Adams Family Heritage From Fluvanna County, Virginia to Lawrence County, Ohio

Adams Family Heritage

From Fluvanna County, Virginia to Lawrence County, Ohio

By Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

 Solomon Adams[i] was born 04 May 1788 in Fluvanna County, Virginia,  [ii]  the son of Robert and Lucy Williams  Adams.

Solomon’s father, Robert, was born 9 May 1757, in Northum Parish of Goochland, British America. [iii] The Rev. William Douglas served the Parish from 1750.  Robert’s birth and baptism were duly recorded and appear in the Douglas Register.  Goochland stretched to the Blue Ridge Mountains along both sides of the James River and encompassed other later formed counties including Albemarle and Fluvanna.  The Parish was north of the James River.  The bounds of St. James Northam have not been altered since 1744. 

Robert Adams served during the Revolutionary War, having joined, February 1776, Captain Matthew Jouett’s Company (of Albemarle County[iv]) of the 7^th Virginia Regiment under Colonel Alexander McClenachan.  He was at the Battle of Germantown 4 October 1777. While Robert’s pension records do not cite being at the Battle of Brandywine, Jouett was mortally wounded there.  History tells us that the Army marched into Valley Forge December 19^th.  Washington, himself described it as “a dreary kind of place and uncomfortably provided.”[v]  Their clothing and shoes were in tatters.  Robert Adams was discharged from service, at Valley Forge, in February 1778.[vi]    This compiler visited Valley Forge, during springtime, for an SAR ceremony many years ago.  Even with a burst of flowers and spring there was a nasty chill in the air.  February, with little food and little shelter, would be brutal.

Returning from service Robert and Lucy Williams married 20^th April 1778 at St. James, Northum Parish, Goochland County. The marriage bond, signed by John Graves , identifies Robert as the son of “James of Albemarle County.”  Lucy Williams is identified as the daughter of Philip Williams in the same record. The Rev. William Douglas served the Parish from 1750. 

Solomon Adams, the first  born child of Robert and Lucy, was only one when his grandfather, James Adams[vii] died in Fluvanna County.[viii]  His father Robert and uncle Thomas Adams were executors of the estate which was not finalized until 1789.[ix]  James Adams left his son Robert two negroes, namely Sook and Harry along with 200 acres that James quoted Robert was residing on.  James and wife Cecily had a total of twelve children.  James left four negroes named: Sam, Amy, Frank and Nan to his wife Cecily along with a feather bed, furniture, ten head of cattle and fifteen head of hogs.  To son Charles he left the land he then lived on and negroes Will and Tony.  He gave land to his other sons (including Thomas),  as well as slaves . Each of his daughters received slaves.[x] As I write this, in 2020, there is civil unrest, as well as a pandemic in the United States.  There is an ugly side to history but to leave it out of a narrative, or totally ignore it is just as wrong as the actions of the times.  We should learn from the past.  While Robert fought for America’s freedom, he grew up in a time of slavery, not everyone got that freedom in America.  And while this author is a product of my ancestors, I do not condone that way of living, nor will I turn my head the other way, by pretending it did not exist.

When Solomon was five, his father Robert Adams  (September 1793 by recommendation of the Governor), became Captain of the 1^st Battalion Militia in Fluvanna County. Solomon’s uncle Richard Adams was Robert’s  Lieutenant.  At the same time, uncle John Adams was an Ensign and Thomas Captain. Solomon grew up in the county.  The region has rocky, clear creeks and plenty of timber.  His father, Robert and Lucy Adams, were involved in many land transactions between 1795 and 1802. 

The family migrated to Ohio prior to 1810.  They traveled approximately 338 miles to the new destination. Solomon’s sister Elizabeth married William Ellis, February 1810, in Gallia County.  There is no indication that any slaves cited earlier in this narrative made the trip with them in any records reviewed by this compiler.

Brother Richard married Frances Murrel Creedle , 8 September 1817, in Lawrence County.  The county was in its infancy and Robert  became active in the community by being appointed as Clerk of Elections.  The new county had its first election April 7th, 1817.  Robert was  sixty years old, Solomon twenty nine.

Lawrence County, Ohio was formed in 1815 from Gallia and Scioto Counties and borders the Ohio River at the southern end of the state.  The first Court of Common Pleas was organized March 4, 1817.  Father, Robert, and brothers Phillip and Richard appear on the 1818 Union Township Tax list along with Solomon.  Solomon is noted as having one horse and two cows with a value of .50.

In May 1818 Solomon Adams would turn thirty years of age.  On April 15th, 1818 Solomon married Susanna Roberts Overstreet. They were married by Thomas Templeton, Jr. in Lawrence County, Ohio.  There is no evidence (to date) that Solomon was married prior to this marriage to Susanna.

The following year, 1819, Robert Adams filed for a military pension in Lawrence County, Ohio.  He gave his age as 62 years old stating that within his household was his wife [Lucy] and a granddaughter 11 years old [not named].  Continued documentation on August 9, 1820 stated that he is then 64 years old with no income, 4 small shoats, 1 plough, 2 old split bottom chairs, 1 iron pot broken, 2 glass bottles, and 1 set of knives and forks bought with pension money.  He concluded by saying that his infirmities were such as to prevent ½ days labor.  He is in reduced circumstances and stands in need of the assistance of his country for support. His pension was granted. [xi] While Adams certainly deserved his pension, this compiler finds that most, if not all that applied for pension stated that they were in reduced circumstances.

I am going to pause in my narrative for a moment.  I was raised in the 1950’s, when “ladies” wore gloves and hats to church and town. I even took etiquette and cotillion lessons.  Family information was, like money, not talked about.  And while divorce had been around longer than mamma even realized, it was a blemish that just was not discussed.  And heaven forbid it was certainly left out of any bible record, family history, or vanity genealogical book.

Solomon’s new wife, Susannah Roberts had married John Overstreet, 23 March 1808, in Bedford County, Virginia.  Philip Roberts was surety.[xii]  The Overstreet family appears in 1810 census records in Bedford County.  A very colorful tale, however not entirely accurate, unfolds According to The History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois…page 551:

John Overstreet…married in Cabell County, West Virginia to Susan Roberts. He became a soldier in war with England 1812. While in the army he heard that his wife had been killed by Indians and soon after as himself was captured by Indians. Not long after his capture the Indians were preparing to burn him alive and while doing so one of their numbered offered him such a gross insult that he knocked the sayer down and fell in the fire prepared to burn his victim. This act of brave daring in the face … inspired the others Indians with respect ...saved his life. He was next sold and taken to Canada where he fell into hands of white men...retained for a few years in rather easy restraint  by the time he gained liberty he had formed attachments and married there. One child was born and the wife and child died ...once more alone...he returned to Cabell County, Virginia...He paid his first visit to the old cabin where he had spent the years of early married life...knocked on door...and the wife of his youth stood before him...Having long before given him up for dead his sudden appearance in bodily form was more than she could bear and she sunk in a swoon. Mr. Overstreet soon discovered that she had another husband and when she revived the three held council. The two husbands agreed to leave it for her to say which...and that if he was rejected he would go away...she decided to retain her first love. The rejected husband true to his word bade them adieu...never heard of him again. Mr. and Mrs. Overstreet came to Sangamon in 1810 and settled not far from where Athens now stands...built a horse mill at Athens...trip to New Orleans...died in New Orleans in 1835...his widow died in Athens in 1869 in her 74th year. 

Cabell County, Virginia lays just across the Ohio River from Lawrence County, Ohio where Solomon Adams lived.  This compiler never finds a record of Adams being in Cabell, Virginia but does continue to appear on tax lists for Union Township, Lawrence County, Ohio. This compiler believes it is an error in the printed history. John Overstreet was the son of John Overstreet (born 1760), a Revolutionary Soldier, who was also at the battle of Brandywine and Germantown.  He lived in Lawrence County, Ohio where he filed for a pension in 1818. He later migrated to Illinois, as did his son.

This compiler is very grateful for all the clerks, who over the years have shown me consideration, when I visited and requested to search obsolete records.  Long Before any of the Lawrence Supreme Court Records were microfilmed I located the Journal entry and petition for divorce of Solomon Adams to Susanna Adams. [xiii] Solomon Beckley acted as solicitor for the complainant, November 24, 1827.  But the petition was not filed until the April Term 1828….Supreme Court of the state of Ohio holden in and for the county of Lawrence at the court house in Burlington on the 28 day of April 1828…be it remembered that on the 24^th of November 1827 that the said complainant by…attorney filed in the clerk’s office…petition against the said defendant…orator Solomon Adams of said Lawrence County was lawfully joined in the bands of matrimony to his present wife Susanna on the 15^th of April 1817 at said county from which time your orator has been a resident of said county and your orator further show’th unto your honor that the said Susanna at the time of her marriage with your orator as aforesaid has a former husband then living to wit John Overstreet…that after said marriage to wit on the (blank) day of July 1817 said Susanna left his  your orator bed and board without any just cause  …her first marriage …united herself with said John Overstreet and lived and cohabited with him and hath since lived and cohabited with him as his lawful wife. That after thus living in this county and cohabiting with said John… husband for the space of five years removed to some parts unknown and out of the state of Ohio and has remained and continued out of said state for the space of five years last past…said Susannah has been absent from your orator three years and upwards and has been guilty of adultery with said John Overstreet…that the marriage aforesaid…be annulled….

On the 14th of February 1828, the date scholars note St. Valentine celebrations as early as the 1400's, Solomon Adams married for the second time.    Rhoda Bagley and Solomon Adams  were married  in Lawrence County, Ohio.  Rhoda was born in 1810, the daughter of  John Bagley and  Rhoda Ranselear.  I will leave it to my readers to determine if they think the second marriage was legal since the divorce case was not heard and filed until April 1828.

Maybe understanding that six months later, 18 August 1827, Rhoda gives birth to a baby boy named John clarifies why they did not wait for the final decree. 

Solomon’s father Robert, with Lucy, appear on the 1820 census for Union Township, Lawrence County, Ohio.  By 1830 Lucy is no longer listed and assumed deceased. Robert’s death occurred 14 March 1839 in Lawrence County, Ohio at the age of 82.[xiv]  "Be it remembered that on this day in open court proof was made to the satisfaction of the court by the oaths of Richard Adams, Harrison Ellis and Caleb Wilshire that Robert Adams was a pensioner of the United States, that he was a resident of the county of Lawrence in the state of Ohio and died in the said county and state aforesaid in the year of our Lord 1839 in the fourteenth day of March. That he left children whose names are Solomon Adams, Richard Adams, Elizabeth Ellis and Nancy Wilshire...”

Solomon and Rhoda would have a total of thirteen children between 1827 and 1847 when Rhoda sadly died in childbirth. Both she and infant, according to family, are buried at Clarks Mill, Union Township, Lawrence County, Ohio.  Solomon continued to farm 40 acres in Union township. Solomon died 1 October 1856 and is said to be buried at Union Chapel.

The picture of Solomon and Rhoda Adams 7^th child, Sarah Jane Adams Kilbourne, sometimes hung in my grandmother’s house as I grew up.  Sometimes I found it tucked away in the foyer closet.  Grandmother encouraged my love of history and genealogy.  She gave me the portrait many years ago and it now hangs in my own home (not in a closet).  I also realized that while she loved to write about the family, she never mentioned indiscretions or divorces.  Ladies just don’t do that.

Sarah Jane Adams Kilbourne original possession of compiler

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[i] Solomon Adams (Robert, James, Robert³, William², Robert¹) 

[ii] : Family Bible Record of Adams Soloman family of Lawrence County, Ohio, Family Register of Solomon Adams & Rhoda Adams his wife (verifax copy: n.p., n.d.). handwritten sheets originally in possession of Clara Page Martin and given to granddaughter Teresa Martin Klaiber

[iii] Son of James and Cecily Ford Adams

[iv] Albemarle adjoins Fluvanna County and was formed from Albemarle in May 1777.

[v] https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/winter-valley-forge

[vi] "S45175,'" Robert Adams, Revolutionary Pension, NARA.

[vii] Solomon, Robert, James, Robert, William, Robert Addams

[viii] Fluvanna County, Virginia, Order Books Page 65, Indenture bet Thos & Robert exec of James decd, ; LDS FHL 0031476, .

[ix] Fluvanna County, Virginia, Deeds, book 3 page 133, James Adams Estate to Peter Barnard, 1795; Courthouse, .

[x] Fluvanna County, Virginia, : Will book I, page 105 James Adams; Courthouse, .

[xi] "S45175,'" Robert Adams, Revolutionary Pension, NARA.

[xii] Virginia, Bedford, Marriage Bonds

[xiii] Ohio, Lawrence, Common Plea Ct., Supreme Court Journal 1-2

[xiv] Lawrence County, Ohio, Common Pleas Journals Volume J 3-4 page 456, May 14 term 1839, Robert Adams death, ; Courthouse, Ironton, Ohio