Edward Townsend, son of Jesse Townsend and Anna May Fuller, was born on November 16, 1798 in Haddom, Middlesex County, Connecticut. Edward married Ruth Durfee, sister of Lemuel Durfee Sr., on December 8, 1819.
In 1828, Edward was part-owner of the rope business in Palmyra. He also served as a trustee of Palmyra’s Democrat School. On December 4, 1833, he signed the “Testimony of 51 Neighbors,” later printed in Mormonism Unvailed.[1] He died on March 17, 1869 and was buried in the Palmyra City Cemetery.
[1] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 366–367.