Edward, David Barnett (1797 - 1870)

David Barnett Edward (1797 - 1870) was a Scottish-American educator, administer and explorer most associated with Texas. Edward was born in Forfarshire, Scotland. He lived in the West Indies and Columbia before immigrating to the United States in 1819. He worked as a teacher at the Academy of Alexandria, Louisiana before being transferred to the Gonzales Seminary at the DeWitt Colony, Texas. Around 1830, Edward participated in an exploratory mission around Texas, during which he formed a generally negative view of the English-speaking Empresarios then settling Texas. His subsequent work, The History of Texas: or, The Emigrant's, Farmer's, and Politician's Guide to the Character, Climate, Soil and Productions of that Country, written from 1831 to late 1835, and issued early in 1836, was issued on the eve of the Texan Revolution (March 1836). The work is detailed and based on first-hand knowledge, but generally pro-Mexican, anti-Anglo-Texan, and while thus unpopular in its day, is today considered one of the seminal publications on Texas. Around 1835, Edward, hated in Texas for his work, moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He lived here until his 1870 death in Wheelersburg.