Working Backwards: The Adams search Begins

My newest undertaking (as if I needed another one) takes me into uncharted territory. Instead of attempting to research a known ancestor, I'm going to be taking a possible ancestor, and attempting to determine if and how I ended up with this persons dna.




The whole process began this way: I was contacted by the son of a dna match. I will call him Sherman. This person is a 5th to 8th cousin of mine. Very distant. The family and the shared matches all seem to be Acadians or link back to French Canadian ancestry. I have none that I know of. But perhaps this was not the link.

With this match that we were trying to discover the link, I have 8 shared matches that I can make heads or tails of. All 4th cousins.  I did not see any names that would link them to my own family tree at all.







What I did see was a common thread between them: Adams.

The furtherest back was Thomas Adams, born about 1735 in England and who died around 1820 in Anson County, NC. There you go! I once heard an old Realty moto was "Location, Location, Location". In genealogical terms, this applies to. Having descended from the people who made it to this area of North Carolina, and stayed, while sibling moved westward, if a distant cousin has roots back to this area, that is where we need to look.



Apparently, Thomas Adams had a descendant named Laura Adams, born in 1878 in Louisiana and married an Octave Deslatte. There is where the Acadian roots come in. No, I don't have to have Acadian roots to be distantly related to this group of Acadian descendants, not when they also have English roots back to Anson County.

There was a significant presence of Adams in early Anson. Thus begins a discovery of research from Laura Adams Deslatte up and Thomas Adams Sr. down to see where they meet, and then possibly, and probably, where I fit in.


There has been a great deal of research done on the Adams family of this area. Maybe a good look through will offer up a clue of where my own ancestry could fit in, probably down a maternal line.

Genealogy of an Adams Family




Below is the will of one Richard Adams of Anson and Richmond Counties, NC, as transcribed by Catherine McNeill.

Will of Richard Adams
Transcribed from copy of original by Catherine McNeill
June 08, 2004

In the name of God Amen
            I Richard Adams of Anson County in the Province of North Carolina being Sick and 
Weak of Body and Calling to mind the mortality of my Body and knowing that it was ordained 
that for all men --- to die (next few words not readable) fit and  Convenient to make Constitute 
and ordain this my Last Will and Testament and in the first place I Recomend my Soul to God  
that  Give it my Body to the Earth to be buried in a Christian Like manner nothing doubting 
But that I shall Receive it again in the fullness of Joy at the Resurection of the Just, and 
in the first place(sic) my will is that all my Just debts be paid and satisfied after which 
I give and dispose of my  Estate in  form and manner as  following .

Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary one Shilling Sterling money of Great Briton
Item.  I give and bequeath to my  well beloved son James one Shilling Sterling in the money 
of Great Briton.
Item. I give and bequeath to my Son William one Shilling Sterling in the money of Great Briton.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son Thomas one Shilling Sterling in the money of Great Briton.
Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter Betty one cow and calf one feather bed and one   
spinning wheal.
Item.I give and bequeath to my  well beloved daughter Prudence  one Shilling Sterling in the 
money of Great Briton .
Item. I give and bequeath to my son Richard one Copper Still also I give and bequeath to my 
son Richard My neger Boy named Hutckinke (?) my will and intent(?) is that in Case my son 
Richard Should  marry I give and bequeath to him  half my housel stuff(?) But in case  he 
should die Before without lawful  Issue the primises granted to him the said Richard, be 
Equally divided amongst the rest of my Children,but to Amey  the use of  ...I Lend to my well 
beloved wife the premisis and neger boy during her nataral Life
(There has been some scratching out here, but I think the meaning is clear.) and I give and 
bequeath to my son Richard five pounds Lawful money and  I give and bequeath to my wife Amey 
all the Rest of Estate of Everysort and kind whatsoever during her natural life and afterward 
to my son Richard and I do hereby Constitute and Appoint my beloved wife Amey my Executer and 
my well beloved son Richard admrs. or Executer to this my Last Will and Testament Re-(?) and 
Confirming this to be my Last Will and Testament annuling and disallowing all other wills 
heretofore made by me.
In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this nineteenth day of August 1777.

Richard  his markR  Adams   Seal
Signed and delivered in the presents of:
George Carter  his mark
William Adams,his mark
Benjamin Power(?)

Richmond County June Court 1782
The within Will of Richd. Adams was exibited in Open Court and proved  by the oath of George 
Carter one of the witnesses who saw the other witnesses subscribe there names  to the same.


(Note: the date is not very clear on the above, but on the outside is written "Richd. Adams will, 
1782"  quite clearly.)