James Roland Edwards

From the Author: "I was born on a small Duplin County farm two miles east of Beulaville on Edwards Road in the 1920s. I was raised and lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. Most of the food that we had was raised and grown on our farm. We planted corn, tobacco, soybeans, and peanuts and always had a large garden. We raised pigs, and had a cow, horses and a dog. My mother always had cats and raised chickens. We cut wood for the fireplace and our barns for curing tobacco with an axe and a cross cut saw. In the early days we had no electricity and relied on kerosene lamps and lanterns for our lights in order for me to study my lessons.
Our water came from the water well in the yard. Our closest thing to running water was a hand pump on the back porch. We had to carry water for our bath in a bucket to a wooden or metal tub and of course there was no indoor toilet. The outhouse was located in the back yard.
There was always work to be done on the farm and I helped in everything from cropping tobacco to plowing and working with farm equipment pulled by a mule.
The pages of this book reflect and relate to my entire life thus far. In 1941 our country became involved in World War II. The year I graduated from high school, 1945, I was called to service. I weighed 90 pounds and was classified as 4 F. In other words, I failed to qualify. In January of 1952 during the Korean War, I was called again and this time I passed and served for two years. After the war, I returned to Beulaville and worked for Robert Mathews, a master mechanic. I soon opened my own business in back of what is now the Easy Mart on Quinn and Jackson St.
In January of 1949 I married Mary Lynn Horne. We were married for 71 years until her passing on June 6, 2020. We had two children, James Terry Edwards and Kimberly Anne Edwards. We are also blessed with three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Now I spend most of my time recording the history of Beulaville and surrounding Duplin County."