This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: oldbruin Surnames: ABBEY, ADAMS, LEE, LOWELL, MARTIN, SAUL Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.yates/1865.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Karen, I am the John Adams who has posted queries on this board about Elias and Asa ADAMS. I, too, have been confused about the 2 ADAMS families; both with an Elias b. abt 1829, son of an Asa b. in NY; both living in Iowa in the 1850's. Perhaps we can work together to sort out their ancestry and I would invite help from anyone else on this board who has information on either of the families. First, let me state that I am convinced that they are separate families. I can trace my line to Elias Lee ADAMS, my gggrandfather, through death certificates and census records, so I am positive of my connection to him. Beyond that, my line is a little murky. Elias L.'s birthplace is given as New York in the 1856 IA state census, and in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 U.S. censuses; and his age as given in those censuses would place his birth date between 1827 and 1829. Your Elias W. was b. in MI about 1830. From census records, my Elias was in Delaware Co, IA, in 1860; Lewis Co, MO, in 1870; Barry Co, MO, in 1880; received a homestead grant in 1891 for land in Wright Co, MO. Your Elias was apparently in Muscatine Co, IA, during that entire period. My Elias died in 1899 in Payne Co, OK, and is buried in Noble Co, OK, according to family stories and cemetery records. Your Elias d. abt 1889 in Muscatine Co. The earliest record found for Elias L. was a deed recording his purchase of 160 acres of Delaware County, Iowa, land from Jerome Harper on 2 June 1851. Both he and Harper were residents of Boone County, Illinois, at the time. The Delaware County, Iowa, Marriage Book records his marriage to Charity MARTIN in 1853. He and Charity were found in the 1856 and 1860 censuses in Delaware County with 4 children: Mary, George, Asel, and Ester. They were next in the Canton, Lewis County, MO, census of 1870, with two more children. I have similar documentation showing that Asa P. ADAMS, who I believe (but have not proved) was Elias' father, was in St. Louis, MO, and Delaware Co. from 1850 to the mid-1860's. I do not know for sure that he died in St. Louis before 1870. I have a tax record showing him there in 1865, and his two daughters by his 2nd wife were living with his mother-in-law in the 1870 census. "The History and Directory of Yates County, New York" (published in 1873) states that "Asahel Adams......married Polly Lowell and emigrated.....from Vermont in 1806.... Their family consisted of ten children, Betsey, Chauncey, John, Alta, Cyrus, Polly, Sally, Asa P., Lovell and Cynthia....Asa P. married Esther Lee, of Italy [town in Yates Co.], and moved to St. Louis, Mo., where he died and left a widow and two children." I have found no record of their divorce, but Esther LEE married Adolphus ABBEY abt 1848, probably in NY; and Asa ADAMS married Lydia SAUL probably in St. Louis abt 1850. My rationale for believing that Asa & Esther are Elias' parents is: (1) several of Elias' descendants were given the first or middle name of "Lovell" or "Lowell," the maiden name of Asa's mother; (2) Esther's father was Elias LEE, and it was a custom in some families to name the first son after the maternal grandfather; (3) One of Elias' sons was named "Sardis," a very unusual first name. The only other "Sardis ADAMS" that I have found was a son of Lovell ADAMS of Yates Co., brother of Asa P. This older Sardis was in Elias' household in the 1856 Delaware Co. census. As anyone who's been doing genealogy research long knows, given names in a family are often repeated generation after generation, with the result that often several cousins may have the same name and be about the same age. I'm sure our ancestors did that on purpose to confuse us 200 years later. That may have happened with our two ADAMS families, and given that both have Yates Co. roots, they may be connected back in New England. Sorry to post so much detail on this board, but maybe someone reading this can offer some help. John S. Adams Hermosa Beach, CA Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.