John Adams (1767 - 1829)

Born 1767 in Hackney, Middlesex, England

Husband of Vahineatua (Unknown) Adams — married 1796 (to 1809) in Pitcairn Island

Husband of Teio Unknown — married 1825 in Pitcairn Island

Descendants

Died 5 Mar 1829 at about age 62 in Pitcairn Island

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Heather Stevens [send private message]

Biography

John Adams is Notable.

John "Jack" ADAMS, alias Alexander "Aleck" SMITH, was an able seaman on the Bounty. He was one of the mutineers, and went with Fletcher Christian to Pitcairn Island, where he died in 1829. He was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers.

Adams was from Hackney in London. He later wrote : "I was born at Stanford Hill in the parish of St John Hackney of poor but honast parrents My father was drowned in the Thames therefore he left me and 3 more poore Orfing Bot one was married ot of all harmes." and "The life of John Adams Born November the 4 or 5 in the year sixty six at Stanford Hill in the parish of St John Hackney My father was sarvent to Daniel Bell Coke Marchant My father was drowned in the River Thames".^[1][2][3]

He was probably the child John, parents John and Dinah Adams baptised 4 December 1767 at St John Hackney.^[4]

He was later described by William Bligh as 5ft 5in, brown complexion, brown hair, strong made, very much pitted with smallpox, and very much tattooed on body, arms, legs, and feet. He had a scar on his right foot where it was cut with a wood axe.

He was twenty years old when he mustered on the Bounty. He used a fictitious name, "Alexander Smith", possibly to disguise his desertion from another ship, and did not change back to his real name until after the visit to Pitcairn of the Topaz in 1808.

During the Bounty's five-month stay in Tahiti (1788 to 1789) he was flogged for "neglect of duty".

During the mutiny on April 28, 1789, he helped Fletcher Christian seize the ship's arms chest and was among the group who arrested Bligh in his cabin.

After the mutiny, the Bounty mutineers under Christian’s command attempted to establish themselves on the island of Tubuai. This was unsuccessful and they sailed north to Tahiti, and 16 crewmen decided to stay there. Christian, Adams and seven others, together with some Tahitians sailed to Pitcairn Island.

The mutineers and their Tahitian companions settled on Pitcairn Island and set fire to the Bounty. They were able to survive by farming and fishing, however alcoholism, murder and disease had taken the lives of most of the mutineers and Tahitian men.

John Adams, Ned Young, and Matthew Quintal were the last three mutineers surviving in 1799. Several websites have the story that Adams and Young got the thuggish Quintal drunk and killed him with a hatchet. However Glynn Christian's book has the following: "Quintal threatened to kill Fletcher Christian's children unless he could have his widow. For the protection of all, he was executed by Young."(Christian p.334)

Adams and Young then turned to the Scriptures using the ship's Bible as their guide. Young eventually died of an asthmatic complaint, and Adams continued his work of educating the women and children.

First contact: The first ship to discover the community on Pitcairn Island was the American sealer Topaz (Captain Mayhew Folger) in 1808. This was a very quick visit of only ten hours. Captain Folger was greeted by young men in a canoe and they told him that they were "Englishmen" who had been born on the Island and their "father" was "Aleck". Aleck was Alexander Smith (John Adams) who told them a story which was different from accounts he told later: that the Tahitian "Men Servants rose upon and killed Six of them, Leaving only Smith and he desperately wounded with a pistol Ball in the neck, however he and the widows of the deceased man arose and put all the Servants to death". When Captain Folger told Adams about England’s glorious victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Adams rose and swung his hat three times over his head and called out: “Old England forever? Huzzah!” As a parting gift, Adams presented Captain Folger with the Bounty’s azimuth compass and Kendall chronometer. The Bounty chronometer (K2) is now in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Folger reported his discovery to the British, and the British Admiralty received the report on May 14, 1809, but did not act on it. Folger's report was published in The Sydney Gazette in 1810. ^[5][6][7]

Second contact: The next ships to visit the island, on 17 September 1814, were the Briton (Captain Sir Thomas Staines) and Tagus (Captain Pipon), English naval frigates which were hunting for an American man-of-war Essex which had been worrying English whalers. Captain Pipon's account of the meetings with the Pitcainers is in Mitchell Library, Sydney: he wrote that they were first met with Thursday October Christian, (son of Fletcher Christian), and George Young, then they met John Adams and his wife, "a very old woman, blind with age". John Adams had three daughters from 15 to 18 years of age and a son of 11. "The colony now consists of about 40 people, exclusive I believe of children ... Their habitations are extremely neat, ... the little village at Pitcairn forms a pretty square. ... John Adams had impressed on their minds the necessity & propriety of returning thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings they enjoy."^[8]

Third contact: The Sultan (Captain Reynolds) visited Pitcairn in 1817, and this was the last contact made by a ship that did not know of the island. The first officer Mr Newell wrote about his impression of the island's inhabitants: "They are, perhaps, the happiest people on the face of the globe; they know nothing bad, but live all together under the care and direction of Mr. Adams, and much credit is due to him. He has taught them prayers, to which they pay great attention; and perform that duty every time they eat, on going to rest, and rising in the morning."^[1]

The Sultan when it left Pitcairn island on 17 October 1817, had a passenger, Teehuteatuaonoa, known by her English name "Jenny", who was one of the original 12 women brought to Pitcairn Island from Tahiti by the mutineers. After leaving Pitcairn, Teehuteatuaonoa (Jenny) reached Tahiti about ten months later, and she was interviewed by at least three people (there were three separate accounts published).^[9][1] The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser on 17 July 1819 published an account where she said she had been the wife of Isaac Madden, one of the mutineers, but she had originally been attached to John Adams (then known as Alexander Smith) and she had the tattoo on her left arm "A S 1789". Jenny had no children. She gave an account of the deaths and murders on the island, and the names of the children of the mutineers, including the children of John Adams: "Dinah, Eliza, Hannah, and George, by his wife". The article incorrectly refers to John Adams as "Adam Smith". "They have a place of worship and old Adam Smith officiates three times every sabbath. He prays extempore, but does not read."^[10] Jenny was a strong-willed woman which is also demonstrated in Edward Young's journal (since lost but quoted in Beechey) on 12 March 1794, when she refused to bury Jack Williams’s skull, and a month later when the women requested the men to build a boat, Jenny in her zeal tore up boards of her house. Interestingly, Beechey knew, when he wrote his account that "Jenny, ... now resides at Otaheite".^[11]

In 1819, the English ship Hercules (Captain Henderson) called at Pitcairn Island on the passage from Chili to Calcutta and soon after her arrival at Calcutta, a subscription was opened, for the purpose of raising money to purchase books, tools, which were taken back to Pitcairn Island on the return journey to Chili.^[1]

Adams was eventually granted amnesty for the mutiny. (source?)

In December 1823, when the British whaler Cyrus visited Pitcairn, two of the crew, John Buffett and John Evans, stayed on the island. Buffett married Dolly Young and John Evans married John Adams’ daughter, Rachel. Buffett was a shipwright from Bristol and he taught the islanders woodworking skills.^[12]

In December 1825: John Adams told his story to Captain Beechey of the Blossom, who later published it in 1831.^[11]

Marriage: On 17 December 1825 Adams was married to Teio, or "Mary", by Captain Beechey during his visit. Teio had already borne Adams's only son, George Adams in 1804.

In November 1828 George Hunn Nobbs arrived at the island. On October 18, 1829, Nobbs married Sarah (“Big Salah”) Christian, the daughter of Fletcher Christian’s second son, Charles, and Sully, the full-blooded Polynesian daughter of Teio.^[13]

Death John Adams died on 5 March 1829 at Pitcairn Island and his grave is the only known burial site of a Bounty mutineer.^[14]

Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer John Adams carved the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer on two wooden panels (presumably saved from the Bounty) with a penknife. It was taken to Norfolk Island by the Pitcairners.^[15] Unfortunately one of the panels was accidently destroyed, and a Norfolk Island family is still the custodian of the other panel.^[16]

Research Notes

Sources: There are two excellent books by Dening and Christian, however they do not have endnotes.

The Drawing of John Adams

• The original pencil drawing is in Mitchell Library: Beechey, Richard. Portrait of John Adams by Richard Beechey.
• It is in Beechey's book Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Straitto co-operate with the polar expeditions, performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom under the command of Captain F.W. Beechey, R.N... published 1831.^[11]
• Engraving "John Adams aetat 65" by E. Finden after a drawing by R. Beechey is from Barrow, Sir John. The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty, its Causes and Consequencies. First published, John Murray 1831. Folio Society edition 1976, reprinted 1998, page 209.^[17] https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ocrdrt/ADLIB110334319
• An engraving which has been coloured and has been cut out of a French book of 1834 is in "Early Australian Portraits 1778-1908" DL PX 157at Mitchell Library, Sydney NSW. This appears to be a scrap book created by Ernest Favenc of Sydney 1908. See image 12 "John Adams, of the "Bounty" & Pitcairn Island / Published Paris 1834." https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/digital/ZR5wDvJjWQz7J to check

John Adams had children by Teio, aka Mary, consort of William McCoy

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Topliff, Samuel Jr. "Pitcairn Island". Salem Gazette, January 16, 1821. whalesite.org http://whalesite.org/pitcairn/1821%2001%2016%20-%20Sultan%20Newell%201817%20Salem%20Gazette.htm
2. ↑ Quoted in Dening p.331. Original source was John Adams's writings in two "blank books" given by Adams to Captain Reynolds of the Sultan.
3. ↑ A source about his genealogy (referenced in Dening) is Scott, Brian W. "The True Identity of John Adams." Mariner's Mirror 68, no. 1 (1982): 31-39. https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_1302406311 to see
4. ↑ London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 for John Adams, St John at Hackney 1738-1769 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1624/images/31280_199153-00691?pId=4252908
5. ↑ "FOLGER, Mayhew", Pitcairn Island Encyclopedia. https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/encyclopedia2.shtml
6. ↑ EXTRACT FROM THE LOG BOOK OF CAPTAIN FOLGER OF THE AMERICANSHIP TOPAZ OF BOSTON', 10 OCTOBER 1808 (SERIES 71.01) , State Library of New South Wales https://transcripts.sl.nsw.gov.au/document/extract-log-book-captain-folger-americanship-topaz-boston-10-october-1808-series-7101
7. ↑ Family Notices (1810, October 27). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 3. Retrieved September 8, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628118
8. ↑ Pipon, P. 'Interesting Account of the Mutineers of H.M.S. Bounty - Original Account of the Finding the Home of the Mutineers - on Pitcairn Island - 1814', by Captain P. Pipon, 1814. State Library of New South Wales Call Number DLMSQ 341Reference Code 942520. Digitised at https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/9AL4Xl8Y/V6DN2rwRwKaOg . Transcription at https://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2013/D17593/a6908.htm
9. ↑ Donald Patrick Albert. "Teehuteatuaonoa aka ‘Jenny’, the most traveled woman on the Bounty: Chronicling female agency and island movements with Google Earth." Island Studies Journal, 16(1), 2021, pp 190-208 https://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/default/files/ISJAlbertWomenBounty.pdf
10. ↑ THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. (1819, July 17). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. Retrieved September 8, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2178824
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2} Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait to co-operate with the polar expeditions, performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom under the command of Captain F.W. Beechey, R.N., ... in the years 1825, 26, 27, 28 / by Frederick William Beechey, published 1831 https://archive.org/details/narrativeofvoyag04beec/page/48/mode/2up
12. ↑ History of Pitcairn Island, Pitcairn Immigration Web Site http://www.immigration.gov.pn/history/index.html (accessed September 6, 2021).
13. ↑ NOBBS, George Hunn, Pitcairn Island Encyclopedia https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/encyclopedia4.shtml
14. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9207777/john-adams : accessed 06 September 2021), memorial page for John Adams (5 Nov 1766–5 Mar 1829), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9207777, citing John Adams Burial Site, Adamstown, Pitcairn Islands ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
15. ↑ Interview, Mrs Herbert Bailey nee Clara Henrietta with T C Roughley, Norfolk Island 1960, in Roughley T C. "Bounty Descendants Live on Remote Norfolk Island." National Geographic, October 1960, pp 559, 572. (Photograph by J Baylor Roberts.)
16. ↑ Interview by Heather Stevens during the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine July 1995.
17. ↑ The Bounty Monument at Point Venus, Tahiti , Captain Cook Society https://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/the-bounty-monument-at-point-venus-tahiti (accessed September 6, 2021).

• Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait to co-operate with the polar expeditions, performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom under the command of Captain F.W. Beechey, R.N., ... in the years 1825, 26, 27, 28 / by Frederick William Beechey. published 1831 https://archive.org/details/narrativeofvoyag04beec/page/48/mode/2up
• Dening, Greg. Mr Bligh's Bad Language : Passion, Power, and Theatre on the Bounty. Cambridge, Eng. ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
• Christian, Glynn. Fragile Paradise. Sydney: Doubleday, 1999.
• JOHN ADAMS/ALEXANDER SMITH, April 01, 2018 (Blog), Norfolk Online News http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/non-big-tims-history/john-adamsalexander-smith (accessed September 6, 2021).
• Bounty's Crew Encyclopedia, Pitcairn Islands Study Center https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/crew.shtml (accessed September 6, 2021).
• State Library of NSW catalogue search "John Adams" and "Pitcairn" https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/search?search=%22john%20adams%22%20pitcairn

See also:

• What happened to Fletcher Christian and the mutineers? Posted on 14 Jun 2019 by Nigel Erskine (Blog), Australian National Maritime Museum https://www.sea.museum/2019/06/14/a-mutiny-and-a-mystery-what-happened-to-fletcher-christian-and-the-bounty-mutineers (accessed September 6, 2021).
• Wikipedia contributors, "John Adams (mutineer)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Adams_(mutineer)&oldid=1036605606 (accessed September 6, 2021).

• The Peerage.com database http://www.thepeerage.com/p15823.htm#i158223 (accessed September 6, 2021).
• The Mutiny on The Bounty : John Adams's walking stick, Christie's Auctions 2005 https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4563683 (accessed September 6, 2021).
• The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences, by Sir John Barrow, 1831 https://archive.org/details/eventfulhistory00battgoog (accessed September 6, 2021).

The Lonely Island, Or, The Refuge of the Mutineers, Robert Michael Ballantyne J. Nisbet, 1880 - Bounty Mutiny, 1789

Frederick Chamier Jack Adams, the Mutineer 1838

Wilson, Erle (1958). Adams of the Bounty. Criterion Books.

"Adams, John (mutineer)". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. "Adams, John (mutineer)". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

J. K. Laughton Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. I. New York: Macmillan and Co. / London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1885. pp. 98-99

"Death of John Adams, &c.", The London Literary Gazette; and Journal of the Belles' Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., No. 713 (September 18, 1830), p.610.

Sir John Barrow's Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty, 12mo, 1831

Marshall's Royal Naval Biography (Sir Thomas Staines), suppl. part 1 (vol. v.), p. 96;

Narrative of the Briton's Voyage (1817}, pp. 81-97; F

W. Beechey's Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, i. 49-100, with a good portrait at p. 51.