Parents | Parents | |||||
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Richard Pedrick | Jean Merritt | |||
bp. 13 Jul 1701 in Marblehead | bp. 10 Mar 1705 in Marblehead | |||||
Bef. 1766 in Marblehead | d. ? | |||||
HUSBAND | WIFE | |||||
John Adams | Mary Pedrick | |||||
b. Abt. 1730 in Marblehead, Essex , Massachusetts | bp. 15 Jul 1733 in Marblehead | |||||
d. Probate Feb 1804 in Marblehead | d. 13 Fen 1807 in Marblehead | |||||
Relationship Events | ||||||
Marriage | 30 Aug 1751 | John Adams to Mary Pedrick in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts | ||||
Children | ||||||
Mary Adams bp. 24 Aug 1755 in Marblehead; m. in Marblehead Thomas Furness Salkins (b. 1752 and d. 13 Sep 1808 in Marblehead ); eight children: Mary, Thomas, John Adams, George, George, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, and Mary Pedrick Salkins; d. 22 Aug 1830 in Marblehead | ||||||
John Adams bp. 4 Sep 1757 in Marblehead; d. in Marblehead before 4 Sep 1763 in Marblehead when his brother John was baptized | ||||||
John Adams bp. 4 Sep 1763 in Marblehead; m. in Marblehead Sarah Reed (bp. 8 Feb 1767 and d. 16 Feb 1826 in Marblehead ); six children:John, Samuel Reed, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nicholas Gorden, and Sarah Adams; d. estate probated in 1816 in Marblehead | ||||||
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Elizabeth Adams bp. 3 Apr 1768 in Marblehead; m. 16 Jan 1785 in Marblehead Captain Thomas Martin (b. 13 Nov 1783 and d. 18 Oct 1827 in Marblehead ); six children: Mary, Thomas, Arnold, Peter Arnold, Peter Arnold, and Martha Martin; d. between 1799 and 1804 in Marblehead | |||||
Meriam Adams bp. 18 Nov 1770 in Marblehead; d. 31 Dec 1842 in Marblehead | ||||||
Nathaniel Pedrick Adams bp. 28 Feb 1773 in Marblehead; m. 29 Nov 1795 in Marblehead Suzanne Trevett (b. 24 Jul 1772 and d. 16 Feb 1849 in Marblehead ); seven children: Samuel Trevett, Mary Wormsted, Samuel Russell Trevett, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Michael Havant, and John Adams ; d. 26 Feb 1825 in Marblehead | ||||||
Richard Pedrick Adams bp. 29 Oct 1779 in Marblehead; d. before 1804 in Marblehead |
John Adams was a Revolutionary War patriot and was born in Marblehead, although the date is uncertain and his parentage unknown. One Daughters of the American Revolution record gave his year of birth as 1730. That same source gave his date of death as 1780, which we know is incorrect. (He was on the Schooner Yarico in 1801 and his estate was probated in 1804). The 1830 birth date is not inconsistent with his marriage to Mary Pedrick in 1751. Mary came from a large family of mariners. They had seven children in the years before the Revolution, the last being born in 1775. In 1776, John Adams owned a house on State Street, and he ran a store inside. The structure still stands today, and a photo appears in the Documents section.
John Adams was a seaman on the brig "Fancy" that was captured on 7 Aug 1777 by the British and confined in the Old Mill Prison in England. He appears on the log of prisoners at the prison near Plymouth on 7 Feb 1779. From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, April, 1878.)
They were committed on the charge of high treason, to await trial, and could only be released on receiving the King's pardon. Two members of the Dalton's crew, Charles Herbert and Samuel Cutler, kept journals in prison. Cutler says the ration "is 3/4 lb. beef, 1 lb. bread, 1 qt. very ordinary beer, and a few greens per man for 24 hours. The beef when boiled weighs about 6 oz. This is our allowance daily, except Saturday, when we have 6 oz. cheese instead of the beef. To sleep upon, we have a hammock, straw bed and one very thin rug . . . We are allowed every day to walk in the airing ground from 10 to 12, then locked in till 3 o'clock, then we are let out again till 7 o'clock, then in and locked up for the night."
Jonathan Archer wrote to his parents from Mill Prison, September 25, 1778:
"The time seems long and teadious to me; I shall embrace every opportunity of writing. We have plenty of provisions; the gentlemen have raised a large sum of money for the relief of the Americans." (Essex Inst. Coll., June, 1864.) Letters of (Benjamin) Franklin to correspondents in England also did much to excite interest in the prisoners (Wharton, ii, 409, 410, 448, 492.) When the money that had been raised for their benefit had become exhausted, about the end of 1778, the old conditions returned. The prisoners hunted for rats, and if a dog strayed in, he was immediately killed and eaten. To be put upon half allowance, as many frequently were for punishment, was to be reduced nearly to the last extremity. Nevertheless, the health of the prisoners as a rule was good, and the death rate, at least for the first two years, compared with that of the New York prison-ships, was very low.
Ninety-seven of the prisoners at Old Mill were released on 15 Mar 1779. Of the 56 men taken from the Fancy, two died and eleven escaped, but none of them agreed to join British ships to fight against their countrymen. I don't know whether John Adams was part of that first release or when he arrived home. After he did, we can assume he continued his fishing activities and the store as he and Mary saw their five surviving children grow up, marry, and have families of their own. In 1795, they purchased a new house on the same street as the other building with the store. He was still fishing in 1801. His estate was probated in 1804. The real estate was appraised but named in such a way that I was unable to determine where the building with the store went. After his death, the store was continued by his daughters Mary Adams Salkins and Meriam Adams. Mary owned real estate listed in her will, but I don't know if that was the house with the store. When Mary died in 1830, she left the use of her real estate to Meriam, who continued the store until her own death in 1842. Their mother Mary Pedrick Adams died in 1808 as did Mary's husband Thomas. Although John Adams died intestate, the probate was written to identify his surviving children or their heirs by name. Elizabeth Adams Martin was named as "the late," and her share of the estate went to her heirs.
The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.
The research on this family is incomplete until we learn the parentage of John Adams.