John Henry Edmonds (1873-1929), son of Michael and Joanna M. L. Fechter Edmonds, was born in Boston, Mass. After graduating from the Boston English High School in 1891, he worked in the city surveyor's office until 1895 and then in the city engineer's office unitl 1907. In that year Frederick Lewis Gay (1856-1916), collector of early New England books and manuscripts, engaged Edmonds as his librarian and research secretary. After Gay's death, Edmonds was curator of his patron's bequest of printed books to Harvard University's library. He was appointed State archivist in 1918 and served in that office until his death. His special field of knowledge was early Massachusetts history and his main hobby was the subject of early New England pirates. He was elected to the American Antiquarian Society in 1918 and died in Cambridge, Mass.
From the description of Papers, 1892-1925. (American Antiquarian Society). WorldCat record id: 191259319
