Patrick Edward was born around 1857 in North Carolina. Edward worked as a laborer and resided in Swift Creek (Pitt County), North Carolina. Edward was charged with larceny on February 4, 1878, and sentenced to five years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Edward was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2579. Edward 's race was noted as "colored." Edward was twenty-one years old when he was arrested. Edward was noted as being able to read. During his incarceration, Edward was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company on May 24, 1878, to work on railroad construction. He died while working on the Western North Carolina Railroad on September 28, 1879.