Capt. John Adams

John was a Friend (Quaker)

Sources

1. A genealogical profile of John Adams

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Elizabeth was John Adams's second wife. He'd previously been married to Jane James, 1633-1666. He had three children with his first wife; ten with his second wife.

http://records.ancestry.com/John_Adams_records.ashx?pid=12429713

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Adams-509

John Adams Jr (1627 - 1704)

John Adams Jr

Born 22 May 1627 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Son of John Adams Sr and Ellen (Unknown) Winslow

Brother of Susan Adams, James Adams, Kenelm Winslow II [half], Eleanor (Winslow) Baker [half], Nathaniel Winslow [half] and Job Winslow [half]

Husband of Jane (James) Adams — married 27 Dec 1654 in Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Husband of Elizabeth (Russell) Adams — married 1663 in Long Island City, Queens, New York

Father of Joseph Adams, Mary Adams, Margaret Adams, Martha (Adams) Pierce, Rebecca (Adams) Clifford, Joseph Adams, Thomas Adams, Eleanor Adams, Elizabeth (Adams) Hollinshead, Jane Adams, Sarah (Adams) Cowperthwaite, James Adams, Susannah Adams, Hannah Adams, Deborah (Adams) Allen, John Adams, Marcy Adams, Abigail (Adams) Allen and Phoebe Adams

Died 19 Jan 1704 at age 76 in Chester, Burlington, New Jersey Colony

Profile last modified 5 Apr 2022 | Created 14 Sep 2010

Biography

John was a Friend (Quaker)
From Family of John Adams of Plymouth, New England Historical and Genealogical Register:[1]

JOHN² ADAMS (John¹) settled first in Marshfield. "He dwelt near Mount Skirgo, an elevation of the Marshfield bounds of the forest which lies between this town and Pembroke." [Miss Thomas's Memorials of Marshfield, p. 37] John was admitted a freeman of Plymouth Colony, June 1, 1658. He was a witness in a case of manslaughter, Jan 1654-5; a grand-juryman June, 1658; a member of a coroner's jury, July, 1658; and was appointed a constable of Marshfield, June 8, 1660. He subsequently removed to Flushing, Long Island, as is shown by a deed on record at Plymouth, Bk. iii. p. 127. The following is an abstract of an attested copy by William S. Danforth, register of deeds:

Captain John Adams, of the towne of Flushinge, in Long Island in New England, America," sells Dec. 10, 1666, to "Nathaniel Warren of the Towne of Plymouth in the jurisdiction of Plymouth in New England, in America, " &c. "all that my share lot and portion of land att or neare a place commonly called and knowne by the name of Nama Nakett in the jurisdiction of Plymouth, aforesaid, which was granted unto mee the said JohnAdams as being one of the children of the old comers of the said Jurisdictin according to grant of the court for the jurisdiction of Plymouth aforesaid bearing date the third day of June An° Dom: one thousand six hundred and sixty and two [See list of grantees in Plymouth Colony Records (Boston, 1855), vol iv. p. 19.] being the twenty eighth part of the tract of land purchased by Captaine Thomas Southworth of the Indan Sachem named Josias Wampatuck in the behalf of said court." and also share of lands "purchased by Major winslow lying and being att Namassakeesett ponds." signed by John Adams and the mark of Elizabeth Adams, his wife.
After learning that John and Elizabeth Adams had removed to Flushing, I wrote to Henry Onderdonk Jr., Esq. , of Jamaica, L. I. , for any records he might have of John Adams, of Flushing, and received in February ,1878, the following valuable memoranda, from his manuscript collections relative to Long Island history, which he has kindly permitted me to print: [recall that the Quakers did not use the pagan names of the months of the year, but used the number of the month, March being the first month. The order of dates is day, month, and year]

Children of John Adams and his first wife Joane:
Mary, born 3, 5, 1656.
Martha, born 4, 1, 1658.
Rebecca, born 13, 12 1661; married Henry Clifford, of Flushing, 29, 3, 1686.
Children of John Adams and his second wife Elizabeth:
John, born 17, 6 , 1664; died 4, 8, 1665.
Elizabeth, born 9, 1, 1665. [married 23, 1, 1692, William Hollingshead]
Sarah, born 28, 2, 1668.
James, born 4, 8, 1671.
Susanna, born 6, 9,1674.
Hannah, born 15, 12, 1675.
Deborah, born 7, 3, 1678.
John, born 10, 7, 1680; died 30, 10, 1688.
Abigail, born 2, 11, 1682.
Thomas, born 12, 11, 1684.
Marsey, born 13, 10, 1686.
Phebe, born 9, 12, 1690.
John and Elizabeth Adams were Friends or Quakers; and were both living in 1690; do not know where they died. In 1678 John gave a long narrative of his being a persecutor of Friends in New England when he was a constable; He was a sober young man, but full of vanity. He was a member of the Independent Congregational Church for many years; he had a wife and children there, but by God"s Providence he was brought to Flushing; having first taken from him his dear wife Joane. He went to sea at her decease for two years.

John Adams was converted to Quakerism by the preaching of John Burnyeat and John Stubbs, preachers in New England [which then included Long Island east of Oyster Bay.] John had meetings at his house. In 1667 he was a leading member of the Meeting at Flushing. In 1684 the meeting lent him some money to pay for a negro he had bought as a laborer on his farm. His name appears in Meeting records in 1667—1673. In 1691 he sold his farm at Bayside, Flushing, to John Rodman, of Block Island." [end of Onderdonk information]

In a subsequent letter Mr. Onderdonk says, in reply to the suggestion that Joane and Jane were identical names:

Joane and Jane I think to be the same name. John and Elizabeth Adams exchanged their farm of 130 acres in Flushing, for house, 500 Acres of land and £190 cash, in West New Jersey, June 4, 1691. John's confession, in which he gives an account of his life, was made to the Meeting. He was charged with going over to the Ranters, a noisy faction of Friends. He retracts his error, and therein gives a long account of his opinions, and how God controlled his actions, &c. &c. It was a case of discipline, and of course not printed. I copied all of it that was not torn off years ago, because I thought it so interesting; and so with the births; and you are the first that has applied to me for that knowledge.
John² Adam's last child, Rebecca, by his first wife, Joane, was born Feb 13, 1661, probably 1661-62, and his first child, John, by his second wife, Elizabeth, was born Aug. 17, 1664. His wife Jane, or Joane, probably died soon after the birth of Rebecca, as he states in the document quoted by Mr. Onderdonk, that he went to sea for two years after the death of his first wife, before settling at Flushing.

Death: John Adams died on 19 January 1703/04, Chester Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, and his will was proved on 05 February 1703/04.

Abstract of Last Will and Testament:

1699-1700 March 19. Adams, John, of Chester, Burlington Co.; will of. Wife Elizabeth; children — Thomas, Mary, Martha, Hannah, Deborah, Abigail, Marcy, Rebecca and Feby. Legacy to apprentice Benjamin Davis. Real and personal property. Wife sole executrix with Samuel Jening and Francis Davenport as overseers. Witnesses — Martha Spicer, Martyn Jervis and John Kay. Codicill of Aug. (?) 24, 1701, disposes of 100 acres at Eggharbour. Witnesses — William Hollinshead and Joseph Heritage. Proved February 5, 1703-4. Lib. i, p. 7
1703-4 March 8. Bond of Elizabeth Adams as administratrix of the preceding will (William Hackney and Wm. Hollinshed sign the bond with her).
1703-4 Feb. 28. Inventory of said estate (£316.4.2 including two men slaves) taken by John Kay and Wm. Hackney[2]

Sources

1. "Family of John Adams of Plymouth." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 33:410-413 link Archive.org. (1879)
2. Nelson, W.; Honeyman, A. V.; Hutchinson, E.T, Calendar of New Jersey wills, administrations, etc. Vol 1, p. 4 (New Jersey Historical Society 1901) link Archive.org
3. John Adams Family of Mass., N.Y. and N.J,
4. Hawthorne File, Hawthorne, Fredrick
5. Our Quaker Ancestry by Rusha Wesley 1945
6. Wakefield, Robert S. Men of the Fortune: John Adams, The American Genealogist (The American Genealogist, Barrington, RI, 1979). Pages 212-214. NEHGS Member link. [Note: Anderson in the Great Migration Begins (p. 12) calls this the best treatment in print of John Adams and his two sons.]
7. Myers, Marya & James, Jr., Donald W., A New Look at The Family of Francis and Philip James of Hingham: Immigrant Ancestors, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1997) Vol. 151, Page 67.