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James Adams (b. by 1627), son of John Adams and Ellen Newton
Frances Vassall (b. c. 1623), daughter of William Vassall and Anne King
James Adams, the son of John and Ellen (Newton) Adams, was born before 22 May 1627 in Plymouth. [1] He married Frances Vassall, on 16 June 1646 in Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. [1][2]
Frances Vassall was born about 1623.
James and Frances's marriage record calls Frances the daughter of William.
Frances departed for New England with her parents on the Blessing in June 1635 when she was twelve. [3]
James is in the Marshfield section of the 1643 list of those able to bear arms in Plymouth colony. [4]
James acknowledged that he had received five pounds from [his stepfather] Kenelm Winslow that was to be paid to him when he came of age in 10 June 1651. [5]
Frances was left a bequest in the 14 October 1625 will of her grandfather George King. [6]
James went to Barbados to purchase sugar. While there, Frances's father died and on 8 April 1657 Frances confirmed her husband's sale of her share of William Vassall's estate to Nicholas Ware. Wakefield says this is the last record of James in Plymouth colony; he conjectures that it is possible that James and Frances moved to Barbados about this time. [4] However, in answer to her petition, in May 1672 the Massachusetts General Court granted Frances, the wife of James Adams and daughter of William Vassall, 150 acres in any free place it could be found. The land was laid out to Frances Adams—wife to James Adams of Concord—on 1 November 1672. It was located about in Scituate about eight miles north from Lancaster. [7]
Children of James Adams and Frances Vassall: Births of the first four recorded in Scituate as the children of James. [2]
i. William Adams was born on 16 May 1647. He was baptized on 23 May 1647. [5]
ii. Anne Adams was born on 19 April 1649. she was baptized on 20 May 1649. [5]
iii. Richard Adams was born on 19 April 1651. He was baptized on 27 April 1651. [5] He died there on 25 July 1651, if this record is correct. [2]
iv. Mary Adams was born on 27 January 1653. She was baptized on 5 February 1653. [5]
v. Margaret Adams was baptized on 18 March 1654 in Scituate. [2] Olcott [8] says that she married Captain John Pease and died on 2 January 1737. John was born on 30 May 1654 in Salem and died on 29 November 1734. [8]
Captain John Pease was the founder of Enfield, Connecticut. [8]
vi. Richard Adams was possibly born on 19 April 1651 or say about 1656. He died on 24 August 1728 in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut. He married Rebecca Davis.
References:
1. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 12.
2. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), vol. 1: 11 (births); vol. 2: 11 (marriages), 347 (deaths).
3. John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality ... who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600–1700, reprinted (New York: Empire State Book Co., n.d.).
4. Robert Wakefield, "Men of the Fortune: John Adams," The American Genealogist 55 (1979): 212–3.
5. "Family of John Adams of Plymouth," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 33 (1879): 410–3.
6. Henry F. Waters, "Genealogical Gleanings in England," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 51 (1897): 282, 286.
7. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, vol. 1, 1633–1640, vol. 2, 1641–1651, vol. 3, 1651–1661, vol. 4, 1661–1668, vol. 5, 1668–1678, vol. 6, 1678–1691 (Boston: William White, 1855, 1866), vol. 5, 524, 539.
8. Frances Olcott Allen, "Vassall," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 51 (1897): 152.
References
31-Mar-2023