Henry B. Edwards of Chester Pennsylvania was the brother-in-law of Edward F. Beale. It is believed that Beale called H. B. “Harry” and H. B. called E. F. “Ned” to avoid confusion with Edward’s name. Beale never refers to H. B as Henry, as H. B.’s Edwards family line seems to have, as the two references below indicate:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=Edwards;id=mdp.39015030947298;view=1up;seq=21;start=1;sz=10;page=search;orient=0 see: “Harry” on p. 6, 7, 91; “H. B.“ on p. 13
https://delawarecountyhistory.com/documents/Eyre.pdf
page 14 above shows that Mary Ann Engle married Samuel Edwards, a leading lawyer in Chester, PA.
children: 1. Mary Edwards, married Lt. Edward F. Beale, USN
2. Henry B. Edwards, b. 1825, d. 4-13-1892 (67)
Henry B. Edwards studied law with his father and was admitted to the bar. He served under his brother-in-law Edward F. Beale, in the government employ in laying out wagon roads to California about 1857. He volunteered for three-months service in response to President Lincoln’s first call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the Rebellion at the start of the Civil War. H. B. Edwards was elected Captain of Chester’s Union Blues, which soon became Company I of the 9th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. Upon honorable completion of his three-month war service, he returned to Chester where he lived until the time of his death in 1892.
Edward F. Beale, who married Mary Edwards, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann Edwards, was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy and during the war with Mexico was with his ship off Vera Cruz, a Mexican Port; he was detached and sent across country and over the mountains, to carry dispatches to General Scott, whose army occupied Mexico City. Lieutenant Beale later resigned from the Navy and entered the government employ in the laying out wagon roads to California.