Edward Howell Myers was born around 1816 in New York to Hezekiah Myers. He moved to Georgia by the 1840s, and he married Mary Mackie in Richmond, Georgia, on February 13, 1845. They had at least seven children: Herbert, born around 1846; Fanny, born around 1850; William, born around 1853; James, born around 1855; Margaret, born around 1855; Mary, born around 1858; and Edward, born around 1859. He began working as professor of natural sciences at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia, around 1849, and by 1850, he owned $2,500 of real estate and owned 4 enslaved laborers.

 

By 1851, he was serving as the college’s president and English professor. He resigned sometime before 1854, but he remained on the college’s Board of Trustees until at least 1858. He probably moved to Charleston, South Carolina, around 1854 and became the editor of the Southern Christian Advocate around 1854. By 1860, he owned $4,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property. During the Civil War, he moved the newspaper to Augusta, Georgia, and by 1865, he was back in Macon.

 

By 1870, he was working as a Methodist minister, and he owned $5,000 of personal property. According to one writer, his “devotion to the Church was beyond that of most men. He lived for the Church, and whatever was necessary to be said or done for its interests, he did fearlessly.” In 1871, he became president of Wesleyan Female College again, and he held the position for the next four years. He moved to Savannah, Georgia, in 1875, and he died of yellow fever there on September 20, 1876.

SOURCES