Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams

Today Id like to write about Alexander Adams, the son of James Adams, Jr. and Hannah (Goudy) Adams. According to the inscription on the tombstone of Alexander Adams, found in The Old Stone Church Cemetery, Maple Hill, Kansas, he was born in Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania on July 19, 1822.

While I have no reason to doubt this information, it seems strange because we know that both his father, James Adams, Sr. and his grandfather, Rev. James Adams, owned farms in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio before Alexander was born. Both were living there in the first decade of 1800. As youll recall, the US Census didnt begin using the names of family members until 1850, so it is very difficult to find individuals until that time. We do know that both his father and grandfather lived in Fayette County, Pennsylvania during the 1780s and 1790s. They may have retained ownership of property there or James Adams, Jr. could have been working for relatives in Pennsylvania—at any rate—we have no reason to believe that Alexander was born anywhere else except Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania as his tombstone says.

We do know that by the time his grandfather, Rev. James Adams, died in 1826, James Adams, Jr. and his family had returned to a farm in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio. Sometime between the 1840 and when the 1850 U. S. Census was taken, James Adams, Jr. died. As of this writing, I have not been able to find the date of his death or where he was buried. His father, Rev. James Adams, is buried in the Dalton Cemetery, near where he established the Old Presbyterian Church in 1814, however there is no marker for James Adams, Jr. and no information in cemetery records. In addition, James and Hannah Adams had a daughter Mary Adams in 1824. Mary Adams died in 1828 and I have not been able to find where she was buried. Im certain if one was to make a trip to Wayne County, both James Adams, Jr. and Mary Adams graves could be found.

When the 1850 Census was taken, Alexanders mother, Hannah (Goudy) Adams is listed as a widowed head of household and owner of 80 acres of land. The value of her farm is listed as $3500. Living with her is son Alexander Adams, 27 years old and his youngest brother, Cyrus Adams, age 15. Alexanders occupation is given as farmer so one would assume that he is doing the farm work on his parents farm because of his fathers death. I am not able to find any property in Wayne County that was owned directly by Alexander Adams.

On January 13, 1853, Alexander and Mary Jane Porter Adams obtained a marriage license at the Wayne County Courthouse in Wooster, Ohio. They were married by a Presbyterian pastor in Canal Fulton, Stark County, Ohio which is about 15 miles distant from their homes in Wayne County, Ohio. I will post a photograph of the Wayne County Record of their wedding. I will write about the history and genealogy of Mary Jane Porters family in another posting. However, the Porters were farmers of Irish descent living nearby the Adams Family in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio. Alexander and Mary Jane Porter would certainly have known each other over a period of years prior to their marriage. Mary Jane Porter was five years younger than Alexander Adams. He was 31 and she 26. Its fair to say that both were married fairly late in life for the times. Mary Jane (Porter) Adams lived with Alexander, his mother, Hannah (Goudy) Adams and Hannahs youngest son, Cyrus Adams.

From historical studies, we know that farms were generally sold or rented in the month of March. This was common throughout the 1700s, 1800s and into the mid-1900s. Taking over a farm in March, meant that the new owner or tenant took over at the beginning of the growing season, preparing for and raising crops over the coming year. LaSalle County, Illinois land records indicate that Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams, his mother Hannah (Goudy) Adams, his brother Cyrus Adams and several other members of the Adams and Porter Families all moved to farms in Ophir or Troy Grove Townships in that same year, 1853. We also know that the family moved in that year, because on the 1860 US Census, the oldest child of Alexander and Mary Jane Adams, Franklin Adams, was six years old and his state of birth is listed as Illinois. Therefore, the family had to have migrated from Ohio to Illinois in 1853.

The land was of good quality in the area of Illinois where they located and soon these families were prospering on their farms. Undoubtedly, the Adams sold land in Ohio and brought with them capital to buy land and lease additional land. There were no censuses taken in Illinois for six years after their arrival, but on the 1860 US Census, Alexander Adams is shown owning real estate valued at $16,600 and personal property of $5,800. LaSalle County, Illinois was entirely settled by the early 1830s, and so there was no unbroken prairie available to them. They had to purchase farms that were established and already growing crops. In checking land values of that time, it would seem that good farm ground in production was selling for between $20 and $25 per acre. Therefore, a value of $16,000 would indicate holdings of about 620 acres.

I looked through all 32 pages of Troy Grove Township Census information for 1860, and found only three other farmers that owned more real estate and none that had personal property valued more than his. Alexander Adams was also paying tangible tax which means that he was loaning money to others and charging interest. I looked at several sources and most private loans were being negotiated at that time for the 8% to 12% rate. So we might say that Alexander Adams was an early private banker, which was common for those who had the capital until the early 1900s when states began to regulate banking.

All white men of legal age were required to register for the Civil War draft and on July 1, 1863, Alexander Adams registered as a resident of Troy Grove Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. He was 42-years-old and so far as is known, did not serve.

When the 1860 US Census was taken, Hannah Adams was living with her daughter, Caroline Carrie Weyant, her husband Solomon Weyant, and their children Clorinda, Augusta and John on a farm in Ophir, LaSalle County, Illinois. They Weyant Farm was not more than three miles distant from Alexander Adams and his family. Solomon and Carrie (Adams) Weyant had been married in Wayne County, Ohio and moved with other members of the family in 1853.

Hannah (Goudy) Adams died on October 18, 1867 at Ophir Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. Strangely, I have not been able to find a burial place for Hannah Adams. Again Im certain her grave could be found if a trip were made to LaSalle County. There are numerous other Adams family graves in Restland Cemetery, Mendota, Illinois but Hannah Adams grave has not been located.

Also making the move from Wayne County, Ohio were James and Hannah (Goudy) Adams son, James Adams III and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Thompson) Adams. They were eventually the parents of eight children and lived the remainder of their lives in Troy Grove, LaSalle County, Illlinois. James Adams III and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Thompson) Adams are buried in Restland Cemetery, Mendota, Illinois.

Another member of the family making the move from Ohio to LaSalle County, Illinois was Charles L. Adams, son of James and Hannah (Goudy) Adams. Charles married Eliza Graham in Wayne County, Ohio and they had two children, Lalo and Ada Adams, both born in Illinois. So far as Im able to find, Charles Adams did not farm, but he founded a soap making business in Mendota, Illinois. He purchased animal fat from local butchering houses to make soap. His business became so success that he moved the factory to Chicago, where he and Eliza Adams lived the remainder of their lives. The business continued to be very successful. Charles Adams sold the soap-making company and he and Eliza traveled to Europe and others places in retirement.

When the 1870 US Census of LaSalle County, Illinois was taken, Alexander was listed as the owner of real estate valued at $14,000 and personal property valued at $2,000. The reason for the decrease in value is not known, but it may have been just the fluctuation in value of land at that time. In addition, Alexander Adams may have sold a farmstead or dwellings to result in the loss of personal property value.

Warner Adams, grandson of Alexander Adams, once told me that while their family was doing well in Illinois, his father, Franklin Adams, saw great potential in buying and reselling land in Kansas and also in the lush, native grass prairie for the raising of find cattle. Warner Adams said that the land in Illinois cost four or five times what land in Kansas cost. Therefore, both Franklin and his younger brother, Horace Greeley Adams, felt there was greater opportunity in Kansas.

So it was Franklin Adams who came to Maple Hill Township in the fall of 1878 to take a first-hand look at opportunities. Ive never heard that Alexander Adams or Franklins brother, Horace Greely Adams, Sr. came to see for themselves. According to Warner Adams, his father Franklin took room and board with Mrs. Mary (Blanchett) Beaubien, who had just built a new farmhouse on Mill Creek after the death of her husband, Edmund Beaubien.

Franklin returned to LaSalle County, Illinois and described the opportunities that he felt awaited the family in Kansas, and his father Alexander disposed of his real estate holdings and moved his family to Maple Hill Township, when he first purchased a 320-acre farm about one-mile northeast of Maple Hill. There, he built a fine two-story frame dwelling house, using lumber from his property and having it milled 1.5 miles to the north at the mill of Joseph Wilmott. The house was extant until the 1960s.

I am going to quit at this point, and continue with the history of the Adams family after they arrived in Maple Hill in another post.

Photo One: A map of Illinois showing LaSalle County.

Photo Two: A map of LaSalle County showing Ophir Township. Ophir was just to the south of the town of Mendota, Illinois.

Photo Three: A photo of Alexander Adams, date unknown, but through to be about 1870.

Photo Four: A photo of the Marriage Record of Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams from the Wayne County, Ohio marriage registry.

Photo Five: A photo of Mary Jane (Porter) Adams in the the wheel chair, surrounded by her four children.

Photo Six: A photo of the tombstone of Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams in the Old Stone Church Cemetery, Maple Hill, Kansas.

Photo Seven: This is a photo of the new Mary C. Beaubien house built 1.5 miles south of Maple Hill on Mill Creek. Mary (Blanchett) Beaubien built the house of timber on her farm which she had milled at the Blyton Mill, near where the K-30 Bridge now crosses Mill Creek. The house was later the home of Frank and Mattie (Dailey) McClelland and their children, Don McClellan and Hattie (McClelland) Wilson.