I was ready to publish this post. I still did not know what happened to Caty.  Why had Margaret named Sardis Otis as the executor of her estate?

Wright Adams

Born: 27 MAR 1773 in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut, USA

Father: Nehemiah Adams (1731 to 1798)
Mother: Mary Grover Macully (1732 to Unknown)

Spouse: Catherine Raney (1786 to 1850)

Married: 1798 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, USA

The marriage date is an estimate based on the birth of their oldest child.

Children:

Earl Adams (7 AUG 1799 to 15 JAN 1875)
Relent Adams (1802 to Unknown) *
Guerdon Adams (1807 to Unknown) *
Anna Adams (1810 to Unknown) *
Wright A Adams (18 DEC 1812 to 30 OCT 1887)
Margaret H Adams (1814 to 24 JUN 1895)
Charles Henry Adams (17 JUN 1816 to 18 MAR 1897)

(*) The birth years are estimates based on the information I found in Wright’s Last Will & Testament.

Died: 23 MAR 1817 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, USA

Burial: Otis Cemetery

Timeline: no documentation available

Occupation: Unknown

Records:

Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870, Barbour Collection
U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
New York, Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999

Variations of Surname: none

On 24 FEB 1817, Wright Adams wrote his Last Will & Testament. In this document, he named his wife and children.

He called his wife, Caty. He listed his children, from oldest to youngest, as Earl, Relent, Guerdon, Anna, Wright, Margaret, and Charles.

New York’s Deficit of Information:

I could not find a marriage record for Wright and Caty or birth records for the children. This seemed odd as I had just finished researching some of my Adams ancestors who lived in Connecticut. The Barbour Collection for Connecticut contains thousands of vital records from the early Colonial period.

The Family Search website answered this question. The page entitled New York Vital Records explains that the state of New York did not enforce civil registration until the 1880s. This meant that many vital records were not preserved at the local level. The older documents were probably thrown out to make room for newer records.

The Early Census Records:

The US census records before 1850 contain the head of the household’s name. The documents also include a tally, by age, of the individuals who lived at the residence. Some of the entries only listed the first initial and surname of the person. This makes it especially difficult to track down your ancestors.

The 1820 US Census shows that Caty was still living in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, USA.

The name, Relent Adams, does not appear on any of the US census records. He may have died before the 1830 US Census was enumerated.

There is an entry for a man named Gurdon Adams on the 1830 US Census. This individual was living in Kingsbury, Washington County, New York, USA. I am not positive this was Wright’s son. The name, Geurdon does not appear on any other census records.

I wonder if Relent and Guerdon may have immigrated to Canada.

It is nearly impossible to find women on these early census records. They would have been tallied under their fathers’ or husbands’ names.

The lack of New York marriage records for this time period makes a search all but useless. I am sure Anna got married and was listed under her husband’s name.

If anyone has information on these individuals, please contact me. My email is dlwakenight@yahoo.com. You can also leave a message in the Comments Section of this post.

The Positive Results of My Search:

Margaret H Adams:

There are memorials on the Find A Grave website for Wright and his daughter, Margaret. They were buried in Otis Cemetery.

Her memorial listed her name as Margaret H Adams Reed. She was born in 1814 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, USA. She died on 24 JUN 1895 in Hartford, Washington County, New York, USA.

Margaret wrote her Last Will & Testament on 28 MAY 1890. This document included the names of several relatives:

Her brother, Charles H Adams, and his three children:

Mary Eudora Adams
Romelia L Adams
Henry Brigham Adams

Two children of her brother, Wright A Adams, and his first wife, Elsina Arlene Haile Adams (both deceased):

Helen Jenatte Adams
Washington Irving Adams

Her sister-in-law, Harriet J Ingalsbee Adams, second wife of her deceased brother, Wright A Adams.

Washington Irving Adams’ three children:

William Wright Adams
Bertha Jennette Adams
Harry Charles Adams

Earl, Wright, and Charles Adams:

There are memorials on the Find A Grave website for Earl, Wright, and Charles. Wright remained in Fort Ann. Earl and Charles moved out west.

You can read more about these three brothers on this website. I have created separate posts for each of them.

The Last Minute Find!

I was ready to publish this post. I still did not know what happened to Wright’s wife, Caty. Then a thought occurred to me. Why did their daughter, Margaret, name Sardis Otis as the executor of her estate?

In her Last Will & Testament, Margaret called him “brother”. I assumed Margaret was very religious and that Sardis was a family friend.

I then decided to search for information on Sardis Otis. That is when a hint appeared that answered the question of what happened to Caty.

It was an excerpt from a book entitled “A Genealogical and Historical Memoir of the Otis Family of America“. You can view this book on the Internet Archive website.

Sardis Otis’ birth information appears on Page 253. His parents were Richard Otis and Mrs. Catherine Adams.

Page 161 of this publication shows that Richard Otis first married Eunice Huntley. His second marriage was to Mrs. Catherine Raney Adams, widow of Wright Adams.

Bingo!

Caty married Richard Otis. That meant Sardis Otis was Margaret’s half-brother!

I then found memorials on the Find A Grave website for Catherine, Richard, and their three children.

Richard Otis was born in 1782 in Connecticut, USA. He died on 9 OCT 1851 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, USA.

He married Eunice Huntley circa 1802 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, USA. Four known children were born during their marriage:

Calvin Otis (1804)
Clark Kendrick Otis (1806)
Fanny Otis (1810)
Rhoda Otis (1817)

After Eunice died, Richard married the Wright Adams’ widow, Catherine Raney Adams, in November of 1823. Three known children were born during their marriage:

Sardis Charles Otis (1824)
Henry Amos Otis (1826)
Catherine Otis (1828)

The last record I found for Caty shows that she was born in Michigan. This entry came from Ancestry.com’s database “New York, U.S., U.S. Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880”. The cause of death was listed as apoplexy.

I guess patience really is a virtue, especially when it comes to family genealogy.

Notes:

John Adams (1595 to 1633) was the first person with that English surname to immigrate to North America from England. In 1621, John boarded the Fortune. This was the second ship, after the Mayflower, to bring Puritans to North America. In late November of that year, the Fortune arrived at Plymouth Colony. John was the progenitor of all the Adams descendants listed in these posts.

Creating Your Family Tree

Interested in building a great family tree? Remember these important steps:

Look in your photo albums. You may have old pictures that your parents or grandparents gave you. Or, ask them for copies of photos that they have in their possession. Many people will write names and dates on the backs of photographs. Letters, diaries, and family bibles are also excellent sources for births, marriages, and deaths.

Talk to your older relatives to find out about your ancestry. They may relate stories about an ancestor that you can add to your family tree. Family history is usually not found in newspapers. It is more of a verbal memory that is passed down from generation to generation.

Find the right family tree builder that suits your needs. You can choose one that has a paid subscription like Ancestry.com. There are also free sites like FamilySearch.org.

When you start building your family tree, add documentation to your ancestor’s profile. The records can include birth, marriage, death, census, military, city, and county directory listings. Any information that you can find will help create a life story about your ancestor.

If you have a unique surname, like Wakenight, you may find databases on the internet that are useful in your search. I use SurnameDB.com for my English surnames. There are many others on the internet for other countries like Ireland, Italy, and Germany.

Genealogy is the study of a person’s “line of descent.” As you create your family tree, you would typically start with one individual and go “back into time.” You would add their parents, grandparents, and so on.  There are also family trees that go “forward into time.”  Many of these family trees start with a famous person, such as a president or royalty, and move forward into the present time.  The purpose of this type of pedigree is to establish a person’s bloodline with that famous person.

There is no limit on how big your family tree can grow. The blank canvas is there for you to use. Cherish your family history, and it will be there for generations to come!