Adams, Jonathon K. & Margaret Ellen, Thorp, Clark Co., WI

Bio: Adams, Jonathon K. & Margaret Ellen
Contact: Stan

----Source: Family Records

Surnames: Adams, Freedy, Sheldon

Jonathon K. & Margaret Ellen Adams

Jonathon K. and Margaret Ellen Adams

Jonathon (aka: John Quincy) Adams was born in 1835 in Greene County, Pennsylvania and mustered into service for the Civil War at New Brighton, Beaver County, PA, along with his brother, William. They fought with Co. I of the 61st PA Infantry in the rank of private. Another brother Henry Porter, served in a West Virginia unit. They were apparently people of color as all three were listed as mulatto for the 1860 census. Jonathan was listed as mulatto after the war in 1870.

He married Margaret Ellen who was born in 1837, also in Pennsylvania. They resided in Thorp, Wisconsin where he was in business with his brothers.

Jonathon was a partner in a milling business with his brother and L. L. Freedy.

In 1914, Jonathon Adams, died in Eugene Oregon.

Their son, Marion Ellsworth was born October 21, 1870 and died February 16, 1890 at nineteen years, 3 months and 26 days of age. He is buried in the Thorp Village Cemetery.

Their son, Jonathon George Brinton McClellan Adams, married Coretta Eva Fellows, May 22, 1889 in Thorp, Clark County, Wisconsin.

Cemetery Record

Thorp Area Civil War Veterans

Researcher's Notes

Charles F. Adams who was born in 1879, at Bellton, Marshall County, West Virginia married Eva Sheldon of Thorp, Clark County, Wisconsin.

A granddaughter of Jonathon and Margaret, Maude Alice (the daughter of Charles Lindsay Adams) is also buried in the Thorp Village Cemetery. Please note that Charles Lindsay Adams is the son of Jonathan & Margaret and therefore, Maud is their granddaughter. Of course Maud was also their Grand-niece since Maud's mother, Hannah Nancy (Adams) Adams, was the daughter of Jonathan's brother William H. Adams.

Family Notes

Fellow Researchers,

I am curious who this "brother" was that he was in business with. I have traced brothers Jacob, Charles, William H., and Henry Porter - none of whom came to Wisconsin. He also had one sister Maria Eleanor Adams Roup. I have traced this family back 2 more generations - and yes they were Free Persons of Color in Pennsylvania.

Margaret's maiden name is incorrectly noted as Wilson. There was a family history of sorts (not found online) written by a grandson of theirs that incorrectly stated her name was Wilson. Also, although Jonathan's middle initial was "K" he is actually buried under a stone in Eugene OR that reads "Q". It might be an interesting part of the story to tell in the bio.

It may take me a while but I am certainly interested in writing a bio for this family. Their grandson married the daughter of Charles H. Sheldon - Stan was very helpful in the past with some info about Charles Sheldon. I will be back to the site soon as I may have a comment or two about the county jail #2 at Neillsville. I did not hear the stories first hand but my Aunt & cousin heard my grandmother tell about living in the house when her father was the Sheriff and about the actual jail being located just off the kitchen of the house. I will see what short statement I can get from either of them about that.

Back to Adams family - while John & Margaret Adams left Clark County in 1901 for the west coast, my grandparents were just married and living in Taylor county on a farm that belonged at the time to Charles Sheldon. My mother, Lorene Adams, born 1923, was the youngest of 9 Adams children and though her father died when she was 5 some of the children and my grandmother remained on the farm until 1937 when they left for Seattle.

The Adams family has a fascinating story as my ancestors crossed the color line when they left Pennsylvania and apparently never looked back since at least 3 generations never knew the story until I started researching the family history. Some of my cousins had a hard time believing it (I think there are some that still don't).

I will get working on it! And I will see what I can do about photos of a few other family members who were in Clark County.

These are my 2nd Great Grandparents - I am also a direct descendant of Jonathan's brother, William H. Adams mentioned in the article.

Jan Slater

Also researching SHELDON

Admin. Note:

Jan,

Thank you for the corrections. We've now removed the "Q" and the Wilson errors! We wouldn't have know if you'd not take the time to write. Thank you so much!

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