John Adams Sr. (bef. 1622 - bef. 1706)

Born before 4 Dec 1622 in Kingweston, Somerset, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anne (Unknown) Adams — married 1650 in Massachusetts or England

Descendants

Died before 7 Oct 1706 at about age 83 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

John Adams Sr. immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

John Adams was born in 1622 and baptized 4 December of that same year, at Kingweston, Sommersetshire, England, the sixth son (and seventh child) of Henry Adams and Edith Squire. ^[1][2]

Immigration and Apprenticeship

He emigrated to New England with his parents and siblings (except for his elder brother, Jonathan) sometime in 1638, although the exact date of their arrival is not known.^[3] The rest of his family settled at Braintree but John, at sixteen years of age, was apprenticed to John Fournell, a millwright at Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a period of six years.^[4] During this time he helped Fournell build a mill for Captain George Cooke at Menotony, and when a lawsuit was filed in 1656 questioning the ownership of the land on which that mill stood, John testified by deposition that he had been personally familar with the land in question and with the Captain's ownership of it since 1638, which was the year his apprenticeship had started.^[5] At the end of his training with Fournell, John returned to his parents' home at Braintree, and in October 1645 he was among thirty-two residents of that town to sign a petition to the court regarding a land charter.^[6]

His father died in 1646, and three years later John was given a power of attorney by John Shepheard (his aunt Margaret's husband) to collect rents due on lands owned by John's own elder brother, Jonathan, and convey them to his brother, who was at that time living in England.^[7] He was also given a power of attorney by his brother Samuel enabling him to collect from the executors of the estate of Emanuel Eglesfield of London (father of Samuel's wife, Mary) any monies due to her as her inheritance.^[8] Early in 1650, John Adams departed for England to carry out both of these commissions.^[7]

Marriage and Children

John married Anne ________, whose surname and parentage remain uncertain.^{[7] [9]} Although some genealogists have attempted to link her with the Howe family based on a deed which mentions the house of John Adams being "last inhabited by William Howe, a weaver,"^[10] recent scholarship has shown that Howe was a contemporary of John and Anne's and so could not have been her father.^[11] The date and location of their marriage is also uncertain, it may have taken place in Massachusetts shortly before they departed for England, or they may have met and married in England, early in 1650.^[4][12]

There were at least eight children from this marriage:

1. Rebecca Adams, b. c.1651;^[13][14] m. 1669 Nathaniel Patten;^[13][14] d. 18 December 1677^[13][14]
2. Mary Adams, b. 25 October 1652;^[15] m. c.1676 John Eames;^[13][14] d. 3 April 1681^[13][14]
3. John Adams, b. 1 May 1653;^[16] m. 1680/1 Hannah Bent;^[13][17]
4. Daniel Adams, b. 8 August 1657; d. 1657^[18]
5. Joseph Adams, b. 1658/9;^[13][17] m. 1687/8 Margaret Eames;^[13] d. 20 Jul 1701^[13]
6. Hannah Adams, bp. 17 June 1660;^[19] d. 26 January 1661^[13][17]
7. Daniel Adams, b. 12 August 1662;^[20] d. 14 May 1685^[13][17]

Later Career

John Adams returned to New England in 1651 with his wife Anne and eldest daughter, Rebecca.^[7] Together they built a home at Menotomy in Cambridge, which remained in the Adams family for six generations.^[7] He acquired properties in Concord, Chelmsford, Cambridge, and Charlestown, eventually gifting the Adams family home in Menotomy to his son Joseph.^[7]

Membership in Cambridge Church

John and his wife Anne were members in full communion of the first church in Cambridge. John was admitted on 14 May 1666. Their children Mary, John and Joseph were baptized in the church (no date given), with daughter Rebeccas having been previously baptized in England. Their daughter Hannah was baptized in the church on 17 June 1660 and their son Daniel was baptized there on 14 September 1662.^[21]

Death

John Adams died sometime before 7 October 1706, when his estate was entered into probate.^[22] He was eighty-four years of age. His will, dated 1 June 1705, left the principal part of his estate to his wife Anne, with his son John to eventually receive the farm. His son Joseph received only five shillings, as he had already been given the deed to the house at Menotony. There were also various small bequests to his grandson William Patten and his granddaughters Martha Smith and Rebecca Squire. His wife Anne and son John Adams were made co-executors.^[23]

Sources

1. ↑ Bartlett, Joseph Gardner. Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Massachusetts. New York: private printing (1927), p. 80.
2. ↑ Fairbanks, Rev. Hiram Francis. The English Ancestry of Henry Adams of Braintree. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 59 (1905), pp. 320-322.
3. ↑ Sprague, Waldo Chamberlain. Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, Massachusetts, 1640-1850. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society (2001), pp. 11-13. Available here by subscription.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 37.
5. ↑ Middlesex County Court files, 1656; cited in Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 37.
6. ↑ Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. 2, p. 128; cited in Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 37.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5} Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 38.
8. ↑ Aspinwall's Notarial Records, pp. 145, 267; cited in Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 38.
9. ↑ Bartlett, Joseph Gardner. Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Massachusetts. New York: private printing (1927), p. 88.
10. ↑ Middletown County Deeds, 1:192; cited in Ullmann, Helen Schatvet. Notes on a Line From Henry Adams. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 153 (Jan 1999), pp. 213-214 (by subscription).
11. ↑ Ullmann, Helen Schatvet. Notes on a Line From Henry Adams. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 153 (Jan 1999), pp. 213-214 (by subscription).
12. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Before 1700. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co. (1985) Reprint.
13. ↑ ^{13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10} Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 39.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4} Bartlett, Joseph Gardner. Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Massachusetts. New York: private printing (1927), p. 88.
15. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCMY-1V8 : 10 November 2020), John Addams in entry for Mary Addams, 25 October 1652; citing Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004198966.
16. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQXF-X8W : 15 January 2020), John Addams in entry for John Addams, 1653.
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3} Bartlett, Joseph Gardner. Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Massachusetts. New York: private printing (1927), p. 89.
18. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQXF-VZ1 : 15 January 2020), Jno. Addams in entry for Daniel Addams, 1657.
19. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQXX-Z9C : 15 January 2020), John Adams in entry for Hannah Adams, 1660.
20. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCMY-1VX : 10 November 2020), John Addams in entry for Daniel Addams, 12 August 1662; citing Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004198966.
21. ↑ Records of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England 1632-1830. 1906. p. 23. Link to page at archive.org
22. ↑ Middlesex County Probate Records, Vol. 12, p. 202; cited in Adams, Enid E. Ancestors and Descendants of Jeremiah Adams 1794-1883. Victor, Idaho (1974), p. 38.
23. ↑ Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org) Will (Probate No. 140)

• Massachusetts Probate Court. Probate Records 1648-1924 (Middlesex County, Massachusetts). On-line data base published by Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Provo, Utah 2015. John Adams. Probate date: 1706; Probate place: Middlesex, Massachusetts; Case no.: 140; Description: probate papers no 98-160. Available online by subscription.

• Notes. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 66 (1912), p. 187.