Early Years Ballard Trent Edwards was born about October 10, 1828, and was of mixed-race ancestry. His parents, Edward Bradbury Edwards and Mary Ann Trent Edwards, were members of the free African American community in his native town of Manchester, in Chesterfield County. On August 23, 1850, Edwards married Sarah Ann Coy, who had been born free in Powhatan County. Of their twelve children, six daughters and three sons survived childhood. Edwards identified himself as a brick mason in the 1860 census. Surviving documents do not indicate whether he participated in the American Civil War (1861–1865), after which he opened a school in Manchester. By the time of his marriage, Edwards had probably succeeded his father, a carpenter, as clerk of the African Church of Manchester. Beginning in 1867 he served for many years as clerk of the Colored Shiloh Baptist Association of Virginia, composed of churches in central Virginia. As one of the congregation’s leaders in 1872, Edwards probably helped persuade Anthony Binga to become pastor of the church, known after the Civil War as First Baptist Church in Manchester (and later known as First Baptist Church of South Richmond).