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William Green Adams (1788 - abt. 1870)

William Green "Billy Grit" Adams
Born in Lewis Fork of Yadkin River, Wilkes County, North Carolina, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 1809 in Prestonsburg, Floyd, Kentucky, United Statesmap
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 81 in Letcher, Kentucky, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions Profile managers: Daniel Meece private message [send private message] and Marie Allen private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 7 Aug 2011
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Contents

Biography

Dorothy A. Griffith and Robert E. Parkin, Adams Families of Southeast Kentucky, St. Louis, MO: Genealogical Research & Productions, 1986

Page 123-124

William G. Adams 212311 (1790-1870)

(William G. Adam's origins have remained an enigma for going on two centuries now. We think intensive research and analysis by ADAMS ADDENDA has found the key to this mystery. Previously, the only solution for family-tree searchers was to resort to his wife's line, for she, too, was an Adams, a daughter of John Adams Jr. (11311).

William G. Adams was born in 1790 at his parents' farm on Lewis Fork in Wilkes County, North Carolina. His father was Jesse Adams Jr., and his mother is believed to have been a Green. Since both parents appear to have died before the 1790 Census of Wilkes, the infant is difficult to find among the maze of Adamses -- many with the same given names, John, Spencer, Charles, etc. Jesse Jr.'s own father was dead, but his widow, Jane, still lived on Lewis Fork, where her sons also resided. In 1790, three of her sons, Matthew, Stephen and Spencer [did not have a son Spencer - see page 121] Adams, were unmarried and too young to take such a responsibility. However, her second-oldest son, Charles Adams (21232), was married, according to the state census of Wilkes in 1787, and, although Charles is not counted in the 1790 Census, his family is enumerated in the 1800 Census, still in North Carolina. Widow Jane Adams, Billy G.'s grandmother, is found in the 1790 Census. She is shown with a daughter or daughter-in-law and four males, under sixteen years of age, in her household. One of them could be her grandson, Billy. On July 27,1791 (Wilkes MR), Widow Jane Adams married old John Laws Sr. Perhaps, that was when Billy went to live in Charles's family. For, in 1800, when Charles Adams's family is enumerated in the Wilkes census, he and his wife are shown with two girls under 10 and two males under ten. Subsequent census and marriage records account for th daughters and one son, Daniel Adams (212321), but not for the other boy, presumably William G. Adams, Charles's nephew.

Furthermore, additional evidence indicates that William G. Adams must have come to Kentucky with his uncle, Charles, none of the others. Matthew Adams, another brother of Billy's father, Jesse, and Charles Adams, did not move to Kentucky until after 1810, and Billy was married in 1809 in Floyd county. Another of his uncles, Spencer Adams, married and died in 1803 in Wilkes County, without ever seeing Kentucky. Also, twice-widowed Jane Adams-Laws died about 1804 in Wilkes County. There is incontrovertible proof, however, of Charles Adams's family being in Floyd County before 1810. On February 6, 1809, Charles Adams consented to the marriage of his eldest daughter, fifteen year old Mary (21232A) to Daniel Brown (Floyd MR: Floyd Annals, Page 123). Eight months later, William G. Adams married John Adams Jr.'s daughter, Mary Ann (11311F), and John gave his consent.

Thus, we have concluded that William G. Adams was the only son of Jesse and ---- (Green) Adams, that he was orphaned as an infant, raised by, perhaps, his grandmother and uncle, Charles Adams, and came with this uncle to Kentucky where he married young Mary Adams.

On October 24, 1809 (Floyd MR), William G. Adams married John and Letty (Simpson) Adams's sixteen year old daughter Mary Ann, who, naturally, was called "Polly". Her father signed a consent for Billy to "marry my daughter, Mary Adams...This from yours, John Adams". Spencer Adams (11314), a justice of the peace, was security for William's bond. The young couple probably was married the same day although it was not registered in Floyd's marriage book.

At this time, although not mentioned in the bond, Billy's uncle Charles Adams was living near John Wilkins' mill.

Billy an Polly Ann lived at the head of the Kentucky River, where their first two sons and perhaps other children were born. Then, on June 22, 1816, William Adams received a Tellico land grant for 100 acres on Jellico River in what was then Knox County (Kentucky Land Grants (1803-1853), Knox Book 1, Page 667). A couple of years later, Whitley County was formed from Knox and included Adam's property. As a result, he and his descendants were identified as the "Jellico set", even tho' they returned to Letcher County. William Adams also was know familiarly as "Billy Grit".

At least seven more children were born to Billy Grit and Polly Ann while they resided in Whitley County. One son, John, was married (Whitley MR) there in 1831, and another son, Jesse, probably was married there in 1837, for they married sisters Sarah and Keziah Meadows. However, all of them were back on Thornton Creek in time for the 1840 census of Perry County.

In 1842, their Thornton Creek home was cut off into Letcher County.

William G. and Mary Ann (Adams) Adams's known children were John, Jesse, Simpson, William Green, Sarah, Mary, Spencer, Ellender and Lydia Adams. Each married and had families in Letcher County.

Billy Grit's wife, Polly Ann, daughter of Old John, died in 1845. She was fifty-seven years old. She was buried in Webb Cemetery, Mayking.

On August 7, 1846 (Letcher MR), the widower married Mary "Polly" Kinser, a fifty-two year old widow with a number of children. In the 1850 Census, they are alone, except for fifteen year old David Kinser, a laborer on their farm. In 1860 they are alone, William then seventy-one years old and "Polly" then sixty-six. William's second wife, whose maiden name may have been Roberts, must have died shortly afterwards, for he had a third wife, Fannie (Brooks) Short, widow of William Short.

William "Grit" or "Jellico" Adams died in 1870 on his Thornton Creek farm, He was over eighty years of age of age, married three times and perhaps thrice widowed. All nine of his children however were by his first wife Mary (Adams) Adams. William G. Adams was interred in Webb Cemetery between his first two wives, both named Mary and each called "Polly".

Decendents

William Green "Billy Grit" Adams b 1 Jul 1788 Lewis Fork, Wilkes Co NC d 21 Mar 1905 Letcher Co KY; s/o Spencer Adams and Ann Caudill. William Green "Billy Grit" Adams m. 24 Oct. 1809 Prestonsburg, Floyd Co KY to Mary Ann Polly Adams b. 1792 Roaring River, Wilkes Co. NC, d. 1845 Letcher Co. KY; d/o John Hobbs Adams and Letty Simpson. Census).

Children of William Green "Billy Grit" Adams and Mary Ann "Polly" Adams;

1. John Wiley Adams Sr b 1810 Jellico River, Whitley Co KY d 1890 Salyersville, Magoffin Co KY; m. 16 Aug 1831 Williamsburg, Whitley Co KY to Sarah "Sally" Meador b 1818 Jellico River, Whitley Co KY d/o Edward Moberly Meador and Abigail Thomas.

2. Sarah "Sally" Adams b 1812 Jellico River, Whitley Co KY; m. 1 Sept 1886 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY to Elihu Brown. Sarah "Sally" Adams m. 1844 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY to Stephen "Shank" Adams b 22 Aug 1804 Elizabethtown, Carter Co TN d 1875 Letcher Co KY. Sarah "Sally" Adams. m. 1834 to Male Jones

3. Jesse G Adams b 1815 Jellico River, Whitley Co KY d 1880 Magoffin Co KY; m. 1837 Williamsburg, Whitley Co KY to Keziah Meador b 1816 KY.

4. William Green Adams Jr b 21 Jan 1820 Pine Creek, Floyd Co KY d 29 Jun 1862 Pound River, Wise Co VA; m. 25 Apr 1840 Hazard, Perry Co KY to Mary "Polly" Webb b 14 Mar 1818 Millstone, Letcher Co KY d 5 Feb 1899 Mayking, Letcher Co KY; d/o Benjamin Webb and Jane "Jennie" Adams.

5. Simpson Evans Adams b abt 1822 Pine Creek, Floyd Co KY d 1910 Letcher Co KY; m. 1845 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY to Sarah "Sally" Webb b 1825 Perry Co KY d 1897 Pine Creek, Letcher Co KY; d/o Benjamin Webb and Jane "Jennie" Adams.

6. Mary "Polly" Adams b 1823 Pine Creek, Floyd Co KY

7. Spencer Adams b 19 Feb 1826 Pine Creek, Floyd Co KY d 21 Mar 1905 Tillie, Letcher Co KY; m. 19 Mar 1844 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY to Celia Church b 1827 VA.

8. Ellender "Nellie" Adams b 1829 Pine Creek, Floyd Co KY; m. 4 Mar 1849 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY to Preston Blair b 1826 KY

9. Lydia Adams b 6 Nov 1831 Pine Creek, Floyd Co KY d 10 Dec 1895 Cram Creek, Letcher Co KY; buried Webb Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; m. 11 Aug 1848 Letcher Co KY to Frederick Kincer b 3 Nov 1830 VA d 22 Aug 1902 Letcher Co KY; buried Webb Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; s/o Frederick Kincer and Mary "Polly" Creger.

William Adams ... [1]

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married cousin

Sources

  1. Entered by Marie Allen, Sunday, November 10, 2013.
  • Charles Well's "Annals of Floyd County, Kentucky- 1800-1826" that reference William Adams

Descendants of some Wilkes County Adams pioneers who settled in what became Letcher County, Kentuck

No sources. The events of William's life were either witnessed by Marie Allen or Marie plans to add sources here later.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Marie Allen for creating Adams-14299 on 10 Nov 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Marie and others.

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Comments: 2

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Adams-44995 and Adams-6546 appear to represent the same person because: same
posted by Al Adams
Adams-14299 and Adams-6546 appear to represent the same person because: same father and son (merges proposed)
posted by Robin Lee

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