Steve, Good to hear from you with such good information. Please tell me just a bit more. There's one thing you did not mention that I had seen from the mail list archives. In a post you said Ed Adamson did marry again after Elender died - he married a woman (some younger I think) named Mollie Eaton. Mollie is almost always a nickname for Mary, hence she was likely Mary E. Adamson. He died in 1901 so she would definitely have been a widow in 1910. Did she stay in Lawrence Co? What happened to her after his death? Obviously Ed was buried with his first wife and his children may have resented their stepmother - certainly not uncommon. I'm aware the dates don't match exactly but dates from censuses are wrong as often as they are correct and they are close. Did they have children together or did she bring children to the marriage? I have other family lines where men fathered children by their younger 2nd or 3rd wives up into their 70's. Again, regarding a different family, I read a story where a descendant of a first wife, like yourself, "missed" an entire second family for 20 years - didn't even find the 2nd marriage - mostly because he just didn't think about it and didn't look! Again, thanks for your info! "Negative" research eliminates wasted time - at least you know to go on to something else. The one thing that keeps me looking in Lawrence Co is that "Pierce City" reference - so often on birth/death certificates one finds just the name of a state. In a rural society, I would guess the Pierce City reference could be more of a location than a actual birthplace; that's where the folks in the area went to town on Saturday. K. > -----Original Message----- > From: Steve Adamson [mailto:steve.a@Home.com] > Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 2:42 AM > To: MOLAWREN-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [MOLAWREN-L] Missing ADAMSON from Lawrence Co > > > I understand your frustration, Kay, but I'm afraid I can't punch any > holes in your Lawrence Co., MO, brick wall. You may get some ideas from > the following, though. > > Ed and Elender Adamson were my ggrandparents, and all of your > deductions about > them are correct. There were actually nine male offspring, five of whom > lived to adulthood (Sturlen, Lemuel, Judson, John and Edward), and none > fathered Ray Weymouth Adamson. Additionally, I know of no one in my > line who lived in either Pierce City or Arkansas, and no Ray Weymouth, > George, Mary E. or Clair. > > Going back a generation--Ed was one of nine children of Simon Wells > Adamson, and came to near Brighton, Polk Co., MO in the early 1840s from > near Liberty, TN (then in Wilson Co., but now in Dekalb Co.). He and > Elender came to Lawrence Co. in October 1849. Of Ed's eight siblings, > four (Cynthia [Adams], William, Lemuel, and Olivia [Hancock]) migrated > to Freestone and Limestone Co., TX. William had two sons and Lemuel > one--all born and died in Texas. > > One of Ed's siblings (Nancy Melissa [Walker]) settled near Ozark, MO; > one (Thomas Bethel) lived in Iowa after the Civil War, died in Billings, > Greene Co., MO in 1893 at the age of 56, and to my knowledge had no > children; and two (Joseph Harrison, b. 1831, and Sarah Ann, b. 1833) are > unaccounted for after 1840 in my records. > > I believe that covers everyone in Ed's family who might have fathered > Ray Weymouth Adamson. But let's go back to the American beginning, and > perhaps give you some ideas as to where to look. > > Our Adamsons were Quakers who settled in Haddonfield, NJ and Bucks Co., > PA in the late 1600s-early 1700s. John Adamson, my ggggggrandfather, > married Ann Skuce in 1716 at the Haddonfield Meeting. John may have > been Welsh, because I understand that the Haddonfield Meeting was > predominately Welsh Quakers, and Ann may have been Swedish--the > granddaughter of Sven Skute, who was granted land in the 1650s in what > is now south Philadelphia by Queen Christina of Sweden. > > John and Ann had seven children. The eldest was Thomas and the youngest > Simon. Ann died in childbirth having Simon in 1733. I believe many > present-day Adamson lines in the northern part of the U.S. come from > Thomas, whose descendants went to western PA, OH, IN, IL, IA, NE, and > the Pacific Northwest. I have, in fact, made connections with Adamsons > in Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska who were my seventh and eighth > cousins--descendants of Thomas. > > Simon migrated to North Carolina, where there was a large Quaker > population. I believe he may have had as many as seven sons. The > eldest, Jesse T. Adamson, was born in 1758/59. He married Mary Wells in > the late 1770s; through Quaker meeting records, we can trace their > migration from North Carolina westward to what is now Middle Tennessee, > as well as note the birth of their seven (?) children--five of whom were > male. Simon Wells, Ed Adamson's father, was one of these. > > I have not done much work on the Adamsons before Ed, so I don't know > where Simon Wells' male siblings went--if anywhere--from Middle > Tennessee. (By the way--the Quaker aspect of my ancestors seems to have > ended with Jesse T.'s generation, inasmuch as Simon Wells owned slaves > when he died in the late 1830s.) > > But maybe you and I are not related at all. A contemporary of John's > was John Baldwin Adamson, who was granted land in Maryland by Lord > Baltimore in the late 1600s-early 1700s. John Baldwin had a brother? > son? named Basil, one of whose sons was Greenberry Adamson (I love that > name!), who went down south--South Carolina?--and whose descendents > populate the Deep South--Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, some into > Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, maybe Arkansas--with Adamsons whom I believe > are not related to my line. > > I haven't been at this for very long, so I don't have any grand schemes > to offer you--just keep on digging into (for example) Pierce City land > and tax records for both Adamsons and Weymouths; tell your story on the > Adamson, Weymouth, Crawford Co., AR and Lawrence Co., MO web sites; and > don't get discouraged! (Others more experienced than I will also offer > good suggestions, I'm sure.) >