Ezra Adams (1751 - 1836)

Born 1751 in West Simsbury, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Feb 1836 at about age 85 in South Canton, Connecticut, United States

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Biography

Ezra Adams is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A000484.

Ezra Adams, Esq., was born in 1751 to David Adams and Mindwell Case.

Private Ezra Adams served with Lexington Alarm - April 1775, Connecticut Militia during the American Revolution.

He responded with the men of Simsbury to the Lexington Alarm, April 1775. ^[1]

Ezra first married Hannah Wilcox (1755 - 1801), daughter of Col. Amos Wilcox. Four of his children were said to have been born "with usual capacities, [ but] soon sunk into and died in a state of idiocy, which was a great trial to their parents." Hannah died in 1801, so all of these children would have been hers. They had 8 children:

1. Mindwell Adams, ("idiot") 1773, 1777, age 4.
2. Ezra Adams, Jun. 1775,1836, age 61. Married Abigail Hurlbut.
3. Abel Adams, ("idiot") 1777, 1786, age 9.
4. Hannah Adams, ("idiot") 1780, 1791, age 11.
5. Tracy Adams, ("idiot") 1788, 1800, age 12.
6. Laura Adams, 1790, Married Deems Humphrey.
7. Infant Adams, 1793, 1793.
8. David Adams, 1798. Died in Clarksville, Tennessee. ^[2]

Note: Ezra Adams was a tanner and shoe dealer. Intimations of mental infirmity among the children of this family may not necessarily have been related to genetic factors, rather could have been due to exposure to preservative substances used at that time for the curing of skins to produce leather. Among those substances were metallic elements such as mercury and arsenic, which are effective antimicrobial agents to prevent biodegradation of the leather itself, yet per current understanding do produce untoward effects upon nerve tissues in mammalian systems when exposure concentrations are elevated, particularly in children.

After the death of his first wife Ezra Adams married Hannah (Grant) Seymour (1771 - 1824), who was widowed of her first husband, Ashbel Seymour.

Ezra Adams died in 1837 at South Canton, Connecticut.

Sources

1. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed Sep 29, 2021), "Record of ADAMS, EZRA", Ancestor # A000484.Meehan-411
2. ↑ Brown, Abiel, Genealogical history, with short sketches and family records, of the early settlers of West Simsbury, now Canton, Conn., p. 7-8, Press of Case, Tiffany, and Company, Hartford,1856; Reprinted, N. Y. 1899.

• The Grant Family (1898), p. 38: https://archive.org/details/grantfamilygenea00gran/page/38/mode/1up

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/99H9-FWS

• Record of service of Connecticut men in the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War by Connecticut. Adjutant-General's Office; Johnston, Henry Phelps,, 1899. Men from the Town of Simsbury who served during the Lexington Alarm, April 1775.