Rev. Edmonds married on 15 Nov 1885 in Itasca, Texas to Mary Frances "Fannie" BARKLEY.

James Hill Edmonds and his wife, the former Mary Frances Barkley, moved to Jones County in 1885 where he farmed, taught school, and conducted singing schools and later, in 1889, he heeded the call to preach, with much of the credit going to the late Rev. J. D. Reeves, pioneer Baptist minister of Jones county. Rev. Hill was ordained at the Anson Baptist church in 1889. He did his first preaching at Truby and at Pinkerton in Haskell County. During his course of thirty-one years in the ministry, he served churches in Hamlin, Paducah, Bethel Baptist Church twice, Anson twice, Rule, Fairview, Prairie View, New Hope, and Boyd's Chapel. He was serving as pastor at the Bethel Baptist church at the time of his death.

J. H. Edmonds came to Texas and married Miss Mary Frances Barkley of Grandview, Texas, in 1885. The Lamesa Baptist Church had never been in happier circumstances than when J. H. Edmonds accepted the call to Lamesa from the First Baptist Church of Paducah, in 1916. From a meager beginning in 1905 to the dignity of ownership of a credible house in which to worship with a pastor's home adjoining, the church was inspired to sing, "Oh, God, of Our Salvation .... Thou Crownest the Year with Thy Goodness!" Although J. H. Edmonds never attended a Theological seminary, he had personal knowledge of God and such a broad range of private learning that he could meet the most proficient theologian on common ground. His strong conviction that he was called by God to preach, in addition to his tender and compassionate heart, made him a great power in the pulpit and a great pastor in any church. He terminated his pastorate with the Lamesa Church in the fall of 1917 to accept a call as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rule, Texas. The Edmonds were parents of seven children, four of the older ones having reached the age of maturity, and only the three younger ones .... Josephine, Frances, and Sarah .... came to Lamesa with their parents. This was the first family to occupy the new parsonage adjoining the church on this site. Having been warned by his physician that the effort might prove fatal, J. H. Edmonds, like Paul, "counting not his life dear unto himself so that he might finish his course with joy," conducted a revival after which he died the following week, June 1930, in his home town, Anson, Texas. After twenty-seven years and one month, Mrs. Edmonds was laid to rest beside her husband in Mount Hope Cemetery, at home in Anson. According to the standard of measure set forth in the Anson newspaper, the life of J. Hill Edmonds will rank high in the annals of West Texas.