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Note: SAMUEL C. ADAMS 1835-1905 Samuel C. Adams was born on 20 March 1835 (however his Headstone says 1836) in Morgan County, Kentucky. He was the oldest of six children born of parents Isaac Calvin and Catherine Rebecca (McGuire) Adams. In 1841, Samuel's family moved to Petis County, Missouri. Five years later they moved to Swan Township in Taney County, Missouri. The 1850 Census (See C-1) has the entire family living in Swan, depicting Samuel as the eldest 15-year old son with an occupation of "Farmer", helping his father, Isaac Calvin, with farm duties. Samuel's family lived near his Uncle Jesse who had seven children, two of whom were boys about his same age. About 1855, when Samuel was 20 years old, he married a Sioux Indian girl named Sarena and they began raising a large family. Between 1856 and 1868 they had six children together: William (Born 1856), Mary J. (Born 1858), Mathew (Born 1860), Eli S. (Born 1865), John (Born 1865), and Elizabeth (Born 1868). The 1860 Census (See C-3) shows a Samuel Adams living in Pleasant Hill Township of Newton County Arkansas. He is shown as a 26-year old farmer from Kentucky (identical age and place of birth) and having two children, four-year-old William and two-year-old Martha J.; however, his wife is listed as "Lucinda" (24) but not "Sarena"? These facts are extremely similar to our ancestor; however, there are many similarly named Adams from Kentucky and North Carolina in this area, which greatly complicates the research process. Samuel's tombstone indicates that he served in Company C of the 34th Missouri Enrolled Militia Infantry. His second wife, Margaret Selvidge Harris, applied for a pension after his death in 1905. (See her application for pension, her letter to the Taney County Clerk requesting a marriage certificate and a picture of Samuel's headstone at Tab #7). I mailed a request to the National Archives on 31 Oct 2000, for a copy Samuel's Civil War pension records and received the information in March of 2001 (See Tab #11). Unfortunately, little information was garnered from the file I received. First of all the file shows that Margaret's much needed request for pension was "rejected" by the Bureau of Pensions. It stated: "Rejection on the grounds that claimant has no title to pension as the records of the War Department fail to show that such an organization as Co. G 34 En. Mo. Militia was ever mustered into the service of the United States. Jan 8 1909, J.E. Thompson." The file states that Samuel enlisted on 25 Aug 1862 and was discharged in December 1864. Margaret's declaration in the file states that Samuel died of "parralysis" on 11 Oct 1905 in Olympia, WA. He was 5 feet 10 inches tall and had dark hair and blue eyes, was a farmer, and was born 20 Mar 1835. They were married in Taney County, MO, on 30 Jan 1876, by Jonathan Meadows. It further states that they were both previously married and that both former spouses are dead and were dead at the time of their marriage. The final page is a note which was attached to the file by a Notary Public from Olympia. It states that Samuel is in fact dead and that Margaret is a woman in very poor circumstances and will die soon and lives on her friends. After the Civil War, Samuel returned home to his family in Missouri. They remained there until 1868, as Elizabeth, their last child, was born in Missouri, according to the 1870 Census (See C-4). However, as mentioned before, either in 1867 or '68, Samuel was involved in an argument with a man in Missouri and Samuel ended up killing him. A document from his brother Mathew's application for pension mentions this shooting (see Tab #8). There are many renditions of this story but the best one comes from the descendants of Samuel's first born son, William (Billy) Adams. This is an email, written by Vicki Lynn Adams, wife of Mark Adams on 12 Dec 2000: Hello, my name is Vicki Adams and my husband is Mark Adams. His ancestry working backwards is as follows: Mark Lloyd Adams Jerald Lloyd Adams William Leonard Adams Floyd Adams William (Billy) Adams Samuel C. Adams Isaac Calvin Adams The story of Samuel killing a man was told to us by Mark's grandfather, Leonard. He lives close by and we are checking with him for more details. There are some relatives who may have more documentation on this matter and we are looking into that also. The story goes like this- Samuel was going to buy a plow point at the store and a man was there telling people how to vote. Samuel did not agree with this man and an argument erupted. The man came at Samuel and he shot him with his pistol. Samuel then feared getting arrested and fled with his family to Arkansas. The matter was ruled self defense but there was no way to get word to him for many years. The pistol was to be left to Floyd but went to his cousin instead. We are in contact with these cousins to find out more information and will let you know when we find anything. After the shooting, the 1870 Census (See C-4) had Samuel's first wife, Sarena, and her six children living with Samuel's father and mother in Pleasant Hill Township, Newton County, Arkansas. Samuel is not shown on the 1870 Census in Arkansas. Due to his "wanted" status, he may have chosen to avoid the Census as mentioned previously. However, Samuel was most probably in Pleasant Hill, Arkansas in 1870, as his younger brother Mathew and his wife Rebecca Louise and three children were also living in Pleasant Hill in 1870 (See C-6). It is unknown what happened to Sarena, but on 30 Jan 1876 at the age of 41, Samuel married his second wife, who was a 22-year old widow with two children from Beaver Township in Taney County, Missouri. At that time, Sarena would have been 37 years old and her eldest son, William was 20 and married, next was Mary age 18 unmarried, then Mathew 16, Eli 11, John 10, and the youngest child, Elizabeth would have been 8. It is unlikely that Sarena died, because Samuel did not take the younger children with him to his new marriage. Also, many of his and Sarena's children remained in Arkansas and raised families. Another extremely confusing finding is in the 1880 Census (See C-8) of Union Township, Newton County, Arkansas, which lists a Samuel Adams (45) Born in KY, Father from NC, Mother from KY, married to Surine (43) Born in KY with children Mathew (18), William (15) & Elizabeth (13). As you will see there is also a Missouri 1880 Census (See C-9) listing our Samuel Adams age 39 (he should've been 45) in Beaver Township, Taney County, Missouri, with his new wife Margaret and young sons, Ben & Rube. Could it be Samuel had two wives at the same time and lied about his age to Margaret?? The similarity of names and origins make it a possibility. Additionally, it was common in those days for men to have multiple families. Also, Samuel may have never been legally married to Sarena, as no record has been found. However, it is known that Samuel's younger brother, Mathew, befriended men of questionable character. Mathew's Pension Claims Officer mentions in his investigation that one of Mathew's witnesses was "a man of unsavory reputation and bad record" (See Tab #5) and had relations with many women and families with them. If this is true of Mathew's friends, it could be true of his older brother also. It was told to me during a telephone conversation in February of 2001 with Nina Adams (wife of Leonard Adams, who descends from Samuel & Sarena's union) that she remembers being told that Samuel had died and Sarena did not want to live in Arkansas without him. And that she loaded all of her possessions in a wagon and traveled to Oklahoma to live with one of her daughters. Nina later reiterated this to me via a letter. Their part of the family is unaware of Samuel's marriage to Margaret, but Nina also mentions she is not sure what is correct. SAMUEL & MARGARET Margaret L. (Selvidge) Harris was the 22-year old widow that Samuel married on 30 Jan 1876. Margaret was the daughter of William M. Selvidge Jr. and Elizabeth Walker, both from Tennessee. Margaret was their ninth of ten children. The Selvidge family was large and well established in the Beaver Township of Taney County, MO. Her father, William, was a Baptist Minister in Indiana then moved to Marshfield, Missouri where he lived until after the Civil War. He then homesteaded in Brownbranch, Missouri in 1867. Some sources have his death in 1891, however a very sad letter (see Tab #12) written to Margaret by her neice, Belle Siler, states that he died 10 Jan 1899 in Brownbranch, MO. He was buried in the Sherrodd Grave Yard. The 1870 Census (See C-7) of Taney County, MO shows Margaret at 16 living with her parents and nearby many other Selvidge Families. Margaret had been married to a Harris (probably Jefferson Harris a local mill worker). She married him about 1871 and had two children by him: William A. Harris (Born 10 Apr 1872) and J. David Harris (Born 16 Oct 1874). How Margaret's husband (Harris) died is not known, but his death was about 1875. The 1880 Census (See C-9) shows Samuel and Margaret living together in Beaver, Missouri. At that time, they had two young sons of their own, Benjamin (4) and Reubin (2), plus Margaret's six-year-old son, David Harris. Also living with them was a servant, 20-year old John Kinnis. They lived near the farm of Margaret's 65-year old father, William Selvidge and his wife Elizabeth, who were raising Margaret's other son William (8). Also living nearby were some of Margaret's older brothers: John (40) and Joseph (39) Selvidge; both were married and head of household with five children each. Samuel and Margaret had five more children together while living in Beaver, Missouri: Margaret Elizabeth (Born 1881), Effie (Born 1884), Julia Belle (Born 1886), Leota Crisse (Born 1889) and Albert Cornelius (Born 1892). Unfortunately, there are no 1890 Federal Census records due to a tragic fire at the National Archives. Most all records were destroyed as a result of the fire and subsequent water damage. So it is not certain how long Samuel and his family lived near his in-laws in Beaver, Missouri. However, the 1900 Census (See C-10) shows Samuel living in Pleasant Hill Township in Newton County, Arkansas, which is just slightly to the south across the border from Taney County, Missouri. This census shows Albert Cornelius's birthplace as Missouri, so the family lived there until at least 1892. It then shows their last child, Rosa, born in Arkansas in 1897. Land records show that Samuel applied for a Homestead Application in 1896 in Arkansas and had been living there since 1895. Therefore, the family moved from Missouri to Arkansas sometime between 1892 and 1895. The 1900 Census of Pleasant Hill Township of Newton County Arkansas lists Samuel as a 65-year old, born in Kentucky, married 24 years, occupation farmer who owned his own home, and who could neither read nor write. This is the most solid piece of evidence uncovered that clearly reveals Samuel as the older brother of John M. Adams, Mathew Adams, and William Adams (the known sons of Isaac Calvin Adams). The proof is that they are all homesteading together as brothers and in close proximity in Deer AR. Additionally Samuel's son: Eli S. Adams and his nephew: Samuel Marion Adams are also located on nearby homesteads. This was obviously a family group carving out an existence together. (Both the 1900 Census of Pleasant Hill, AR and the Arkansas land patents of Newton County, Tab #9, are evidence of this family's close proximity and obvious togetherness.) As mentioned, land records show that Samuel was a homesteader in Arkansas (see Tab #9). In 1896, he applied for a Homestead Application. According to William Nichols, a friend, neighbor, and witness on the homestead application, the land was ordinary agricultural land and mountainous timberland. There was a one story two room log house, a log smokehouse, a log crib, stables, and 27 acres in 5 crops, all worth about $200. In 1900, he realized the clerk had made an error on his boundaries and had to file again to correct the mistake (see Tab #9 Homestead Applications). It is not known when or why Samuel and Margaret moved their family to Olympia, Washington. It must have been just after 1901, after Samuel had corrected the error concerning the recording of his homestead in order to sell prior to their move to Washington. They could have moved to join some of the Selvidges that were already in Washington to engage in the logging industry. Shortly after the family moved to Olympia, Samuel C. Adams died. He was probably a patient in the Veterans Hospital in Steilcoom at the time of his death. He was 70 years of age, a survivor of the Civil War, the father of 14 children, and 38 grandchildren, from two marriages. A copy of his obituary is included along with a picture of his grave on the following pages.
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