Category Archives: John Adams Loyalist

John Adams Loyalist

Huge Find for Loyalist John Adams, Fairfield, CT to Canada 1783

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It isn’t often anymore that I get this excited with a genealogy find, but today’s discovery definitely qualifies.

I also can’t claim to have been able to add to the work of Donald Lines Jacobus, FASG (1877-1970), who published History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield almost a century ago in 1930.

However, today, I can do exactly that. While I’ve often looked at descendants of my John Adams, a Loyalist from Connecticut who married Sarah Coley in Fairfield County in 1765, it’s been decades since I’ve looked back at Fairfield County records.

As I’ve worked through my family tree cleaning up source citations and links, I’ve made it back to Generation 8 and John Adams is first in the list. That led me down the rabbit hole of Fairfield County records.

First, if you aren’t familiar with New England records, unlike most other areas of the country where records are recorded at the county level, colonial New England records are often organized at the town level.

That made FamilySearch full-text search invaluable as I didn’t have to manually look for my John Adams in every town of Fairfield County.

John Adams’ birth isn’t recorded in the rather incomplete vital records of early Fairfield County. Some families are fairly complete while others are sparsely appearing.

In fact, until today, the only record I have for him is his marriage to Sarah Coley on 31 August 1765, noted by Donald Lines Jacobus as taking place in Weston. However, Weston wasn’t set off as a town until after the Revolutionary War. In 1765, it was part of the old town of Fairfield.

Way back when, I suspected that John Adams was the son of David Adams and Susannah Lockwood. Examining Jacobus’s treatment of the Adams clan, he noted my John as “unplaced” and apparently no one has shared any further research.

My own look at Jacobus’s work left only two likely candidates to be the father of my John Adams – David who married Susannah Lockwood or David’s first cousin, Daniel Adams (born 1707), who married Joanna Lane, died by 1755 and whose children are unknown except for Sarah, born c1747 who married in 1763 and removed to Pownal, Vermont, Daniel, who in December 1762 chose John Mallory as his guardian and possibly Deborah who married John Drew. Little has been documented on Daniel’s family.

However, I was always drawn to David Adams as a better possible fit.

From Jacobus’s work identifying the children of David Adams through both (1) Susannah Lockwood and (2) Sarah Squire:

Susannah Lockwood was his first wife and only one child, David Jr., has been connected to him by primary evidence up until now. He married (2) Sarah Squire, 2 November 1748, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Most colonial New England brides married around age 21, but a few, probably including Abigail, married between 18-21, as she was likely born c1749.

In addition to Abigail, David and Sarah (Squire) Adams also had Ann, Squire, Sarah, Silliman, Lucy and Mary.

Perhaps because of the imminent war, or maybe that Adams family customs permitted sons to marry around 20, it seems that David and John Adams also married before age 21.

An important detail for me was Jacobus’s note that both David Jr. and Silliman Adams were accused of being “inimical to the U.S.” (aka British sympathizers or outright Tories) in May 1778.

Given that Loyalist John Adams’ last child known to have been born in Connecticut was born in 1777, it is certainly possible that John was a brother/half brother to David and Squire Adams and involved in similar Tory activities.

John moved his family to New Jersey, where his son Jonathan, aged 16 or 17, worked in the Commissary General’s Department in charge of distributing supplies to British soldiers. John, himself, might be the man who fought in the 2nd Battaliion of New Jersey Volunteers.

Deed Book 1:16, York, New Brunswick, Canada notes:

Whereas his Excellency John Parr, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the province of Nova Scotia by his letters, patent under the great seal of the province bearing date at Halifax, the 14 July 1784 did grant unto the said John Adams, his proportion of a tract of land, assigned to the late officers and soldiers of the second Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers 100 acres of land, lying and being on the St. John River and the Township of Sunbury province of Nova Scotia.

This Nova Scotia land later became New Brunswick and both Sunbury and Maugerville then became part of Sunbury County in New Brunswick. My Loyalist John Adams first settled in Maugerville so there is a good chance my John Adams is the soldier in the 2nd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers.

These records document John and Jonathan Adams in New Jersey later in the Revolutionary War and the family left for Canada in 1783 at the war’s close.

Back now to Connecticut records and Jacobus’s work! Coincidentally, right as I began this new investigation in John Adams, a new match appeared in MyHeritage results. This man had a tie to my Adamses in Fairfield County and look where his line led and, by the way, he has no lines to David’s cousin, Daniel Adams:

At this point, on my part, my John’s parentage was just a hunch with some clues and this DNA match pointing to David Adams.

Next, I hopped into my car and paid a visit to my local FamilySearch Center since Fairfield County records are locked. Full-text search did the hard work for me and uncovered two consecutive land deeds recorded in 1772 and 1775. Remember, the town of Weston was formed from part of the original town of Fairfield in 1787.

(Page 105) Know all men by these Presents that I David Adams of Fairfield in the County of Fairfield in the Colony of Connecticut in New England for & in consideration of the Natural Love and affection I have and do bare (sic) unto my Sons David Adams Jur John Adams and my Daughter Anne all of said Fairfield have and by these presents Do Give Grant Convey and Confirm

(Page 106) Unto my said Sons and Daughter and to their heirs & Assigns for ever all my right Title and Claim I have to a certain parcel of Land lying in the Township of Redding in Applegates Long Lott so called originally laid out to Frost and Ogden and also [Her?] Right in Lockwood. Long Lott set to my said Wife the use of which Land Belonged to me During the term of my Natural Life to hold During the term of my Natural life By virtue of my Marriage to Susannah Lockwood my first Wife now of Fairfield Deceased the mother of my said children which land lyes in the uper (sic) Division of Applegates Long Lott and Lockwood adjoining and in Quantity as it stands to my said Wife now Deceased in the Distribution of her Father’s estate to Have and to hold unto my said Sons and Daughter and to their Heirs and Assigns forever the said granted and Distributed parcel of Land with the Privileges thereto Belonging unto them in Even and Equal Propertion (sic) to them and their Heirs and Assigns forever more without any let claim or Molestation from me my Heirs Ex’tors or Admors or any other Person from by or under me whatsoever In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this Sixteenth Day of October AD 1772.

Signed Sealed & Delivered David Adams (Seal)

In Presence of
Mary Coley Jur
Abigail Coley Jur

In Fairfield County: On the above Date Personally Appeared David Adams Signer & Sealer of the above Written Instrument and Acknowledged the same to be his free act and Deed before me.

David Coley Justice of the Peace

A True Copy of the Original Recorded March 30th AD 1775 By John Couch [Registr?]

David Coley was the uncle of Sarah (Coley) Adams.

The following deed on pages 106 and 107 prove that David Adams Jr., John Adams and Ephraim Lyon and Ann Lyon, husband and wife, sold the same land on 29 March 1775 to David Jackson for £24. (Worth about $1000 in today’s purchasing power.)

Therefore, the updated family configuration can now be completed:

David Adams, born 8 February 1718/19, Fairfield County, Connecticut, married (1) Susannah Lockwood, c1738, probably Fairfield County, Connecticut. They were the parents of three children. He married (2) Sarah Squire, 2 November 1748 and had six more children with her. He died on 1 December 1796, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

The administration of David’s estate includes a list of single shares given to each of his surviving children, who appear to be listed in birth order. Only John is missing.

Did his siblings not know what became of him? Did his father give him a portion of his estate when John left Connecticut? Or was John considered dead by the family because he felt strongly enough to take his family to Canada? That answer may never be known.

However, the 1772 land deed clearly identifies John Adams as a son of David Adams and Susannah Lockwood.

Children with Susannah Lockwood:

  1. David, born c1738; married (1) Adrea Couch, 10 November 1757 (2) reportedly Hannah Cummings. It is said that David Adams removed to Butternuts, Otsego, New York and died after 1798. [Note: There is a D. Adams enumerated as 45+ in Butternuts in the 1810 census. By 1820, John Adams (16-25), Lockwood Adams (26-44) and Jared Adams (born c1765, CT) are enumerated in Butternuts. There is one David Adams, pensioned as a sergeant in the Connecticut line, who died on 31 May 1833 in Otsego County.]
  2. John, born c1740; married Sarah Coley, 31 August 1765, Fairfield County, New York. John removed to New Brunswick, Canada, 1783, and is last mentioned as inhabiting Adams Island, West Isles, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada in 1818.
  3. Ann, born c1742; married Ephraim Lyon, by 1775.

More research needs to be completed to document the families of David Adams Jr. and his sister, Ann (Adams) Lyon.

David Adams married (2) Sarah Squire, 2 November 1748, Fairfield County, Connecticut. She was born 9 November 1731 and died on 2 January 1817, both in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

They were the parents of six children:

  1. Abigail, born c1750; married Michael Lockwood, 9 November 1768, Fairfield County, Connecticut
  2. Squire, born c1754; died 29 November 1826, Weston, Fairfield, Connecticut; married Mary Godfrey, 24 January 1779, Fairfield County, Connecticut
  3. Sarah, born 24 August 1756, Fairfield County, Connecticut; died 19 January 1857, Fairfield County, Connecticut; married Joshua Adams, 31 January 1779, Fairfield County, Connecticut
  4. Mary, born c1760; married Daniel Malloy, 15 January 1792, Fairfield County, Connecticut
  5. Silliman, born c1762; died 9 August 1830, Weston, Fairfield, Connecticut; married Rhoda Taylor, 19 September 1782, Fairfield County, Connecticut
  6. Lucy, born 5 October 1765, Fairfield County, Connecticut; died after 1851, probably Redding, Fairfield, Connecticut; married Joshua Chapman, 26 November 1788, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Now that I have proof of John’s parentage, I need to take a serious new look at the descendants of David Adams and his two wives and gather more documentation for them.

However, finding the deed conveying land inherited by Susannah Lockwood, identified by David Adams in the deed as his first wife, to David Jr., John and Ann, his children with Susannah, is a major accomplishment!

Time for a genealogy happy dance. 🙂

Adams, American Revolution, John Adams Loyalist, Loyalists, New Brunswick Canada

John Adams, Loyalist of Fairfield, CT and New Brunswick, Canada

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NOTE: Recommended Reads will be back next week.

While Recommended Reads is on hiatus, I will be sharing some digitized resources  that I have written through the years and will also share a couple of  books that have been invaluable to me along my genealogical journey.

The last article I would like to share with you is one I put together in the 1990’s, outlining some of the thousands of descendants of Loyalist John Adams who left his home, friends and family in Fairfield County, Connecticut during the American Revolution and sailed to Canada at the close of the war.

John Adams was born about 1740 and died after 1818, possibly on Adams Island, West Isles, New Brunswick, Canada. He married Sarah Coley, daughter of Jonathan Coley and Lucy Sturges, on 31 August 1765 at Weston, Fairfield, Connecticut.

John and Sarah were apparently the parents of about ten children:

1. Jonathan, born 1766, who married Grace Rideout.
2. Hannah, born c1768; died before 1851 census; married William Segee.
3. John, born c1771; married Elizabeth (MNU).
4. Daniel, born c1772; married Sarah Ives.
5. Edward, at Lincoln, Sunbury, NB in 1818; nothing else known.
6. Sturges, born 1777, CT; married Lydia Brawn.
7. William, listed in Martha Barto’s book, Passamaquoddy; nothing else known.
8. David, granted 100 acres in Sunbury County in August 1839, Lot 1, Susowasis Brook. In 1842, David and sister Hannah sold land in Lincoln (part of grant to Wilmot).
9. Thomas, born 1783, New Brunswick; married Sarah Brawn.
10. James, married Elizabeth Moffatt.

John’s descendants today live both in Canada, primarily New Brunswick, and in the United States.

When I compiled this family history, I actually brought it down to about the year 2000. However, for privacy’s sake, I created an abridged version of the family history, covering four generations. The youngest descendants in this version were born right around 1900.

As always, I love to hear from distant cousins, so if you find your Adams people in this article, please contact me.

 

John Adams Loyalist

Loyalist John Adams

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The other day I wrote about my grandfather, Vernon Tarbox Adams. Through him, I am a descendant of six patriots and six Loyalists from the American Revolution. Many families had divided loyalties at that time, but in my case, the families were quite united in their strong beliefs. So how did I end up with six and six? Loyalist John Adams’ great grandson, Calvin Segee Adams, married Nellie Tarbox, whose family lines were strictly patriot.

Vernon’s line from his father back: Charles E. Adams, Calvin Segee Adams, Daniel Adams, Thomas Adams and Loyalist John Adams.

Loyalist John has hundreds, if not thousands, of descendants. Many have worked on this family for at least 125 years. Much is known about his children, their lives in Canada and Maine, and families into which they married.

Since my interest in family history began with this family, I have researched this line off and on for 35 years. Very early on, I was in mail contact with descendants of several branches of the family and I eventually compiled a forty page history of the family.

In spite of all the information gleaned in the 19th century, no one had come up with the name of John’s wife or parents for him. I began looking at the earliest clues, particularly the U.S. census records. Records had been found for ten children attributed to John and his unknown wife.

John’s service to the Crown was noted in military records:

There is a muster roll of Lt. Col. Beverly Robinson’s Company, Loyal American Regiment, of Fort McGowan’s Pass dated 27 September 1781 (Sheet #22) that shows Place #8 – Private John Adams, Place #9 – Private Jacob Segge and Place #18 – Private Joseph Segge.8 John’s daughter Hannah married William Segee, so this John Adams is most likely Loyalist John of Deer and Adams Islands in New Brunswick, Canada.

A  couple of miscellaneous pieces of information about John were found that include a statement that he settled in Gagetown after leaving St. John and that, at the outbreak of the war, he was in New York and enrolled a company of men. He supposedly received a warrant for a Captain’s commission, but the company was not assigned a place in the regiment under Lord Cornwallis’s command as had been promised, so he refused command and served as a clerk.

Given that John’s eldest child, Jonathan, was born in 1766, and that New England men of that era typically married around the age of 25, I assumed that John was probably born about 1740 and married about 1765. He was living as late as 1818, when he is mentioned as “occupying” land on Adams Island in a New Brunswick land deed filed concerning T. Farrell and D. Butler. Several vital records found for his grandchildren indicate Adams Island as their birthplace so the family lived there for at least a couple of generations.

There were no hints as to John’s wife’s name in any of the few records found nor where there clues as to his original home in the colonies, except for the fact that the military record was from Fort McGowan’s Pass, an area that today is incorporated into the northern section of Central Park in New York City.

I read unsubstantiated information that John and his son, Jonathan, served in the Commissary General’s Office in New Jersey.

It looked like the tri-state area of NJ-NY-CT might have been home to the Adams family before the Revolutionary War.

A cousin, Alice Adams Koch, was descended from John’s son, Sturges Adams. Sturges died in 1827 in Calais, ME, but his children reported in U.S. censuses that their father was born in Connecticut. Alice also told me a bit of family lore that I don’t think anyone ever tried to follow up. She said Sturges was named for his grandmother’s family! Now that was a good clue if information about some born in 1777 and passed along 203 years later was reliable.

Soon after that, I was at the Los Angeles Family History Center and headed to the New England section in the book stacks. There I found Donald Lines Jacobus’s massive work, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. Fairfield County, Connecticut borders New York state and, even in colonial days, New York City was not all that far away if one lived near the border.

I learned several things that day from reading the Jacobus book. First, there were many Tories and outright Loyalists living in Fairfield County. Then, as today, it is a well-to-do area and it is easy to imagine that those well off might be less inclined to oppose the British Crown. Second, there were divided opinions about independence among members of the same families. Third, among the many families chronicled in the volumes were the names Adams AND Sturges.

Needless to say, I delved into the book. The records of the Fairfield area are spotty, due to frequent attacks by the British during the Revolution, but there are also some very complete church and court records. One of the first things I found was a marriage record for:

John Adams and Sarah Coley, 31 Aug 1765 at Weston

So far, this looked like an excellent prospect since the date fit well with the birth of Jonathan sometime in 1766. I couldn’t find a birth record or parents for John Adams so I looked for Sarah Coley’s family.  I found a birth record for Sarah on 8 June 1743. Her parents were Jonathan Coley and Lucy STURGES! I was doing the genealogy happy dance at that point. Assuming that these were the parents of Sturges Adams, born in Connecticut in 1777, this gave Sturges a grandmother who was a Sturges by birth. Family lore was right on in this case.

Over the next few months, I pieced together more of the Adams and Coley story.  Preponderance of evidence points to David Adams and Susannah Lockwood being the parents of Loyalist John. Susannah died when John was probably under the age of six and his father remarried to Sarah Squire.

John and Sarah only had one daughter, Hannah. Neither Jonathan nor Hannah are found as family names in the Adams line. However, Sarah’s father being Jonathan indicates that their first born child was named for her father. Hannah was their second child; Sarah had four sisters, but the one closest in age to her was Hannah. The pieces continued to fit.

There are several mentions of Lockwood, Adams and Coley contemporaries of John in Jacobus’s book as being suspected of or being charged with Tory tendencies, adding to the very strong preponderance of evidence that Loyalist John was from Weston, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Lastly, and perhaps most important, there are absolutely no records found in Fairfield County for John and Sarah Coley Adams after the close of the war.

John and Sarah passed away before the invention of photography, but I am the very lucky owner of two very old photos. The first is of their son, Thomas, my 4x great grandfather, and his wife, Sarah Brawn, taken about the 1840’s based on their clothing. Sarah was alive for the 1851 Canadian census; Thomas died in 1859 in Calais, Maine and is found in the 1860 mortality schedule.