John Adams & the American Revolution: The Other Side of the Story

No, this isn’t about John Adams, American Patriot and second President of the newly formed United States of America.

No, this story is about John Adams, my ancestor, who definitely wasn’t famous or influential in history. But he stood up for his beliefs.

I’ve decided to write about John Adams because, recently, another blogger and I had a short discussion about whether life was better or worse for those who gave up all and removed to (then) Nova Scotia.

I don’t think that most of us spend much time thinking about the topic, but to understand the life stories of Loyalist ancestors, it’s a topic that needs to be explored.

First, let’s look at colonial America in the mid-18th century. We had just gone through the French and Indian War in the 1760s and the English government decided to raise taxes on its American colonists. That was the step that eventually led to all-out war during the American Revolution.

As the prospect of war crept closer in the 1770s, who comprised the base of Tories supporting the king and the English government? For the most part, Tories were fairly well-to-do men who felt they had more to lose supporting the rebels than the king. Some, of course, didn’t care either way and just wanted to be left alone, so got lumped in with those opposed to independence.

Tories included large land owners, well off tradesmen and businessmen who had global interests and government officials. In short, the Tories who became Loyalists, moving their families to the wilds of Canada, often had a lot to lose.

The area of Nova Scotia that was set off as the new province of New Brunswick was wild with very few settlers. In fact, my pre-Loyalist ancestors from Rhode Island were enticed to pack up and move there in the 1760s with offers of land.

Think of New England, with more inclement weather, in the 1620s, when the Mayflower passengers arrived. There was nothing there.

Although Parrtown, now Saint John, was quickly established in New Brunswick and there were thousands of people there because of the Loyalist population, the outskirts were empty. Unless a man with needed skills in Saint John was able to start over and be reasonably successful in town, it meant that men took their families to the frontier.

Houses and businesses needed to be built and communities established.

Life was hard. For sure.

Now, let’s look at my John Adams.

Although there are some vital records in 1700s Connecticut, no birth record has been found for John, born c1740, or his older brother, David, born c1736. They were sons of David Adams (born 8 February 1718/19-1 December 1796) and Susannah Lockwood (born c1718; died 6 June 1747).

With the death of their mother in 1747, David’s and John’s father married (2) Sarah Squire on 2 November 1748 and had two more sons and five more daughters, creating a large blended family.

The family lived in Fairfield County, Connecticut, a prosperous area not far from New York City. It was a hotbed of Loyalist activity and home to many, many families with split loyalties - those who supported the king and those in favor of independence.

The Adams clan was no exception. John grew up and married Sarah Coley, from another Fairfield County family, on 31 August 1765. Some of his Adams relatives, including members of his mother’s Lockwood family, were known Tories, as were some of wife Sarah’s Coley family.

Tensions must have been high as the threat of war got closer. It’s not likely that being on opposing political sides ever brought the idea of leaving the colonies permanently to anyone’s mind. After all, the immigrant Adams ancestor, Edward Adams, settled in New Milford, Connecticut by 1640. Similarly, the Coleys had also settled there at the same time. The Lockwoods left Watertown, Massachusetts for Connecticut in the late 1600s. These were families who had never known life in England and none knew their immigrant ancestors because they had lived in Connecticut for generations.

John Adams’ political beliefs and determination for his support of England must have been strong. He was a young man with a growing family, likely a farmer and well settled in his community. At least five of his children - Jonathan, Hannah, John, Daniel and Sturges - were born in Connecticut by 1777.

However, life must have become untenable for John as he moved his family to English strongholds in New Jersey as the war intensified. That was the first break from his family.

What his father thought of John’s decision is unknown. The records are silent. A hint might be gleaned from David’s 1796 will in which no mention is made of his son, John. Did David provide John with any money when he left Fairfield County? Or did he cut him out of his life and consider him dead? Again, the records are silent.

What is known, though, is that John Adams served with the Queens Rangers and in Captain John Vought’s Company, 6th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, where he appears on muster rolls in November 1777 and January and March 1778.

Near the end of the war, John’s oldest son, Jonathan, served in the Commissary General’s Department, in charge of distributing supplies to British troops.

Therefore, we know that John Adams had actual British military service and was living in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, not too far from his home in Connecticut, for a good portion of the war years, from 1777-1783.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, John Adams packed up his family and settled in New Brunswick, now in Canada, with his wife and at least six known children with sons Thomas born in New Brunswick in 1783 and James born there c1785.

So, by 1783, we have a man who grew up surrounded by generations of family and friends in Fairfield County, Connecticut who first uprooted his wife and young children to remove to New Jersey and then again to permanently settle in New Brunswick.

What became of John is uncertain. Family lore said he never agreed to accept any Canadian land. Whether that meant he was opposed to the offer in general or didn’t like the land he was offered is not known. However, John Adams’ name doe not appear on any of the Loyalist Memorialist petitions that survive today. His sons, Jonathan and John Jr. made petitions for land at Rusagonis Creek, near today’s Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and the extended family apparently settled near there at Maugerville.

In fact, John Adams only appears in one single Canadian record - an 1818 land deed in which the property description includes “near the beach by the land now occupied by John Adams” and was located on Adams Island in the West Isles, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada.

Therefore, at some point, the family left the Maugerville, Sunbury County area and became fishermen, squatting on both Adams Island and, later, Deer Island, eking out a living from the sea

No further mention is made of John Adams and he likely died not long after as he would have been about 78 years old in 1818.

So, to answer the question of what life was life for this Loyalist family - John Adams, from a settled, comfortable lifestyle with many family and friends, became a fisherman supporting his large family in the West Isles of Canada.

As far as can be determined, he never owned land in Canada and when he died, if it wasn’t by accident at sea, he was likely buried in an unmarked grave either on Adams Island or nearby Deer Island.

In short, he gave up his family, friends and whatever real and personal estate he had in Connecticut for a difficult life living off the sea.

It wasn’t until decades later in the 1850s that some of his grandchildren left Canada and moved into Maine, where they saw prospects of a better life.