Howell Collier Adams

Howell Collier Adams

• Father: Benjamin Adams
• Mother: Frances Adkinson

• Howell Collier Adams was born circa 1762 in Virginia.
• He married Nancy Rayburn, daughter of Hodge Rayburn and Unknown (?), say 1790, and Howell's sister Rebecca married Thomas' Nancy's brother Thomas.
• Howell Adams was an executor of Thomas Rayburn's estate and was appointed guardian of Thomas Rayburn's children.
• On 14 August 1799, Thomas Rayburn signed the following will:
       I, Thomas Raibourn of Montgomery County and State of Tennessee being very sick and weak but of sound and perfect mind and memory blessed by God calling to mind the mortality of by Body and knowing that it is appointed that all men are to die do resign my body to the earth and my soul to God who Gave it with sure and certain hope of a Glorias resurrection through the Blood and Merits of a Blessed and crucified redeemer and as to the wordly goods which God has been pleased to bless me with I dispose of in a manner and form following, To Wit:
       My will is that my just debts be paid my negro man Deman be mansipated and set free. I give and bequeath to my son John a negro man named Hary to him and his heirs forever tho my will is that my beloved wife Rebecca retain the possession of him the said negro man Hary during her widowhood.
       I give and bequeath to my daughter Candice one negro girl named Philes to her and her heirs forever.
       My will is that my beloved wife Rebecca retain possession of my negro girl Fann until my son Noah arrives to the age of twenty one years and then I give and bequeath the said negro girl Fann to my said son Noah to him and his heirs forever and the increase of the said negro Fann if any at that period to be equally divided amongst my following children to wit: Coly (Howel Adam), Thomas Payton, Benjamin Berryman and the child my beloved wife Rebecca is now grate with.
       My will is that my beloved wife retain possession of the two hundred acres land including the house and plantation I live on to be laid off on the west boundary of the tract of land I now live and after her decease I give and bequeath and devise to my surviving children and their heirs jointly the said two hundred acres of land to be equally divided amongst them and their heirs forever.
       My will is that my executors furnish to each of my children on cow and calf to be paid to them as they arive to full age or intermarry.
       I give and bequeath to my son John one rifle gun.
       I give and devise to my surviving children and their heirs four hundred and forty acres of land the residue of the tract of six hundred and forty acres I now live on after laying off two hundred acres to my beloved wife Rebecca to be equally divided amongst them at the desecration of my executor and if they think it advisable to sell the said land on two years credit and the money arising from the sale of the same to be put to use and paid to my said children in equal portion as they arrive at full age or intermarry.
       My will is that my beloved wife Rebecca retain possession of all the residue of my estate real and personal during her natural life and after her decease I give and bequeath the same to my surviving children and their heirs to be equally divided amongst them to them and their heirs forever.
       Lastly I constitute and appoint my beloved wife Rebecca Executrix and my trusty friends Howell Adams & John Stewart Executors of this my last will and testament. 14 August 1799. Thomas Raburn (seal), Wit. John Hogan, Joseph Davidson and Keziah (her mark) Green.
• Howell Collier Adams died circa January 1814 having been mortally wounded during the Battle of Emuckfaw, Mississippi Territory, part of Col. Andrew Jackson's campaign in the Creek War.
• His wife Nancy Rayburn became a widow at his death.
• His will was proved in April 1814 at Dickson County, Tennessee,
       Wrote at the request of Howell Adams Esquire after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Muckfaw viz:
       My Will and desire is that all my just debts be paid 2nd that all my children that is not married and left me when they marry shall have as much of my Estate as will be equal with those that have married and that they all, that is all my children shall as they marry or come to age to act for themselves shall have three hundred dollars in good property or money to be raised out of my estate A. that my wife Nancy Adams keep my estate together to raise my children in her hands during her remaining my widow and if she should intermarry that she have choice of the negro women belonging to my estate. Should any of negroes prove unruly it is my will that those that I have left to manage my Estate should sell them which I think he told me was is Wife, his Sons William Adams, Hodge Adams and that the money that he the Testator had sued Benjamin Joslin for was not money belonging to his Estate it was his Sons William Adamses as it was his horse that was sold for the same but the bond was taken in his name and further this Testator said not.
       Sworn to before me 10 day of Feb. 1814. Attest sworn to before me this 10th day of February 1814, Cuthbert Hudson, Jesse G. Christian J.P. Recorded on the Minutes of the Court at April Term 1814, Field Farrar Clerk.
       State of Tennessee, Dickson County, April 1814 Term, Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions. Then was the foregoing Verbal will of Howel Adams decd produced in open court and duly proven by the Oath of Cuthbert Hudson and ordered by the Court to be recorded. Test Field Farrar, Clerk of said Court.
• Research Note: It remains to be verified whether Keziah Adams, Nancy Adams, Benjamin Adams, James H. Adams and Felix Grundy Adams are children of Howell Collier Adams and Nancy Rayburn. Research is ongoing. It may be significant that Howell Collier Adams' sister (who first married Nancy Rayburn's brother Thomas) Rebecca Adams Rayburn Gainer ended up in Monroe County, Mississippi, very near to the Alabama counties where the Adams siblings settled.

• Last Edited: 22 Oct 2014