the people.

Sources

• Wikipedia description of the Pleasant Valley War [2]

• True West Magazine's story on the Pleasant Valley War [3]

• Edwin Tewksbury appears in a Legends of America list of Gunfighters [4]

• "United States Census, 1870", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN6N-V8J : Thu Oct 05 14:47:16 UTC 2023), Entry for Jas D Towksbery and John Towksbery, 1870.

• "United States Census, 1880", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH2H-5YN : Wed Oct 04 02:35:45 UTC 2023), Entry for John Tewksbury and Edward Tewksbury, 1880.

• "Arizona, Yavapai County, Voting Records, 1875-1932", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZN4S-9DN2 : Mon Oct 09 21:01:19 UTC 2023), Entry for Edwin Tewksbury, 1886.

• "Arizona, County Marriages, 1871-1964," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1X-FN7D : 29 November 2018), Edwin Tewksbury and B R Lopez, 8 Mar 1897; citing Marriage, Pinal, Gila, Arizona, United States, Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives, and Public Records, Phoenix; FHL microfilm 004252279.

• "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9VH-F9X : Fri Oct 06 23:47:54 UTC 2023), Entry for Ed Tewksbury and B.r. Tewksbury, 1900.

• "Arizona Deaths, 1870-1951," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLVG-71S : 16 May 2019), Edwin Tewksbury in entry for James Henry Tewksbury, 1924; citing Globe, Gila, Arizona, reference , Department of Library and Archives, Phoenix, Arizona; FHL microfilm 2,114,520.

• Find A Grave Memorial for Edwin Tewksbury [5]