Samuel Adams Jr (1722 - 1803)

Born 16 Sep 1722 in Boston, Suffolk, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Checkley) Adams — married 1749 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Husband of Elizabeth (Wells) Adams — married 6 Dec 1764 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 2 Oct 1803 at age 81 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

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Preceded by 3rd Governor John Hancock

Samuel Adams 4th Governor of Massachusetts 1793—1797

Succeeded by 5th Governor Increase Sumner

Samuel Adams Jr participated in the American Revolution. Join: 1776 Project Discuss: 1776

Biography

Samuel Adams Jr is Notable.

Samuel Adams Jr was a Founding Father in the American Revolution.

Samuel Adams Jr is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-101570
Rank: Signer, Declaration of Independence

Samuel Adams Jr is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A000577.

This profile is part of the Adams Name Study.

Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams.

Birth

Samuel Adams was born on 16 Sep 1722 in Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] He was a son of Samuel Adams and Mary Fifield Adams.^[2]

Marriage and Children

Samuel was married twice. In 1749, he married Elizabeth Checkley, and they had six children. Only two survived to adulthood:^[2][3]

• Samuel (1750-1750)
• Samuel (1751-1788)
• Joseph (1753-1753)
• Mary (1754-1754)
• Hannah (1756-1821)
• Stillborn child (1757)

Elizabeth died in 1757, soon after the birth of her stillborn child. In 1764, Samuel married Elizabeth "Betsy" Wells, who became mother to young Samuel and Hannah, although she had no children of her own.^[3]

Samuel struggled to make a living for his family. He lacked interest in the accounting career for which he had trained. Then, he inherited the family brewery business, but nothing motivated him like politics and the evolution of a new nation.^[3]

Patriot Leader

In the fifteen years before the American Revolution, that is, 1760 to 1775, Samuel Adams was above all the other patriots of that era, foremost in encouraging his fellow men to open rebellion. The Tories of that day said that Samuel was "the first man to speak of Independence," which to British sympathizers meant treason. It was Samuel Adams who rallied the Bostonians to proclaim their opposition to the Stamp Tax in 1755. It was Samuel Adams who got his fellow citizens to vote against the trade tax that Parliament imposed on sugar.

It was Samuel Adams who organized the Boston Tea Party. When the early Patriots banded themselves together and called themselves the Sons of Liberty, the British called this organization "Sam Adams Mohawks". The greatest personal drive for independence in America prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill was coaching skill and leadership of Samuel Adams, yet this man sought no credit for it all. Probably the greatest tribute made in regard to this man was made by the Tory Boston Governor Hutchinson when he said, "Samuel Adams is leader of the greatest adventure in democracy this world has ever seen."

Formation of a New Government

In 1774, Samuel Adams was chosen by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to represent his state at the First Continental Congress. At the Second Continental Congress, he became part of the committee to write the Articles of Confederation and encouraged the formation of a Continental Army. Then, on 4 Jul 1776, he signed the Declaration of Independence. After the new U.S. Constitution was written, Adams argued for a Bill of Rights to be added, and this was done in 1791. Samuel Adams was Governor of Massachusetts 1793-1797.^[3]

Death

Samuel Adams died on 2 Oct 1803, at the age of 81. He was buried in Grary Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.^[4][5]

Sources

1. ↑ “Boston, MA: Church Records, 1630-1895” The Records of the Churches of Boston. CD_ROM. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008 Link
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Boston, MA: Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630-1822 (Thwing Collection) Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630–1800 and The Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston, 1630–1822. CD-ROM. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) pp. 1392, 1393 Link
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Encyclopedia.com on Samuel Adams
4. ↑ Samuel Adams Memorial
5. ↑ Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.) Link

• Samuel Adams by Prof. James K. Hosmer (1885)
• Hours at Home, A Popular Monthly (Charles Scribner & Company, 1867) Vol. 2, No. 5, Page 389-399
• Find A Grave: Memorial #9
• Granary Burying Ground: Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Mass. (The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1918) Page 20: Adams, "Samuel, Signer of the Declaration of Independence Governor of this Commonwealth, b. ___, 1722, d. ___, 1803"
• "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910," database, FamilySearch [1] : accessed 10 April 2016), Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Checkley, 17 Aug 1749; FHL microfilm 0928191 IT 2.
• "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910," database, FamilySearch [2] : accessed 10 April 2016), Samuel Adams and Eliza. Wells, 06 Dec 1764; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 0896885 IT 2.
• Porter, Joseph W. "An Account of Part of the Family of Abraham Perkins of Hampton, NH, who Lived in Plymouth Co., MA," published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Boston, MA: NEHGS. (Online database: American Ancestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018). Jan 1896, Vol. 50, page 35.