Henry Adcock (1827 - 1897)

Born 17 Nov 1827 in Walton County, Georgia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 13 Jan 1897 at age 69 in Neshoba County, Mississippi

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Biography

Henry Adcock (1827-1897) is somewhat of a mystery. From the family bible of Henry's son Washington Henry Adcock, we know Henry was born November 17, 1827. From Wash Adcock himself, we know Henry was born in Georgia, as were several of Wash's oldest siblings. We also know that the information in Wash Adcock's bible was written down by Wash's older sister Emma in the year 1945. Unfortunately, Emma's sources for this info are unknown. In addition, Henry's date and place of death are not recorded in Wash Adcock's bible, which requires other sources to determine with certainty Henry's date and place of death.

Little is known about Henry. At least, very few stories about him were passed down by family members. There are, however, at least two pieces of information about Henry that have been passed down. First, Henry's great-grandson Millard Leon Kea (1907-1989), who was famous for his knowledge of family history and lore, often described Henry as "Bad Henry", supposedly because in his later years Henry was quite "mean" or ill-tempered. Second, several family lines of Henry's descendants relate a story about Henry murdering a man after a drunken brawl in which the murdered man embarrassed Henry. [See story below.]

From Civil War service records, we do know that Henry fought in company H of Georgia's 39th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Company H was known as the Chattooga Rangers, which was involved in significant military engagements including the Battle of Champion Hill and the Siege of Vicksburg. There is also evidence that Henry possibly deserted in July-August 1863. Why Henry deserted/fled at this time is unknown, but it may have been related to the story of murder mentioned above.

The story mentioned above has been handed down by three separate lines of Henry's descendants. Lloyd Adcock (1915-1992), Wash Adcock's son, told this story: "Henry Adcock had been beaten up by a local bully and publicly embarrassed. In anger, Henry waited early one morning in bushes near the bully's cotton field. As the man plowed his field, he approached Henry's position. Henry stood up, aimed his rifle, and killed the man. Henry then turned himself in to the local sheriff. Henry's jailer knew the bully, and felt Henry was justified. So, in the night, he released Henry and told him not to come back. So, Henry fled in the night and later sent for his family."

Leon Kea, grandson of Henry's daughter Henrietta Adcock-Kea, told a similar story: "Henry had been drinking. An altercation with another man occurred, and Henry was badly beaten. The next day, after both men had sobered up a bit, the other man approached Henry and requested forgiveness. To which Henry replied, 'If I die first, you're forgiven.' Not long afterward, Henry took action. Early one morning, Henry took his rifle and hid in the trees near the other man's cotton field. The man began plowing his field, as his young son watched. The man reached the end of a cotton row very near where Henry was hiding. As the man turned his mule to continue plowing the next row, Henry stood up and shot the man in the back, killing him. Henry was almost immediately arrested for the murder. As there was no "jail" in the area, Henry was secured in a local barn until a circuit judge could arrive to hold trial. Some of Henry's friends volunteered to keep watch over Henry, but in the night they released him. Henry fled the area, never to return."

The last version of the story is told by Henry's great-great-granddaughter Gloria Roberts-Craig. Gloria is the great-granddaughter of Henry's oldest son, Joseph Valentine Adcock (1852-1894). According to Gloria, the incident occurred when Joseph Valentine was about 11 or 12 years old (around 1863-1864). Gloria's version is very close to Leon Kea's story. However, in the story Gloria learned, Henry's "friends" were war buddies who were loyal to Henry. They arranged for Henry's son Joseph Valentine to have a horse waiting at the edge of the woods for Henry to escape. In the middle of the night, Henry's friends released him and told him where his son was waiting. They informed him that they would give him a few hours head start before raising the alarm. That night Henry fled. He later sent for his family. However, another piece of Gloria's story adds a bit of flavor to Henry's "bad boy" image. According to Gloria's version of the story, some time after the event, Henry was approached by a local sheriff where Henry was then living. (Henry was clearly not living near where the incident occurred.) The sheriff told Henry that a sheriff (back in Georgia?) had contacted him. This other sheriff had informed him that a Henry Adcock was wanted for murder, and asked if he knew anyone by that name. To which Henry replied in a low, almost threatening voice, "Sheriff, you just tell him you don't know no Henry Adcock." And that's how the story ends.

These stories come from three separate family lines of Henry's descendants: 1) Henrietta Adcock-Kea, by way of her grandson Millard Leon Kea, 2) Washington Henry Adcock, by way of his son Lloyd F. Adcock, and 3) Joseph Valentine Adcock, by way of his great-granddaughter Gloria Roberts-Craig. While this story is purely a family legend, the fact that three separate lines share the same basic narrative structure may lend credence to the story's veracity. This is especially true since these family lines have had little or no contact from about 1900 until 2011.

If the story is at least loosely based in fact, this might explain Henry Adcock's Civil War service records and some of the information in the 1870 census for Neshoba County, Mississippi. First, in Henry's Civil War service records, Henry is listed as having been paroled back to Georgia on July 8, 1863, after the siege of Vicksburg. Back in Georgia, his regiment reformed in late July or early August, 1863. Henry is reported as "not present" at this time. Based on his service records, it appears Henry never returns to his regiment and is simply listed as missing or not present at each subsequent regiment report. In addition, Henry's son Samuel Lee (b. Sep 1864) is identified in the 1870 census as having been born in Texas, which might be seen as consistent with the "fugitive from justice" story above. After Samuel Lee, all of Henry's children are born in Neshoba County, Mississippi, indicating Henry had finally settled down for good.

Regarding the identity of Henry's parents, there is no definitive evidence. There are two major theories. The prevailing theory is that Henry was the son of Stinson Adcock (1782-1857) and Jane "Jencey" Hart. While most genealogies seem to support this theory, no documentary evidence of this relationship has been discovered to date. Moreover, most genealogies tie "Henry" to F. Henry Adcock of Coweta County, Georgia. The only genuine evidence we have regarding Henry Adcock's identity is found in the 1860 Chattooga County, Georgia and 1870 Neshoba County, Mississippi census records, along with the memories and testimonies of direct descendants of Henry Adcock. These do not seem to corroborate the connection to F. Henry Adcock of Coweta County.

There is a second major theory of Henry Adcock's origins. In fact, it is a fairly compelling alternative theory, namely, that Henry was the eldest child of George W. Adcock (Adcock-209?) and Nancy Easterling of Walton County, Georgia. Why does this theory seem compelling? First, the 1950s research of A. E. Adcock, suggests Henry was the son of either Edward/Edmund or George Adcock. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where A. E. Adcock obtained his information. Was it derived from documents or was it merely a guess? That's unclear.

There are other reasons why one might consider George and Nancy Adcock to be Henry's parents. According to the 1850 U.S. Census, George W. and Nancy Adcock are listed as living in Chattooga County, Georgia near the William Swilling family. In the 1860 Chattooga County census, Henry Adcock is listed with his wife, Sarah (Swilling) and their children Joseph Valentine and G. W. We know from other records and family information that Sarah was a daughter of William and Susan Swilling. Also, in the 1860 Chattooga County census, Nancy Adcock is still living in the area with her children, near the Swillings and Henry and Sarah Adcock. It seems reasonable to assume there is a familial connection.

Finally, in the 1830 Walton County, Georgia census, where both George W. Adcock and Nancy Easterling were born, a George W. Adcock is listed who is the right age for the George W. Adcock mentioned above. In this 1830 census, a female consistent in age with Nancy is identified, along with two sons less than five years of age. We know from later census records that George and Nancy's son Joel was born in 1829. This means that there was another son born between 1826 and 1828 living with them at the time of the 1830 census. Henry could very well have been that son. In the 1840 Walton County census, George is again listed and there are sons of the appropriate age noted in that census, too. While Henry is not listed in the 1850 Chattooga or Walton census records, he is definitely listed in the 1860 census for Chattooga County, Georgia.

Given the fact that George W. Adcock was born in Walton County, Georgia between 1800 and 1806, and Nancy Easterling was born in the same county in late 1809, and given that George and Nancy married in Walton County in January 1827, it is very possible that Henry Adcock (b. Nov. 1827), was their son. George and Nancy's son Joel (b. 1829) was also born in Walton County. Although all this seems quite circumstantial, this secondary alternative theory of origins for Henry Adcock seems worthy of consideration.

Finally, while DNA evidence seems to suggest that I am related to descendants of Stinson Adcock, emerging DNA evidence seems to provide a more confident connection with descendants of George W. Adcock. More DNA matches are needed to make a determination which theory is correct at this point.

For now, I list Stinson Adcock and Jencey/Jane Hart as Henry's parents, following the prevailing theory of Henry's origins. However, without clear documentary evidence, it is impossible to be certain.

One thing is certain, however. This Henry Adcock married Sarah Swilling and was living in Chattooga County, Georgia with his family in 1860. We also know that Henry moved his family from Chattooga County, Georgia to Neshoba County, Mississippi sometime between 1865 and 1870. Henry and his family are clearly identified in the 1870 Neshoba County census. In 1880, Henry was no longer living with Sarah and her children. His whereabouts at that time remain unknown. Henry's youngest son, Washington Henry Adcock, was born in Neshoba County on September 18, 1879, which indicates that Henry was still with Sarah in 1879. Wash Adcock always indicated that his dad moved out sometime shortly before or after he was born. He may have lived nearby, but that, too, is unclear.

As a final note: Henry Adcock's death is likewise a mystery. There are no definitive records regarding Henry's date and place of death. One story by Adcock descendants from Coushatta, Louisiana, claim Henry died in Holley Springs, Louisiana during a visit to his brother George W. Adcock (another son of George W. Adcock and Nancy Easterling), but was buried in the Old Rattletrap cemetery in Neshoba County, Mississippi. [As a result, this story adds credibility to the second theory of Henry's origins, noted above.] Still, there is no direct evidence to suggest Henry died outside of Mississippi. Other than family "lore", there is nothing to prove when or where Henry died, or even where he is buried. Tradition has it that Henry Adcock was buried in the Rattletrap Cemetery in Neshoba County, Mississippi. In fact, my father often mentioned that his grandfather (Henry) was buried in the old Rattletrap Cemetery. So, such claims are as good as any, and, without proof to the contrary, may be tentatively held as "correct".

-- Written by David A. Adcock (October 18, 2017)

Sources

• Source Citation - Year: 1860; Census Place: Dirt Town Valley, Chattooga, Georgia; Roll: M653_116; Page: 651; Image: 125; Family History Library Film: 803116. [Lists Henry, wife Sarah, and children Valentine and G.W.

Henry Adcock Family 1860 Census

• Source Citation - Year: 1870; Census Place: Beat 5, Attala, Mississippi; Roll: M593_722; Page: 171A; Image: 347; Family History Library Film: 552221. Source Information - Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Henry Adcock Family 1870 Census

• Source Citation - Year: 1880; Census Place: Beat 5, Neshoba, Mississippi; Roll: 659; Family History Film: 1254659; Page: 540A; Enumeration District: 061; Image: 0218. Source Information - Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Sarah Adcock Family 1880 Census

• Note: In 2012, Henry's great-granddaughter, Mertice Kea-Mckay, granddaughter of Martha Jane Adcock-Kea, mentioned that she remembers her grandmother talking about her life as a young girl in Georgia, before they moved to Mississippi. Mertice didn't know exactly when the family moved to Mississippi, but said that her grandmother indicated that it was around the war or shortly afterward. Census records show the family in Neshoba County, Mississippi by 1870. Mertice, though in her 80s, claimed to remember clearly her grandmother telling stories about the family's home in Georgia, which strengthens the information provided in the U.S. Georgia and Mississippi Census records.
• Source (below): Image of a page from Washington Henry Adcock's 1945 Bible with names and dates of all family members. The bible was given to Wash Adcock on his birthday in 1945 by his sister Emma; the names and dates of birth were written by Emma; death dates were written by Genevieve Eudora Faulk-Adcock.

List of Henry Adcock Family & Dates