Adams Family Mayflower Connection

The John Adams Family Mayflower Connection

Excerpts from a story that was published in 1878 in the Grindstone Advertiser:  

The John Adams family left Waterbury Connecticut in the late fall of 1810 to move to Ohio

“The members consisted of John Adams Sr. his wife Cynthia (Fitch) Adams and their 6 children. Lucius, John Jr., Horace F., Ransom, George and Hannah (Daughter of John Adams first wife) . The family was in two wagons Father, Mother and the 5 Sons were in one wagon and Hannah and her cousin Marshal Bronson were in another. They got to Buffalo in early December and stayed for a couple of days due to a snow storm.  The road through the woods was blocked so they took the more hazardous beach route they had to make a passage around a very dangerous prominence and the wagons had to enter the lake to get around it. They lost the wagon and all the goods in the wagon that Marshal was driving.  Hannah also died in this accident. “

The rest of the family made it and settled on the Olmsted area. John Adams was a Revolutionary war veteran. But we knew very little about his wife.   

A couple of weeks ago we were doing some work in the Fairview Library. The Genealogy Specialist brought me a folder she had received. She said I probably be interested in the information in it. The Information was originally sent to the Olmsted Falls Library who later turned it over to Fairview as it is the Genealogical research library. A cover letter said it came from Priscilla Adams Wood in Chula Vista, CA. Pricilla is the Granddaughter of Charles Adams of Olmsted Falls. He was the Great-grandson of  John Adams Sr. 

The Paragraph that caught my eye was this one:

“I would also like to note that Cynthia (Fitch) Adams is my Mayflower ancestor. She and husband John Adams are buried in Butternut Ridge Cemetery.  Her family goes to Alice (Bradford) Adams Fitch, Daughter of William Bradford. I hope that will help someone looking for their Mayflower connection.”

She included a Pedigree chart:

Cynthia Fitch 1763 – 1819 (2) Ebenezer Fitch 1724/1725 – 1773  (3) Ebenezer Fitch 1689/1690 – 1724 (4) Major James Fitch 1649 – 1727  M Anne Bradford Adams 1687

We checked the Bradford book in the Mayflower decedents registry. And verified her entries.  

We have 2 other families that have Mayflower connections they are Elias Paddock and his descendants are a direct line to Elder William Brewster.   Priscilla (Sears) Thompson and her Descendants also are a direct line to Elder William Brewster  

The story of Jacob Foster

We received an Email the other day asking if there was a Jacob Foster in Butternut Ridge Cemetery.  They had a death record showing that he died in 1897 and was buried in Lot 34 Section 3 but no Grave #.  They also had a copy of the Coroner’s report.  They had contacted City hall and the person there could not find him in the records so they gave them my email address. 

 There was a notation in the Manuscript that we are proof reading, for Helen Shaw CG, that in Lot 34 there was thought to be a Jacob Foster buried in that lot. And his Civil War Military record was listed in the back of the old book and he was in lot 34.  I have been working with the old record book (We believe it was started in about 1910 by Asher M Coe Jr who was the Sexton of both North Olmsted township cemeteries for about 20 years ) Grave 3 is empty so Jacob Foster could be possibly in the lot.

The probability of Jacob being buried in grave 3 is very high. The interesting part of this story is the Coroner’s Report.   Jacob died at the age of 64 in the house of Henry Harrison Briggs.  (A former owner of the Briggs House in Frostville) 

Henry’s Deposition transcript follows:

” What is your Name? “        Henry H. Briggs

“May you state your Age?”   My Age is 52 Years.

“Were you acquainted with Jacob Foster?”  Yes sir

“How long has he been in your employ?  Nearly two months, but there was no contract.

“When and how did you first discover anything wrong with said Foster? “ About 6 A.M.  April 2^nd 1897. He was called to breakfast and gave no answer, and I went up to see what was the matter, and found him lying on floor dead, he was lying on his back beside of the bed cold and stiff just as he was when viewed by the Justice of the Peace.

“Has he any personal effect now in your possession?”  He has four shirts two pair of boots and a few work cloths not to exceed in value two dollars in value, and four dollars that I owe him for services.

Signed by Henry H. Briggs

His total Inventory Follows:

Four shirts, two pair of boots and a few work clothes         $2.00

Cash in Wallet                                                                                   .43

Due from Henry Briggs for labor                                               $4.00

One trunk containing a number of articles of clothing

badly worn, worth not to exceed                                              $2.50

                                                                                    Total            $8.93

Jacob was born in Switzerland, and was a Soldier in the Civil war.  He was married and divorced after the war and became an iterant farm laborer. Pay was about .50 per 12 hour day with room and board

Genealogy Information and Pitfalls

This is a little information learned while working on this project.  First I have completed a history of my family back to the 1600. I worked on that for about 7 years.  My two primary citation sources are Ancestry.com and Family Search.com.  While doing my research I found a few interesting things. 

Only use the Public Trees in ancestry as a reference. You must have another source or two to meet the standards. The do offer some really good hints.  I have found many errors.

Headstones and Death Certificates are good for death dates but are only a reference for a birth date.  An example of this is Caleb Cook and his wife Eliza Payson.  Their birth Certificates, from Massachusetts, both showed a different date from their Headstones and it showed that Elisa’s full name was Catherine Eliza. 

Remember a woman changes her name at every marriage.  If you can’t find where a wife is buried check for a marriage license using her married name.  Example Samantha Palmer married Oscar Coe.   Mr. Coe died young and she Married Jabez Bainbridge.   Samantha Palmer Coe Bainbridge Is buried in Butternut in a Plot owned by her second husband’s parents along with her is parents George and Melissa Palmer. The part I am curious about is that George Palmer has his own plot in Butternut.   The only one buried in it is his grandchild Oscar Coe Jr.

Cuyahoga County Probate court changed their website.  You can no longer access the early marriage license records on their site easily.  I have found that Family Search has very good Ohio County Marriage records that can be easily accessed in their updated site any questions send me an email and I can give you some help