After recently completing my first extended ancestor life sketch of George Rogers Tarbox, I was quite motivated to write a second sketch and chose another 3X great grandparent, Daniel Adams.

My Tarbox ancestors were patriots during the American Revolution, while Daniel’s grandfather, John Adams, was a Connecticut Loyalist who left the colonies in the Fall Fleet of 1783 that sailed to New Brunswick, Canada. George’s daughter Nellie and Daniel’s son Calvin joined together my Patriot and Loyalist lines when they married in Calais, Washington, Maine on 1 February 1875.

It seems appropriate for my second sketch to discuss my Adams family line.

Daniel Adams was born in November 1810 in New Brunswick, Canada. The exact location is uncertain, but may well have been on Adams Island. His grandfather, John Adams, according to family lore, refused to apply for land grants and, instead, was last mentioned squatting on Adams Island, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada in 1818.

Daniel’s father, Thomas Adams, married Sarah Brawn on 28 August 1803 in the Anglican Church in Maugerville, Sunbury, New Brunswick, Canada.

Daniel was the fourth of eight children born to the couple and, although eldest child John, born 1804, was reportedly born in Fredericton, York, New Brunswick, Canada, the birth places of the other seven children are only noted as New Brunswick.

Daniel’s siblings were John (1804-1868) who married Mary Ann Kyles, James (1806-?) who perhaps married Mary Parker, Elizabeth Ann (1809-1878) who married James Greenlaw), Charles Edward (c1812-before 1849) who married Catherine Stuart, Caroline (c1815-?) who married George Holland before 1844, Henry Edwin (1820-1873) who married Louisa Eunice Leeman and possibly Thomas W., (1829-1885), about whom little is known.

The Adams clan must have had hearty genes because all eight of the Adams children lived to adulthood and seven of them married. In a time period when infant mortality was high, Sarah (Brawn) Adams gave birth to a slew of healthy babies, born on a small remote island.

However, back to Loyalist John – because he was squatting on Adams Island on 13 July 1818.

Daniel’s son, Calvin, was born on Adams Island, it’s very possible that most of Thomas’s and Sarah’s children were also born there.

Above is a photo given to me by a distant Adams cousin, taken in the late 1970s.

Here is a map view:

Adams Island is circled just above the word ISLES and is slightly west of Deer Island, which is on the left edge of this image.

The Adams children must have had a somewhat idyllic life growing up on the island. They had the ocean surrounding them, a beach on which to play and cousins with whom to play. When they were old enough, they likely were given house chores and the boys would have been taught the ways of the sea from a very young age.

What occupations did John Adams, son Thomas and grandson Daniel Adams follow? John Adams was likely a farmer when he lived in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Thomas lived to be enumerated in the 1851 census and was identified as a fisherman.

Given that John Adams occupied property on Adams Island, where there literally was nothing, it doesn’t seem likely that he was anything other than a fisherman either.

Daniel Adams, too, was a fisherman at least until the time of the 1851 census of the West Isles, New Brunswick, Canada.

Daniel grew up on Adams Island, married in the West Isles, which included the island, and lived his days as a fisherman, at the mercy of the sea.

Many mariners, especially in the area bordering Canada and America, lost their lives in squalls and storms.

However, I tend to believe that with the lack of amenities on Adams Island, the Adams men and boys did their fishing in a small boat.

Although the family attended the Anglican Church in Maugerville, there was obviously no church on Adams Island and the Adams men were not church goers when they moved to Maine so the family was not particularly religious.

Military service wasn’t part of the family history either. Patriarch John Adams, the Loyalist, worked in the Commissary General’s Office in new Jersey before fleeing to Canada at the end of the war. He had no known military experience during the war.

Although militia duty was required in the West Isles on the larger islands of Campobello and Deer Island, there weren’t many people on Adams Island. The men likely had guns for protection if needed, but I doubt that they had formal practices.

Just how the Adams men came to own their land on Adams Island is uncertain, but it appears to be through extended years of habitation. Details of their land ownership will be examined in Part 2.

Next, we’ll look at Daniel’s life as a young married man on both Adams Island and then the much larger Deer Island, not far away before the family’s final move across the international border into Calais, Washington, Maine.