Thomas Adams, of Wen

Not a known child of Margaret Adams

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Adams-1706

Thomas, son of Randall Adams and Margaret Esper, was born 24 Feb 1558 in Northwood, Wem, Shropshire, England. He was a farmer and tanner. He married Margaret, daughter of John Erpe and Elizabeth Purslowe, in Wem about 1581. Thomas died 23 Aug 1607 in Wem and was buried the same day.

Herbert F. Seversmith gives an account of the "alleged English ancestry of William Adams", based upon Americana, vol. 22 (1928), p. 432. He acknowledges the ancestry as indeterminate, but argues it is possible. Americana says William was son of Thomas Adams and Margaret Erpe; Thomas a son of Randall Adams. Thomas Adams was a tanner, presumably son of Randall Adams. If the family constructed here is correct, Sir Thomas Adams (brother of William), knight and staunch Royalist is in marked contrast to the Puritan loyalties of the rest of the family, and his wealth in contrast to their poverty. While the parentage of Sir Thomas seems questionable, it is not impossible. A book that published the genealogies taken by Sir Henry St. George, the Herald of Richmond, is entitled 'Visitations of London, 1633-1635'. Listed in it is our Adams family, with their family crest, and it clearly cites Sir Thomas' parents as Thomas Adams and Margaret Erpe. A brief pedigree and depiction of the arms are shown here[1] in the Visitation of London.

The family tree of Norvan L. Johnson (Hardin Clay Roots #1) cites a son for Thomas Adams and Margaret Erpe named Randall. He was born 26 March 1584 in Wem and died 31 July 1631. He is identified as a butcher who married Margery Wrights, 31 May 1605 in Wem, and had children: Jane, Mary, Agnes, Anne, John, Richard and another Anne.

Judy Parsons Smith, in her Genealogy of the Crowne, Gough & Related Families, cites an unknown son, baptized in March 1584, who was the butcher who married Margery Wrights. Judy also notes another son, Roland Adams, who was baptized 29 January 1592 and was buried 30 November 1592.

The Descendants of Francis Muncy I, by Mary Edith Shaw, names a son of Thomas Adams and Margaret Erpe, name unknown, baptized in March 1584. Shaw says he is perhaps to be identified with Randall, who was a butcher in Wem, and who married 31 May 1604/5 to Margery, daughter of John Wrighte. His wife was buried 30 December 1618. Their children were: Jane (baptized 7 July 1605), Mary (baptized 22 February 1606), Agnes (baptized 1 November 1609, buried 2 August 1610), Anne (baptized 30 September 1611), John (baptized 2 January 1613), Richard (baptized 4 October 1616), Isabel (baptized 30 June 1620), and another Anne (baptized 26 December 1621).

Thomas & Margaret (Erpe) Adams had seven (7) children:

1. Mary Adams, b. 1582, Wem, Shropshire, England; d. England; bur. England.
2. Randall Adams, b. ca. 1584, London, Middlesex, England; chr. 26 Mar 1584, Wem, Shropshire, England; d. 21 Jul 1631; bur. 31 Jul 1631, Wem, Shropshire , England.
3. Thomas Adams, b. 6 Dec 1586, Wem, Shropshire, England; chr. 6 Dec 1586, Wem, Shropshire, England; d. 24 Feb 1667, Ironmongers Lane, Fenchurch Street, London, England; bur. 10 Mar 1667, Sprowston, Norfolk, England.
4. Child Adams, b. 1590, Wem, England. (John Adams?)
5. Rolande Adams, b. 29 Jun 1592, Wem, Shropshire, England; chr. 29 Jun 1592, Wem, Shropshire, England; d. 30 Nov 1592, England; bur. 30 Nov 1592, England.
6. William Adams, b. 3 Feb 1594, Wem, Shropshire, England; chr. 10 Feb. 1594, Wem, Shropshire, England; d. 18 Jan 1658, Ipswich, Essex , Massachusetts.
7. Richard Adams, b. 1595, Wem, Shropshire, England; d. bef. 1661

.

The families of Adams of Braunston (Northamptonshire), Adams of Charwelton (Northamptonshire), Adams of London, Adams of Sprowston Hall (Norfolk) and Adams of Welton (Northamptonshire) appear to be related. Baker [probably Anselm Baker 1834-1885] (p.298) identifies the coat of arms of the Braunston, Charwelton and Welton families as "Ermine three cats a mountain in pale Azure." The arms for Thomas Adams of Wem (London & Sprowston) appears to be the same as the other save for the difference of a crescent which is usually used as a mark of cadency, normally indicating that the branch descended from a 2nd son. In the Visitation (London), the elder Thomas of Wem is described as "a younger son."[2]

The families of Adams of Longdon (Longden), Adams of Pontesbury and Adams alias Tasker all use arms as those above. These lines descend from Sir John Adams of Kent (ca 13th century) and within a couple of generations the family is established in Longdon and Pontesbury in Shropshire.[3] The Adams arms are quartered with Mascott and Tasker and and are described as Ermine, three cats a mountain in pale tails coward proper. A note says the latter are Azure in the Shrewsbury MS. The crest is a greyhound's head erased ermine, the same as that used by Sir Thomas Adams of London, Baronet.[4] Burkes Landed Gentry (1862) suggests that the family of Richard Adams of Great Chatwell (Gnosall, Staffordshire), later of Hadley, Shropshire, "is a younger branch of the ancient and worshipful house of Adams of Longdon." Also descended from Richard are the family of Adams of Shrewsbury.[5]

The following notes are provided by the William Salt Archaeological Society (p.259): "A family of Adams in London descended from an Adams family of Wem in Shropshire seems to have been allowed the arms, Ermine three wild cats in pale azure, which was borne also by the Adams family baronets from 1660 to 1770, and by the Adamses of Longdon, Shropshire, of whom John Adams married Jane, daughter of Sir Walter Wrottesley, first baronet. I gather that the arms of Adams of Sambrook were Ermine, three wildcats in pale sable, and that these were used for several generations by Mr. P. W. L. Adams' family, to whom they have now been confirmed by Heralds' College with the addition of a border azure."[6]

For additional notes about Adams arms, including possible origins, see Randall Adams.

Sources

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Adams-1706
   1. The Visitation of London, Anno Domine 1633, 1634 and 1635, https://archive.org/details/visitationoflond15howa/page/4/mode/2up
   2. Adams03 - Stirnet, https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/aa/adams03.php
   3. Adams02 - Stirnet, https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/aa/adams02.php
   4. The Visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year 1623, Robert Treswell, Augustine Vincent & William Camden, Edited by George Grazebrook & J. Paul Rylands, College of Arms (Great Britain), London, 1889, https://archive.org/details/visitationshrop00britgoog/page/n66/mode...
   5. Adams09 - Stirnet, https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/aa/adams09.php
   6. Collections For a History of Staffordshire, The William Salt Archaeological Society, London, 1910, https://archive.org/details/collectionsforhi03staf_1/page/n5/mode/2up.
   7. Adams family of Sprowston Hall, baronets: no significant archive is known to survive
   8. Windows Into Our Past, A Genealogy of the Parsons, Smith and Associated Families, Vol. 1 ©1996, Judy Parsons Smith
   9. The Descendants of Francis Muncy I: With Allied Families, M.E. Shaw, 1948
   10. RootsChat.com, https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=737395.0.