Benjamin Adams (abt. 1749 - abt. 1824)

Born about 1749 in Fairfax, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Henrietta (Caudill) Adams — married 1774 in Leesburg, Loudon, Virginia

Descendants

Died about 1824 at about age 75 in Perry, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

Benjamin Adams is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A002465.

BENJAMIN ADAMS was born 1749 in what then was Fairfax County, Virginia Colony. He was the second son of John Adams. In 1757, when Benjamin was a boy, Loudoun County was formed from the part of Fairfax near the southeastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There is no accounting for his education in detail except to note that, as a very young man, he could sign his name to documents while his peers and elders still were marking their names with familiar X’s. According to a custom of those times, his name was added to the rolls of tithes when he became twenty-one years of age. For Ben, this occurred in 1770 when he is counted as one of two tithes in his father’s household. This list was compiled by Levin Powell for Shelburne Parish. Benjamin also is on the 1771 and 1772 tax lists. About 1774, Benjamin Adams married a lady named Henrietta, for their first child, Elizabeth, was born the following year. Although no such marriage record has been found in Loudoun County, family researchers traditionally repeat the family name of Caudill for Henrietta. Diligent research, however, will uncover that the Caudill family, which the Adamses later encounter in North Carolina, had no affiliation with any of the Tidewater counties of Virginia in these years, instead migrating from Surry and Sussex Counties, in the southeastern reaches of Virginia. The given name "Henrietta," however, was a very popular given name for girls in the Tidewater area at this time.

On the 8th of March 1775, Benjamin Adams, accompanied by neighbors William Stephens, John Davis, and John Owsley, made a trip to the county seat at Leesburg to transact new leaseholds. Ben witnessed a grant to Stephens with his signature (Loudoun Deeds, Book L, Page 39), while Davis and Owsley “made their marks.” Then, Stephens, who also could sign his name, Davis and Owsley witnessed a lease to Benjamin Adams, dated the same day: “From Lord Fairfax of Frederick County, Colony of Virginia, to Benjamin Adams of County of Loudoun; South side of Blue Ridge; Lease of 100 acres ‘during lives of him, the said Benjamin Adams and his brother(s), Jacob and Spencer, and the longest liver of them;’ Lines of Samuel Davis and Ezekiel Jenkins. Rent: 40 shillings a year. They to build a dwelling house, 20 by 15 feet.” These deeds were recorded September 11, 1775.^[1]

Benjamin Adams also appears in the 1774 and 1775 lists of tithables for Loudoun County.

Within less than a year’s time, the colonies became embroiled in the War for Independence from Great Britain. Benjamin Adams, now twenty-seven years old and with a small family, saw opportunity to show his support for General Washington’s army. It is believed by this author that this motive was the deciding factor for the Adams family to move to North Carolina.

Shortly thereafter, Benjamin’s family all moved to the Bryan and Boone Settlements of the Yadkin River Valley in the backwoods of Rowan County, North Carolina. Discontent with Crown policies, festering in Western Carolina since the 1766-1771 Regulator Movement, grew as events throughout the colonies gradually fostered a general alienation. However, Rowan County's increasingly rebellious mood was due far more to its resentment of the political and economic domination of the eastern part of the colony than to any widespread disaffection for the king.

In the summer of 1776, the Indian war cry was heard in the Upper Yadkin Valley. The British government had formulated a concerted attack upon North Carolina by its Naval Force, an uprising of Tories, and an Indian attack from the west. The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge dispersed the Royalist sympathizers and the British fleet retired. The Indians attacked on the false information that Charleston, South Carolina, had been taken and the settlers, knowing that they had gained only a short respite by upsetting the enemy’s timing, went at once against the Indians in force so as to eliminate one-third of their opponents before the others closed in again. Six thousand militia in two expeditions, including a good representation of Yadkin men, defeated the Indians in every engagement. Late in the year “unable to offer further resistance, the Cherokees fled to the fastness of the Great Smoky Mountains leaving their crops and towns at the mercy of the enemy. All told, [Brig. Gen. Griffith] Rutherford destroyed thirty-six towns and laid waste a vast stretch of the surrounding country.”

There in Rowan County, January 7, 1777, his brother Jacob married the widow Mary Stamper-Towsin. Their youngest brother Spencer signed as bondsman. Their brother Daniel Adams was married about 1780 to Isabella Wilcoxson, whose uncle John was married to a sister of Daniel Boone, who was already a famous pioneer and engaging himself in George Rogers Clark’s expedition.

The Adamses took an interest in the lands near the farm of Samuel Bryan. Bryan’s farm at one point consisted of some two thousand acres on the west bank of the Yadkin, just south of the "shallow ford" crossing of the "great wagon road" that linked the Rowan County seat of Salisbury with the Wachovian villages and the east. Owing to his property’s proximity to the wagon road, Bryan was licensed to operate his own tavern. He also operated a mill and a ferry and established fisheries by damming shoals and tributaries along the Yadkin.

On October 9, Benjamin’s brother Isaac entered 400 acres of land on Bryant’s Mill Creek [Grant #1352; Entry #1006; Book 67, pp. 107]. A week later, on October 20, 1778, Benjamin and his brother Daniel entered adjoining tracts of land on Samuel Bryant’s Mill Run. Benjamin’s totaled 400 acres beginning at a pine at Daniel’s corner in the northeast and bordering Joseph Woolfsgail [Wolfscale] and William Linville to the south.^[2] Daniel’s tract totaled 214 acres and was nestled between Benjamin to the south and their brother Isaac Adams to the east while bordering Jacob Little to the north.^[3] These lands were granted to them March 21, 1780. *Bryants Mill Creek appears to be the old name of a tributary of Sugar(tree) Creek, from the early Bryan Settlements.

The northwesterly section of North Carolina was sparsely settled at the time. So much so that in 1777 when Wilkes County had been formed from Surry, the Hammon, Holbrook, and Morgan families were the first to enter land. Christopher Gist, Jr., had 5,000 acres at Mulberry Fields in 1749, but the frontiersmen were slow in following him. Bishop Spangenberg, in seeking a tract of land suitable for a Moravian settlement in 1752, wrote concerning this location: “These are old Indian fields – where the Cherokees probably lived once. They have a pleasant situation and remarkably fertile soil. Morgan Bryant had taken them up but they are uninhabited.” The Hammon and Holbrook land was situated to the north in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, on a branch of Roaring River still called Hammon’s Creek, and extending uphill to include the present site of the resort hotel at Roaring Gap.

As early as May 10, 1781, Spencer was the first of this branch of the Adams family to enter land in Wilkes County, with 50 acres on a creek of the north fork of the Roaring River. There were other Adams families that settled along nearby Lewis Fork and Reddies River who may or may not be related. As historical records are scarce and corroborating documents are minimal, those families are excluded from this study while we focus only on our branch and what we can verify. What we know is that at the time, the Second Great Awakening was stirring among the growing Baptist families in America, and clergymen were in short supply in North Carolina.

In early 1782, Parliament voted to end all offensive operations in America, and in December 1782 George III spoke from the British throne for US independence. In April 1783, Congress accepted the British-proposed treaty that met its peace demands including independence and sovereignty west to the Mississippi River. On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed between Great Britain and the United States, recognizing the United States, making peace between the two nations, and formally ending the American Revolution.

Not long after his brother Spencer entered his first land on the Roaring River among the Baptist families, Benjamin and Henrietta soon followed. One book, The Adams Families of Southeast Kentucky, reports that in 1784, poll taxes showed that Benjamin owned 700 acres in Wilkes County, although this author has not located the corroborating tax document.

On July 26, 1785, Benjamin purchased 340 acres of land on Big Sandy Creek from William McCrary. This tract of land Benjamin secured for 100 pounds. The deed was witnessed by his brothers Spencer and Jacob. [pp. 453] Later that fall, he sold 172 acres of his land on Big Sandy Creek to his father John Adams, Sr. in exchange for 50 pounds. [pp. 449] The mouth of Big Sandy Creek empties into the eastern prong of the Roaring River between Joynes and Traphill under Stone Mountain.

Benjamin, like his brothers, is recognized by the DAR for his patriotic service for having furnished supplies to the Continental Army. On August 4, 1786, he was rewarded 100 pounds for this service by means of Pay Voucher #4308.^[4]

More than a decade after the first Baptists families settled in the area, there were only seventy-seven persons who were ordained in the Baptist Church. William Hammon became the first pastor of the South Fork of Roaring River Baptist Church the minutes of which, like the church itself, are still in existence. The church was a member of the Yadkin Association. In Benedict’s History of the Baptist Denomination in America, it is said that the Yadkin Association “Bears date from 1790, and is the oldest institution of the kind in this part of North Carolina… In the year 1786, eleven churches, which had been previously gathered about the head of the Yadkin and its waters, began to hold yearly Conferences, as a branch of the Strawberry Association in Virginia… But in 1790, the churches, composing this Conference, were, upon their request, dismissed, and formed a distinct Association… The ministers belonging to this body at its commencement, were George M’Neal, John Cleveland, William Petty, William Hammond, Cleveland Coffee, Andrew Baker, and John Stone…”

April 16, 1797, Isaac Adams “of Rowan County” sold Isaac Harris 102 acres of land situated on the waters of Sugartree Creek bordering Benjamin Adams.^[5]

In 1799, the northwestern half of Wilkes County broke off to form Ashe County.

In 1800, Isaac Adams “of the County of Rowan” sold James Aytcheson 98 acres and 49 poles of land on Bryants Mill Creek bordering Daniel Adams.^[6]

In 1803, his brother Spencer, along with most of his family and extended relatives, left Wilkes County and settled in Floyd County, Kentucky.

March 24, 1807, his brother John “of Wilkes County” sells their father’s 172-acre home tract on Big Sandy Creek to John Holder.^[7]

February 16, 1810, Isaac sold Jacob 166 acres on the waters of Samuel Bryan’s Mill Creek bordering Benjamin, Elijah, and Daniel.

Benjamin remained in North Carolina until at least 1813, when he began to dispose of his landed estates and ties to the area. On January 21, 1813, “Benjamin Adams of the County of Wilks” [sic] sold a 300-acre plantation tract on Bryants Mill Creek in Rowan County to Samuel Harris. That same day he sold an adjacent plantation tract containing 100 acres to Joshua Stinson.

The first mention of Benjamin Adams in Kentucky was in November of 1818 when, “It appearing to the Court the following persons were improperly charged in the levy of 1817, they are exonerated from the payment thereof.”^[8] Benjamin had been assessed four tithes; He was well over sixty years of age, but owned numerous slaves, some taxable.

In the 1820 Census of Floyd County and in annual tax lists of Perry County, which was created from parts of Clay and Floyd Counties on November 2, 1820 with an effective date of February 26, 1821, Benjamin Adams is shown with land on North Fork of Kentucky River. With him are more than a dozen slaves and many horses and mules, which provided him with a large estate.

On September 25, 1821, Benjamin sold a 50-acre tract of land to 25-year-old Henry Polly, bordering lands of himself and Archelous Craft for $250.^[9] Later that December, Benjamin Adams “of the State of Cantucky and County of Perry” sold the remainder of his 208 acres of land holdings in Wilkes County, North Carolina to Abner Caudill, a son-in-law to his brother Spencer Adams who, with David Caudill, witnessed the deed. The lands lie on the Middle Fork of the Roaring River bounding by lands of Thomas Joynes and David Caudill, and an old conditional line once made by William Johnson and Stephen Caudill between Benjamin Adams and Jesse Alexander.^[10]

Benjamin Adams died 1824, as can be inferred by the fact his name disappears from Perry County tax records and assumed under Henrietta's, who survived him. He was probably either buried near his brother John or elsewhere in the vicinity of Mayking. It is a strange fate that a man who once controlled so large an empire, lived so rich a history, and indeed be the namesake of so many of his descendants, should pass away with no marker yet found for his resting place.

Henrietta outlived Benjamin for another twelve years. In the fall 1836, their only son, John, returned from his Missouri plantation to visit his aging mother and administer her remaining estate. Benjamin and Henrietta's plantation, reduced to 75 acres, was sold to Elizabeth's husband, Randall Holbrook, who assumed management. The Holbrooks then cared for Henrietta in her final days.

The following record, made after estate division, proves the children of Benjamin Adams and his wife, Henrietta:
"The five heirs of Benjamin Adams deceased, Sally Adams Caudill, Elizabeth Adams Holbrooks, John Adams, Nancy Adams Lewis, and Easter Adams Williams. Four of the above heirs to one of the heirs Randle Holbrooks for $500 including said Holbrooks part. Tract being the Plantation Henry Adams at this time is living on in Perry County, KY of 75A more or less. Signed by Stephen X Caudill, William Williams, John Adams, Charles Lewis, witnessed by John Vint, John Caudill, Jonathan Lewis, Benjamin Wells."^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Loudoun Deeds, Book L, Page 42
2. ↑ Grant #79; Entry #1067; Book 28, pp. 459
3. ↑ Grant #60; Entry #1066; Book 28, pp. 441
4. ↑ NSDAR Ancestor #A002465; NC Rev War Pay Vouchers, #4308, Roll S.115.64
5. ↑ RCDB 15, pp. 327-328
6. ↑ RCDB 17, pp. 126-127
7. ↑ WCDB F-1, pp. 501
8. ↑ Floyd County Annals, Page 172; Court Book 2
9. ↑ PCDB A, page 30
10. ↑ WCDB M, pp. 40-41
11. ↑ [12 Nov 1836, Perry County Deed Book B, pp. 135-136]

• "U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900" Yates Publishing. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GHR1-KQC (old)
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L17Z-KB7 (new)

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Adams-7086 created through the import of Adams Family Tree -OCSCV (1).ged on Oct 3, 2011 by John H..
• WikiTree profile Adams-9040 created through the import of Upload.GED on Jun 11, 2012 by Stanley Trimble.
• Thank you to Lenny Zimmermann for creating WikiTree profile Adams-12843 through the import of Zimmermann_Family_2013-07-23.ged on Jul 23, 2013.