Richard ADAMS

1719 - 1795  (76 years)

• Name	Richard ADAMS  [2]
  	He was commissioned captain July 2, 1778, of the 9th company of Colonel Wheaton's 4th Lincoln county regiment, his name being listed among the officers of the Massachusetts militia. Richard Adams was born at Plymouth, Mass., June 14, 1719, and died in Cushing, August, 1795. His wife, Mary Carver, was born in Plymouth, September 14, 1721, died in Cushing in 1796. Both are buried on Garrison Island, Friendship. He was a blacksmith by trade and lived in Kingston, Mass., until about the year 1752. From the records of that town it appears he subsequently became a resident of Wareham. He removed to Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained about two years and thence removed to Maine with his friends the Bradfords, and Robinsons, during the mania which prevailed at the time for adventure in this region. He located in the plantation of Meduncook, now the town of Friendship, but the exact year of his coming to Meduncook cannot now be stated. From the early records of the plantation, it appears that Captain Adams was elected an assessor in 1769, and reelected in 1770, 1771, 1772, 1774, 1782, 1783, 1786, 1878 and 1788. He was chosen collector of taxes in 1784, and a member of the committee of Safety in 1776. He was elected captain of the local militia in 1775. On October 30, 1771, Isaac Winslow, Thomas Fluker and Francis Waldo, administrators of the estate of Samuel Waldo conveyed to Richard Adams the premises on which he lived in Friendship, until his removal to Cushing abut 1789. Mr. Adams' name appears as a resident of Cushing in the census of 1790. At the annual plantation meeting held March 18, 1771, it was voted that Richard Adams and others "with submission to Providence, will appear on the sixteenth of April next, at the ministerial lot, in order to fence the marsh, at nine o'clock in the morning, if the weather be good, otherwise the first day ensing." On the ay appointed Mr. Adams with seventeen others, met at the ministerial lo and searched out the line between it and the lot adjoining on the northeast side of it, fenced the salt marsh, and let it for the year's crop to Joshua Collamore, Ebenezer Morton, Joshua Morton and Micajah Drinkwater for two pounds and fourteen pence. On December 17, 1771, Mr Adams in the presence of John Demorse and Micajah Drinkwater, warned Richard Starling "to depart the house and relinquish possession of the ministerial lot according to the tenor of the lease by which he went on the lot and into the house June 28, 1770." The committee reported, "that said Starling met them, at the same time abusing them with scurrilous language and unusual behavior, shutting them out of doors and ringing a cow bell." The will of Mr. Adams, dated August 27, 1792, was probated September 19, 1797, and was witnessed by Thurston Whiting, Jacob Graffam and John Short. He appointed his sons Richard, Thomas and George as executors. Thomas Adams having deceased, letters testamentary were issued to Richard and George Adams, mariners, both of Cushing, September 19, 1797. Moses Copeland and Joseph Copeland, both of Cushing, qualified as sureties on their official bond. Mr. Adams bequeathed to his wife Mary during her natural life, the south east front room in his dwelling house together with the kitchen, oven and well; his best feather bed with all necessary appurtenances to the same; all necessary furniture for one room;necessary kitchen utensils; one good cow to be kept both summer and winter; fire wood brought to her door and cut for the chimney during her life; fifteen bushels bread corn of different kinds; flax and wool annually sufficient to keep her bedding and clothing in repair; a sufficient annual supply of potatoes and vegetables, tea, coffee and sweetening and other necessaries. to his daughters Sela Baker, Margaret Gray and Hope Davis he gave one cow each; to his daughters Hope Davis and Lucy graham six shillings each, and his household furniture to be equally divided among them; to his granddaughters Polly Baker, Polly Bradford and Polly Adams, daughters of his son Richard, one tablespoon apiece; to his son Richard all his wearing apparel; to his grandson Richard his large pair of gold sleeve buttons; to his grandson Robert Davis, son of his daughter Hope, his small pair of gold sleeve buttons; to his sons Richard, Thomas and George his homestead premises, stock, farming tools and implements, Crotch Island, situated near his farm on Meduncook river, and the remainder of his estate to be equally divided among them. On November 21, 1775, the local Committee of Correspondence petitioned the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts for assistance to protect the citizens and to defend the plantation of Meduncook from British assaults. The petitioners set forth "that whereas we are in danger of enemies as much as other places, although the good Providence of God had hitherto protected us, blessed be His name, yet we count it our duty to use the best means we can for our safety and defense, and in order thereunto we think it necessary to have Military Officers among us, to which we did expect some help from Col. Cargill, but have not so yet received it, and so are destitute of Commanders. "Whereupon a very considerable part of our people have made choice of Mr. Richard Adams for the Captain, and Mr. Jonah Gay for their Lieutenant, and Mr. Jesse Thomas for their Ensign, and we, the Committee, do approve of their choice and do judge the aforesaid gentlemen fit and proper for said places, and we in behalf of the aforesaid people and ourselves, do humbly pray this Honorable Curt to send commissions to the aforesaid Gentlemen, accordingly that we may not be as sheep without a shepherd, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray." It is difficult at this late day to collect many facts concerning the personal appearance and mental endowments of Captain Adams. His great grandson, the late Raymond C. Davis, has paid him this tribute: "Richard Adams was a stout, flesh man, kind and social. His voice was strong and cheerful, so say the old people. By conversing with the aged of the days when they were young, my mind has been led to dwell intensely on the times and associates of old Richard. I have stood on the turf that covers his grave, and in imagination have conjured him up from the grave, and his life from the past. Ah! he and those of his generation were 'manly' men - they were brave men, for they gave life and blood for a free land - they were wise men, for they bequeathed liberty and its blessings to their children - they were good men, for their prayers secured a blessing from God." James Adams of Washington, D.C., his grandson, wrote of him as follows: "I have heard him spoken of as a man of intelligence, of enterprise and means and of some note among his contemporaries. I recollect once making the casual inquiry of a person who knew my grandfather, as to what sort of a man he was, and his quaint reply was this: 'He was the "knowinest" man about these part'". It is quite evident that he was a worthy man, and held in high esteem by his acquaintances and townsmen. [1]
  Birth	14 Jun 1719	Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts   [3]
  Gender	Male
  Fact	Son of Francis Adams and Mary Buck   [3]
  Death	Aug 1795	Cushing, Maine   [3]
  Person ID	I01431	Main Tree
  Last Modified	16 Jan 2019

  
  

  Family	Mary CARVER,   b. 14 Sep 1721, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
  Marriage	18 Oct 1744	Kingston, Massachusetts   [2]
  Children	1. Thomas ADAMS   d. Between 1792 and 1797  [Birth]
  Family ID	F16304	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	16 Jan 2019

  
  

• Event Map

  Marriage - 18 Oct 1744 - Kingston, Massachusetts Death - Aug 1795 - Cushing, Maine  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S10331] Frank Burton Miller, Soldiers and Sailors of the Plantation of Lower St. Georges Maine Who served in the War for American Independence. [S02764] The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 1934, Vol. 88 October. [S4746] Ancestry.com: Massachusetts Town and Vital Collections, 1620-1988.