John Adams (shoemaker)

Not to be confused with the second president of the United States, John Adams, or the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams.

He is of the Deacon Joseph Adams line from Menotomy (West Cambridge/Arlington) Massachusetts.

For other uses, see John Adams (disambiguation).

Lieut. John Adams
Adams in 1845
Born	February 1, 1745 [O.S. January 21, 1744] Worcester, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Died	March 26, 1849(1849-03-26) (aged 104) Harford, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Shoemaker
Known for	Candidate for being the earliest-born person ever photographed alive
Spouse	Joanna Munroe ​ ​ (m. 1770; died 1822)​ Lucy Simonds Munroe ​ (m. 1826)​
Children	9

Lieut. John Adams (February 1, 1745 [O.S. January 21, 1744] – March 26, 1849) was an American shoemaker, Veteran of the American Revolution, and Centenarian who is notable for being the earliest-born person to have ever been photographed alive.

Biography

Lieut. John Adams was born on February 1, 1745 [O.S. January 21, 1744] in Worcester, then part of Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Captain Thomas Adams and Lydia Chadwick. although his family roots were from Menotomy. He moved to Ashburnham, Massachusetts in 1770. There, Adams became a permanent resident and was frequently elected as a selectman and assessor. He married Joanna Munroe, sister of Ebenezer Munroe, on July 9, 1770, in Lexington, Massachusetts. They were married for 52 years and were early settlers of the town on Ashburnham, Massachetts. After her death in 1822, Adams married Lucy Simonds Munroe, who was the widow of his first wife's half-brother., Ebenezer Munroe, who supposedly fired the first shot of the Revolutionary War..

Lieut. Adams fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He enlisted in Whitcomb's Regiment for 10 days, shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. On July 6, 1780, Adams received a commission as a lieutenant in the 8th Worcester County Militia, where he served in Captain Francis Lane's company. Adams never applied for a pension. Lieutenant Adams never asked for a pension for his service in the American Revolution, having said he risked his life for his country because he believed in freedom and did not want any pay for it.

Adams traveled by himself at age 94 to Harford, Pennsylvania where his son, James lived and eventually moved there. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, Adams returned to Ashburnham and posed for a daguerreotype portrait, making him possibly the earliest-born person to have been photographed alive. His date of birth surpasses that of Conrad Heyer, who is often credited as the earliest-born person photographed. However, there are photographs of others who claimed to have been born earlier, including Baltus Stone, a veteran of the American revolution whose date of birth is given between 1743 and 1754, Caesar, an enslaved man allegedly born in 1737 and a man named John Owen, supposedly born in 1735 or 1741.

John Adams was one of the first pioneering settlers of Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He traveled alone from Menotomy in 1765 to cut open space on his father's property, comprised then of 1000 acres from the early Cambridge Grant, and is now part of the Cambridge Grant Historic District. Early accounts of his remarkable life can be found in his many letters and articles composed by his nephew, Isaac Hill, the 16th Governor of New Hampshire and the editor of "The Farmers Monthly Visitor". One special missive on the five years before his marriage, can be read here:

'My land was part of Cambridge farm in Ashburnham, Mass., fifty miles from my native place. Early in the spring I took my ax on my back and set out for my new country, began to chop down the timber on two or three acres, went back, worked at Medford in the summer making bricks on shares. In the fall I again went to my land, cleared off my wood, sowed two acres of rye. returned to West Cambridge, worked through the winter making shoes with Mr. John Russell; in the spring went and disposed of my bricks, went again to my land; my rye looked well but had no barn, built one that summer, saved a little more, returned to Mr. Russell's in the winter. In the spring went to my land made some provision for a house: and in the year 1770 hit so that on the 9th of July, my partner being as ready as I was, we were married. Having provided a team to carry her furniture and a horse for her and another for myself, we set out for the woods. She had never seen a foot of land within forty miles of our place, but her courage held out till we got home, and then it was better than ever. We were now where we had long wanted to be, and hoped that we with thank- ful hearts and contented minds should enjoy ourselves together through life.'

As a wedding gift for his eldest son, he eventually built one of the finest brick homes in Ashburnham. In the late 1700s, he "resorted to the only clay spot upon the Cambridge farm, made the bricks and erected the best square, upright house of two stories and many rooms that had ever been built in Ashburnham." It is now one of the oldest homes of the Cambridge Grant Historic District, being built in 1798.

According to local accounts, Adams' hearing was perfect until two years before his death, his eyesight not failing and he could read without glasses. He supported himself with his shoemaking for the last 10 years of his life. Adams died on March 26, 1849, aged 104, in Harford.. He is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania with a memorial gravestone next to his wife, Joanna Munroe Adams, in the New Cemetery, Ashburnham, Massachusetts.

References

{{- Microfilm. 1839-1849:[Gaps] Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress Preservation Microfilming Program : Available from Library of Congress Photoduplication Service. microfilm reels ; 35 mm.}}

External links

• John Adams at findagrave.com
• [Cambridge Grant Historic District]