James W. Eden was born in Mayfield, Graves co., Ky., May 2, 1851. His Grandfather was an officer in the British Navy settled in North Carolina from whence he removed to Kentucky and settled in Muhlenberg county, where he died. In his family was a son James G. Eden who was born in North Carolina and who in early life settled in Graves County, Ky., where he married Miss Mary Talbert, who was a Virginian by birth but of English ancestry.They had seven children- James W., whose name heads this sketch being the sixth. James G. Eden was a merchant and later a farmer, and finally located in McCracken County, on a farm long known as Eden's Hill, where in 1871 he died and where his widow died on May 27, 1884. James W. Eden was educated chiefly in Paducah, Ky., studied law under Judge Bigger of that city, and in 1878 entered the law department of the university of Ann Arbor. Mich. where he graduated in July 1879. He then established an office in Paducah for the practice of his profession but soon became associated with J.W. Bloomfield with whom practiced two years, terminating August 1882
at which time Mr Eden was elected to the office of County Attorney for McCracken County. From 1876 to 1878 he served the county as commishioner of schools. He is a member of the K. Of H.