John Quincy Adams Capps, Sr.

GEDCOM Note

Find-A-Grave: John Quincy Adams Capps Birth: Aug. 20, 1784 Death: Sep. 14, 1857 The arthur of this wonderful historical article of the Capps family gave me permission to use this on my memorial page for my 3rd Great Grandmother Rebecckah J. Holtzclaw Capps. Thank you "moomamonster" for your hard work!

FIRST OF THE CLAY COUNTY CAPPS John Capps and his family were among the earliest settlers of Clay County in western Missouri. He was a native of Virginia, born 20 August 1784, probably in Princess Anne County in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, in the area of present Norfolk and Virginia Beach. The Capps family had been living in this area since the very earliest days of colonization. John's father was Edward Capps, a landowner of Princess Anne County. His mother's name was Argin and her maiden name was Haynes. As a young man John migrated to Fayette County in central Kentucky. Rebecca Holtzclaw was born in Fayette County, Kentucky on 29 January 1797. Her parents were Archibald Holtzclaw and Miriam (Hitt) Holtzclaw who had moved to Kentucky about 1790. The Holtzclaw and Hitt families were descendants of a 1714 German settlement in Virginia. John Capps and Rebecca Holtzclaw were married in Fayette County on 14 November 1816. For the next ten years they lived the life of a farm family in that well settled but still frontier county. In 1826, Archibald Holtzclaw led his family, including John and Rebecca and his other daughters and their families to Clay County, Missouri. This county, formed only four years before, was one of the westernmost frontier settlements at that time. Here John and Rebecca and the others were true pioneers. John bought a farm of 160 acres in Clay County on 20 February 1827. It was located about four miles northwest of the new town of Liberty. This farm, expanded by an additional 120 acres in 1848, was John and Rebecca's home for the remainder of their lives. It was the core of Capps family holdings in this neighborhood for more than 50 years. Although not large farmers, the Cappses, being products of the Southern culture, were slaveholders, owning as many as seven slaves. According to family story, John came to be nicknamed "Sweet Potato" Capps because he was a supplier of seed sweet potatoes. In the spring farmers came from miles around get seed stock from John's sweet potato "pit". According to the story, John had an annual ritual which involved opening the pit always on the first day of April each year. The opening of John Capps' sweet potato pit was apparently something of a social event each year. John and Rebecca raised a large family, with 12 children who reached adulthood. The six oldest children were born in Kentucky, but the younger ones were natives of Clay County. Since nine of the children were daughters, several other pioneer Clay County families were connected to the Cappses by marriage. John Capps died in Clay County on 14 September 1857. The next spring, the Liberty Tribune newspaper printed a letter in which the unnamed writer lamented the passing of several of his old friends in the previous months. He included John Capps as one of the "noblest specimens of human nature" he had ever known and said that "no better men ever lived in the county of Clay" than John Capps and these others. Rebecca (Holtzclaw) Capps died in Clay County on 16 September 1864. She and John are buried together in the Little Shoal cemetery northwest of Liberty. SOURCES Deed Records, Clay Co MO [MO State Archives, Jefferson City] Bk B, p 123, 20 Feb 1827, Evans to Capps; Bk K, p 386, 19 Jan 1848, Mosby to Capps; Bk S, p 482, 08 Dec 1858, Estate of John Capps Marriage Records, Clay Co MO [MO State Archives] Bk A, pp 181, 251; Bk B pp 91, 178, 227, 385; Bk F, pp 111, 309 Marriage Records, Clinton Co MO [MO State Archives] Bk B p 61 Probate Records, Clay Co MO [Clay Co Archives, Liberty] Will of John Capps Probate Records, Clinton Co MO [Clinton Co Courthouse, Plattsburg] Estate of Elisha Hall; Estate of Jeremiah S. Hall Tax Lists, Clay Co MO [MO State Archives] Tax lists of 1826 through 1842 United States Census [MO State Archives & State Historical Society of MO, Columbia] 1820, Fayette Co KY, p 81; 1830, Clay Co MO, p 271; 1840, Clay Co MO, p 15; 1850, Clay Co MO, pp 317-B, 320-A; 1850, Clinton Co MO, pp 394-A, 425-A; 1860, Clay Co MO, pp 445, 1063; 1860, Clinton Co MO, pp 55-57, 61, 135 United States Census [images at Ancestry.com] 1870, Clinton Co MO, image 15 & image 16; 1880, Clay Co MO, image 7; 1880, Clinton Co MO, image 16 Cemetery Census of Clinton Co MO by Jimmie Lou Courtney & Pauline M. Courtney [State Historical Society of MO] Vol II, p 127 Cemeteries in Clay Co MO by Frank W. Littleford (1975) [State Historical Society of MO] pp 38-57 Cemetery Inscriptions of Clinton Co MO by Jimmie Lou Courtney & Pauline M. Courtney [State Historical Society of MO] Vol I, p 56 Fayette Co KY Records by Michael Cook & Betty A. Cummings Cook (1985) [State Historical Society of MO] Vol 3, p 109 Genealogical Notes from the Liberty Tribune by Nadine Hodges & Mrs. Howard W. Woodruff [MO State Archives] Vol V, pp 94, 104; Vol VI, p 42; Vol VII, p 61 Genealogy of the Holtzclaw Family by B. C. Holtzclaw (1938) [Copy from Willie Alice Colvin, Lufkin TX] pp 67, 84-85, 116 History of Clay Co MO by W. H. Woodson (1920) [Personal collection of George H. Capps] pg 78 History of Clay & Platte Counties by National Historical Co., St. Louis (1885) State Historical Society of MO] p 182 History of Clinton Co MO by National Historical Co., St. Joseph MO (1881) [State Historical Society of MO] p 126 (biographical section) Kentucky Vital Statistics: Records of Marriages, Fayette Co, 1803-1851 by Annie Walker Burns (1951) [State Historical Society of MO] p 25 Marriage Records of Clay Co MO (1822-1852) by Nanon Lucille Carr (1957) [State Historical Society of MO] pp 9, 24, 49, 57 Marriage Records of Clay Co MO (1852-1900) by Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry [State Historical Society of MO] Vol I, pp 13, 55 Wills & Administrations of Clinton Co MO (1833-1870) by Nanon Lucille Carr (1954) [St. Louis MO Public Library] pp 20, 28 Virginia Magazine of History & Biography by Virginia Historical Society [Copies from private sources] January 1951, pp 127 & following Liberty (MO) Tribune [State Historical Society of MO] 18 Sep 1857, "Deaths"; 16 Apr 1858, "For the Tribune"; 23 Sep 1864, "Deaths" "The Capps Family in Clay Co MO" (Unpublished collection of family information and stories, compiled by Jack L. Capps for family members in 1964) [Personal Collection of Roberta Capps Moore} "Family Tree of Luanne Lynne Vernon Henthorn" -- on the internet: http:// www.greyface.com/lavynder /descendants/pafg18.htm, /pafg19.htm, /pafg45.htm, /pafg46.htm "John Walker" -- Family Tree at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid =5238742 Gravestones , Little Shoal Cemetery, Clay Co MODocuments from "Holtzclaw Family File" [Clay Co Archives] Original Bible record pages Notes from "Capps Family File" [Clay Co Archives] Notes from Records of Ernest Lee Capps [Personal collection of Roberta Capps Moore] Written by "moonamonster" on 1 Jun 2009 Family links: Spouse: Rebecckah J. Holtzclaw Capps (1797 - 1864) Children: Miriam Capps Groom (1817 - 1851)* Argin Capps Adams (1818 - 1891)* Nancy Ann Capps Hall (1820 - 1892)* Lutitia Dudley Capps Sebree (1821 - 1854)* Elizabeth Louise Capps Hart Malott (1823 - 1872)* Sarah Catherine Capps Walker (1825 - 1880)* Margaret Martha Capps Groom (1827 - 1866)* Edward William Capps (1829 - 1865)* Ambrose Dudley Capps (1831 - 1897)* John Quincy Adams Capps (1833 - 1862)*

• Calculated relationship Burial: Little Shoal Cemetery, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, USA Created by: Earleen L. Sebree Hensle... Record added: Aug 09, 2007 Find A Grave Memorial# 20851450

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