Samuel Adams (1755 - 1832)

Born Dec 1755 in Braintree, Suffolk, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Felt) Adams — married 25 Nov 1778 in Dedham, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA

Descendants

Died 19 May 1832 at age 76 in Nelson, Cheshire, New Hampshire, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Harold Adams [send private message]

Biography

This profile is part of the Nelson, New Hampshire One Place Study.

Samuel was born in December of 1753, in Dedham, Massachusetts, son of Samuel Adams and his wife, Sarah (Blanchard) Adams.

He married Sarah Felt on the 4th of November 1778 in Dedham, Massachusetts.^[1]

On January 1, 1776, he enlisted in Captain Gould's Company of Colonel Greaton's Regiment. It was during this time in service that Samuel moved his family to the fledgling town of Packersfield, New Hampshire, a small farming community in the southwestern corner of the state. He was discharged from Captain Gould's Company in 1781. On March 19, 1781, he enlisted in Col. Scammel's Regiment, the First New Hampshire until April 11, 1783.^[2]

An article written by Richard Church and published on the Nelson History website details quite a bit of Samuel's life:

"Adams fought in the Revolution starting with the Lexington alarm marching with the minutemen from Dedham, Massachusetts. He enlisted for the balance of 1775 and 1776. Adams enlisted again from Packersfield in March of 1781 serving until April of 1783. His discharge papers describe him as “age 28 years, stature 5 ft. 5 in. tall.”^[3]

"Samuel Adams bought his forty-acre farm at the site of Greengate in 1778. He cleared the farm and moved his wife and first child there about two years later. Children arrived at the regular two-year intervals until there were five in the fall of 1790."

"At first things seem to have gone well for the Adams; as the children came, he added to his farm purchasing an additional 12 acres in 1799 for $25. Samuel and Sarah’s seventh and last child, John, was born in January of 1801. Sometime after that Samuel’s management of his affairs began to unravel."

"By age fifty-five Samuel Adams was deeply in debt and in danger of losing everything. It was left to Adam’s third son, twenty-two-year-old Joseph Adams, to attempt to save the family farm by adding his labor and credit to expand the farm and make it more successful. In 1810 he bought 60 acres on the “Island” between Nubanusit Lake and Spoonwood Pond to add to his father’s farm. His father’s debts had mounted, undoubtedly preventing the senior Adams from financing the deal himself. Later that same year Joseph bought his father’s farm and mortgaged it so that the elder Adams had $700 to pay off his debts in full. This was a huge amount of indebtedness for a farmer with 112 acres to incur, far exceeding the value of the home farm itself." NOTE: Samuel and his family became paupers and depended on the town for their care.

Read the entire article

Samuel Adams passed away on 19 May 1832 in Nelson, New Hampshire. He and some members of his family were buried in a pauper's grave in Nelson.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP8Z-TX66: 11 May 2022), Saml Adams and Sarah Felt, 4 Nov 1778; citing Marriage, Dedham, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007548965
2. ↑ "New Hampshire Revolutionary War Records, 1675-1835," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q242-VM2B: 15 March 2018), Samuel Adams; citing New Hampshire, United States, Military Service, New Hampshire State Archives, Division of Records Management and Archives, Concord; FHL microfilm 005834960
3. ↑ "Celebration by the town of Nelson", by Nelson picnic association, Nelson, N.H. [from old catalog]; Griffin, Simon Goodell, 1824-1902. [from old catalog]; Tolman, Ebenezer, 1748-1838. [from old catalog]. Publication date 1917 (https://archive.org/details/celebrationbytow00nels/page/n43/)
4. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167884363/samuel-adams: accessed 22 April 2023), memorial page for Samuel Adams (1755–19 May 1832), Find A Grave: Memorial #167884363, citing Nelson Congregational Church Pauper Graves, Nelson, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA; Maintained by Candyce Fulford (contributor 47429784)

See Also:

• "North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000"
  Book Title: The Felt Genealogy: a record of the Descendants of George Felt of Casco Bay
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 61157 #695454 (accessed 22 April 2023)
  Name: Samuel Adams; Gender: Male; Age: 76; Birth Date: Dec 1755; Birth Place: Braintree, Mass; First Marriage Date: 25 Nov 1778; First Marriage Place: Dedham; Death Date: 19 May 1832; Death Place: Nelson; Father: Samuel Adams; Mother: Sarah Blanchard; Spouse: Sarah Felt; Child: Sarah Adams; Jonathan Adams; Fanny Adams; Samuel Adams; Joseph Adams; Polly Adams; John Adams.
• Military: "U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900"
  Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (NARA microfilm publication M804, 2,670 rolls). Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1995 #545 (accessed 22 April 2023)
  Name: Samuel Adams; Pension Year: 1819; Application State: New Hampshire; Applicant Designation: Widow's Pension Application File; Second Applicant Name: Sarah Adams; Second Applicant Pension Year: 1854; Second Applicant Application State: New Hampshire; Second Applicant Designation: Other Application File; Archive Publication Number: M804; Archive Roll Number: 15; Total Pages in Packet: 44.
• "U.S., Revolutionary War Pensioners, 1801-1815, 1818-1872"
  The National Archives; Washington, D.C.; Ledgers of Payments, 1818-1872, to U.S. Pensioners Under Acts of 1818 Through 1858 From Records of the Office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury; Record Group Title: Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury; Record Group Number: 217; Series Number: T718; Roll Number: 2
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1116 #120524 (accessed 22 April 2023)
  Name: Samuel Adams; Year range: 1818-1832; Pension Office Place: New Hampshire, USA.
• "U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930"
  Newspapers and Periodicals. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 50015 #426761 (accessed 22 April 2023)
  Samuel Adams death about 1832 (age 79) in Nelson, New Hampshire.