RICHARD AND SUSANNAH ADAMS DISCOVERY
====================================
by Gary W. Routh
Januaray 2009
This document contains an overview of the steps I took discovering our Virginia Adams and
Dawson families. I have listed the items in the basic order I discovered them. Google Books
online links are given with the exact search and page numbers. It is helpful to read the
entire book articles, since they contain additional interesting historical info in these old
books.
NOTE: Use the exact quotes as given, e.g. "richard adams" for Google book searches below.
- - - - ITEM ONE - ALBEMARLE CO, VA:
The 1901 book "Albemarle County in Virginia" by Edgar Woods is a treatise seeking to compile
information about Albermarle forefathers by collecting facts "mainly from county archives."
On page 393, in APPENDIX No. 8, Emigrants from Albemarle to Other States, a list of
Albemarle born sons who lived in Missouri includes:
William Adams, Jackson Co
Pleasant Adams, Clay Co
Dawson Adams, Ray Co
## search:
"pleasant adams"
result will be on pg 393
http://books.google.com/books?id=XzMTAAAAYAAJ
##
ASSESSMENT: Some Virginia archive record prior to 1901 had to supply Woods with these names
and locations.
- - - - ITEM TWO - DAWSON FAMILY RECORDS:
The 1983 book by Carol Ruth Dawson, "DAWSONS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (AND THEIR
DESCENDANTS), Volume II" is a collection of D.A.R. registrations and research from other
Dawson family publications. On page 232, (4-34) SUSANNAH (DAWSON) ADAMS, who married Richard
Adams in 1786, is listed with ten issues:
5-12i James Adams
5-12j Pleasant Adams
5-12k William Adams
5-12l Benjamin Adams
5-12m Martin Adams
5-12n Sally Adams
5-12o Lynch Adams
5-12p Dawson Adams
5-12q Elizabeth Adams
5-12r Henry D. Adams
## Book available at new Independence, MO Mid-Continent Library "Dawsons in the revolutionary war (and their descendants)"
Dawson, Carol Ruth Anderson, 1915page 232
929.2 D323D V. 2
Midwest Genealogy Center
ASSESSMENT: Somebody in the Dawson family had this information, and research is proving it
mostly correct.
- - - - ITEM THREE - CASEY CO, KY:
Online research showed that Richard Adams was from Albemarle Co, later Fluvanna Co VA. His
family is an old landed Virginia line apparently dating back to Robert Adams of the Martin's
Hundred colony in 1624, near Jamestown. Richard Adams 13 Aug 1786 marriage to Susannah
Dawson is recorded in Amherst Co, VA marriage records. I later found a full 15 page history
of this Adams family published in the 1974 Adams Addenda, Vol 4. No 1, pgs 7-19, by Mrs.
Forrest Arnold. I will be happy to mail copies of this history.
Various documents show that the names Pleasant, Benjamin and Martin were brothers of
Susannah Dawson. Richard's father was Esq. James Adams. Also, their son Lynchburg Adams,
claims to have been born near Lynchberg, VA in Amherst Co where many of the Dawson family
lived.
Finally, 1805 deed and 1811 court documents record Richard and Susannah Adams living in
Casey Co, KY (settlement of her father's will and land sale to her brother). The Richard
Adams family is enumerated in the 1810 Casey Co U.S. Census on the same page as Susannah's
brother Benjamin Dawson, their recently married son Pleasant Adams, and Pleasant's wife,
Ruth Sutherland's widowed mother, Rebekka Sutherland.
Casey Co tax records record the Richard Adams family each year until 1820, when they had
moved to Missouri. Their son, Benjamin Adams married Nancy Snodgrass on 4 Aug 1818 in Casey
Co, KY and both Benjamin Adams ($4.12 1/2) and Pleasant Adams ($11.37 1/2) are listed in
Nancy Snodgrass's father final 1822 property settlement after his death.
ASSESSMENT: There is no doubt that Richard and Susannah Adams lived in Casey Co, KY between
1806-1819
- - - - ITEM FOUR - MOVE TO MISSOURI:
Fortunately, Lynchburg Adams lived a long life in Jackson Co, MO (22 Nov 1804 - 6 Dec 1873)
and was a somewhat colorful figure. The "Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri" Vol I,
1901, pg. 12 states:
"The parents of Lynchburg Adams, with eight children, removed, in 1820, to Missouri, and
made their home at Fort Osage, on the site of the present town of Sibley."
## search:
"lynchburg adams"
result will be on pg 12
http://books.google.com/books?id=VGsUAAAAYAAJ
##
Another interesting account was published in the 1921 "Centennial History of Missouri 18201921", Vol III, pg. 169:
"...Lynchburg Adams, one of the earliest pioneers of Jackson county, was born near
Lynchburg, Virginia, February 22, 1804, and was named in honor of the town. A few years
later his people removed to Kentucky and in 1819 came from that state to Missouri. They
passed the winter in the vicinity of Boon's salt works near Cooper's Fort and in the spring
of 1820 removed to the Missouri river crossing at Arrow Rock; On the 3d of March of that
year they camped at the foot of the hill just east of Fire Prairie creek, on what is now the
east boundary line of Jackson county. The family settled near Fort Osage when all this
district was a wild and undeveloped region in which the work of civilization had scarcely
been begun..."
## search:
"lynchburg adams"
result will be on pgs 169-170 (nice long history)
http://books.google.com/books?id=1IcUAAAAYAAJ
##
Finally, a possible treasure awaits our research at the Jackson County Historical Society:
Recently donated (2007) - Frank and Janann Adams Collection of Lynchburg and Elizabeth
(Drake) Adams Family Papers, including: Holy Bible of Lynchburg and Elizabeth (Drake) Adams,
recording their family's births, marriages, and deaths; tax receipts of Lynchburg Adams
(1869) and his son William Carroll Adams (1881); a photocopy of the original 1834 land
patent for Lynchburg Adams describing land in the Southeast Quarter of Section 27, Township
51, Range 31;....
ASSESSMENT: This info which supports Richard and Susannah's move to Missouri
- - - - ITEM FIVE - EARLY MISSOURI:
Unfortunately, there are only a few
Missouri Territory census was lost,
suspect he died between 1828-1830),
?) living with him in the 1830 Clay
references to Richard Adams in Jackson Co. The 1820
and Richard does not appear in the 1830 census (I
although Pleasant Adams has an elderly woman (Susannah
Co census.
Richard appears in an early Ray Co 1821-22 tax list with Martin, Pleasant and William.
Richard also appears in an Aug 1828 voter list in Ft Osage Township, Jackson Co. The list of
44 voters includes William Adams, Richard Addams and Lynchburg Addams. "History of Jackson
County Missouri", 1881, pg. 107
## search:
"richard addams"
result will be on lower pg 107 ##
http://books.google.com/books?id=eMMUAAAAYAAJ
My Pleasant Adams, a Clay Co leather worker by trade, replaced the cover of his family bible
when it was damaged in a river flood, missing many pages from the front and back. He covered
it neatly with leather and imprinted the names: Richard Adams, Pleasant Adams and Thomas
Adams. Now that we know about Richard and Susannah, those names finally make sense.
Finally, Elizabeth Adams married Isaac Odell 10 Mar 1828 in Ray Co, MO. The great bit about
this is text in "A History of Northwest Missouri" Vol III, pg. 1835: "... [Isaac Odell] was
married in Independence, Missouri, to Elizabeth Adams, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter
of Richard Adams." Research shows Elizabeth had a long life, named a son Pleasant, married
twice, and we *have a photo of her*.
## search:
"richard adams"
result will be on pgs 1835-1836 (nice Odell history) ##
http://books.google.com/books?id=M2UUAAAAYAAJ
ASSESSMENT: Need to find more Richard and/or Susannah Adams sources to solidly validate the
family.
- - - - Lots of pieces have started falling together now that we know the above information. I have
built research files on about half of these Adams siblings. However, my main objective is to
solidly validate Richard and Susannah as parents of my Pleasant Adams using reliable
documentation - like a will naming the children!
Hope you found this new information as exciting as I have.
Gary Routh
Centennial, CO 80121
grouth@grouth.org
- - -