Hodge Rayburn Adams

b. 18 March 1791, d. 2 April 1871
  • Hodge Rayburn Adams was born on 18 March 1791 in Burke County, North Carolina.
  • He married Elizabeth D. Smith on 1 September 1811 in Dickson County, Tennessee.
  • He witnessed the New Tag of Howell Collier Adams and Nancy Rayburn 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.
  • Jacob Fraley, George Hollabough and John Webb settled on Sinking Creek [in Perry County, Tennessee] about 1818 or 1820, and about the same time David Hogan, Hodge Adams and Nancy Randal settled on Rockhouse Creek.
  • Hodge Rayburn Adams and Elizabeth D. Smith appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1830 in Hickman County, Tennessee. Other (counted but unnamed) members of the household apparently included Thomas Edward Adams, Howell Collier Adams, Elisha Berryman Adams and Hodge Rayburn Adams Jr. Known members of the family are fairly well accounted for here. Two boys age 5-9, two girls age 0-4 and one age 5-9 may or may not have been of the immediate family. The woman age 50-59 may have been Elizabeth's mother.
  • Hodge Rayburn Adams and Elizabeth D. Smith appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Harrison County, Texas. Other members of the household included Hodge Rayburn Adams Jr., Samuel Smith Adams, Karen Adams, John Bullock Adams and Adeline Adams.
  • He was a farmer, according to the 1850 census.
  • It is possible that Hodge Adams was enumerated in the 1860 census in Monroe, Oachita Parish, Louisiana, as farmer "H. Adams" in the the houshold of J. R. & T. Simmons. While his eldest son Thomas Edward is found on the next page, his wife Elizabeth has has not yet been found in the 1960 census.
  • Hodge Rayburn Adams became a widower at the 16 July 1866 death of his wife Elizabeth D. Smith.
  • John Bullock Adams and Nancy A. Nolen appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Lavaca County, Texas. Other members of the household included Hodge Rayburn Adams, John Thomas Adams. Also in the household was Magie Montgomery, age 12, "at home," possibly a niece.
  • He was a farmer, according to the 1870 census.
  • Hodge Rayburn Adams died on 2 April 1871 at age 80 or possibly the 20th.
  • He was interred at Mossy Grove Cemetery, Ezzell, Lavaca County, Texas.
  • Last Edited: 10 Sep 2011

Family: Elizabeth D. Smith b. circa 1798, d. 16 July 1866