Birth 11 Jun 1884 North Carolina, USA
Died 19 Dec 1974 Grimesland, (Pitt County)< North Carolina, USA
Jim Tom, Mary Hodges Adams and sons in front of farmhouse at Shelmerdine, Pitt County NC
Bill Adams was the 2nd child born of James Thomas "Jim Tom" and Mary Louise Mayo Adams in Pitt County, NC.
Their Children:
1) 1883 - 1973 Thomas Blount "Old Man Tom" Adams - md Mary Elizabeth Haddock (1881 - 1940),
md Nola Haddock (1897 - 1981) .
2) 1884 - 1974 William "Bill" Dennis Adams
3) 1885 - 1929 Oliver "OL" Raymond Adams - md Mary Susan Hartley. After his death, Mary Susan married Conway Gordon Bayless and lived in Rocky Mount, NC
4) 1891 - 1984 Robert Ernest Adams md Addie Laughinghouse
5) 1893 - 1918 Louis Howard Adams - md Venice Stocks. After his death, she married Clyde Murrell Newby
Howard died from Influenza epidemic of 1918 - 1919. He, his 8 year old son Robert Waytham Adams, and infant daughter died within days of each other. His wife Venice Stocks Adams and son William Edward Adams survived. I can't imagine the agony she went through.
6) 1896 - 1976 Noah Adams md Mamie Rowe (Grandma called him Uncle No-E)
7) 1900 - 1962 Hyman Adams md Roxie Leitha Hartley
8) 1902 - 1908 Nettie Adams (my grandmother named after her) - Nettie died in a farm fire. No known picture of Nettie. Assumption she died during the burning of fields.
William "Bill Adams" The Man and his farm
I remember visiting his country home on his farm. He called it his plantation. As far as I know, his parents never owned slaves, but he still called it his plantation. When he was older he would call out folks for getting in their cars and taking off some of his 'plantation', that little bit of dirt under your shoes....Really?
This girl can sit still
I remember my Great Grandfather Bill Adams. As a very young girl of 6 or so, I remember sitting in his bedroom and being lifted to sit on his knees while he held a conversation with my parents. All sitting in old high backed country chairs. I sat very still as I realized that "Papa" as my Grandmother Nettie Adams Wiggins called him; was very old and appeared fragile to me. I wasn't the most comfortable but my parents had taught me to be seen and not heard, and Papa appreciated the fact that I didn't move around a lot. I was told later that I was the only grandchild that he would allow to sit on his knees, because I was still.
The Stereo-graph
I also remember being in his room and on one of the antique dressers, there was an old stereo-graph. A stereo-graph is a tool used to view pictures in 3D. The 2 exact same pictures on one sheet of photographic paper, are placed in a holder at the end of a long post. Then the person viewing would pull the pictures forward until it was one 3D picture, instead of 2. It serves the same purpose as the child's view finder toy.
Candy:
Grandma would always be vigilant about telling us kids to "Be Quiet - Don't slam the screen doors" "Papa is sleeping". Grandma said some words a little differently. Instead it sounded like "Be Quart". I was guilty of slamming those doors. It was easy as when you walked into the farmhouse; the hallway went straight back to the back door and porch area (the kitchen was separate at one time) and at that backdoor was yet another screen door. So - we kids would run in and out of the house as kids do. Papa's rooms were the two rooms to the left. There was one door into his bedroom, where he had his bedroom furniture (tall feather mattress on top of the bed) on the 4 poster bed. Antique dressers (probably made by him), high back chairs, wardrobes, etc. Then a door went into his 'closet' at the back. It was the width of his bedroom, yet small in depth. I never was allowed back there. I'm thankful that he took the few minutes to show me the pictures and just to spend time with me. I didn't have a relationship with my Grandfather Roy Wiggins. He was not the best father to my Mother and her siblings.
We always dreaded seeing Papa's door open as we were scared we were being too loud and would get yelled at (He never yelled at me). One day, he opened his door and he offered me some candy. I realized how creepy this could all sound, but I swear he never did anything out of the way. He gave me one of those marshmallow pink / white candies. A lot of time you see them out at old country stores at Christmas. I took one and thanked him with a thank you and a smile/hug.
Sweet Grapes:
One one of the visits, the grapes were ripe. Papa had a nice scuppernong grape vine on the left side of the property. Papa asked if I wanted to go to the grape vine and pick some grapes. I said yes and got into his old jalopy. I remember it being really old, I think it was a 1930s truck. He would take off on that truck and when he left the land around the house to go into the field, he would just fly over the uneven land. This time we went to the left of the farmhouse and behind the storage buildings. There was the grape vines. We picked grapes and he taught me how to eat the scuppernongs. They are thick inside with a thick outer coating. You have to chew around the insides to get the seeds out. I don't remember talking to him a lot, but I always thought a lot of him.
I always thought it was funny that the farmhouse was centered on that piece part of the property (1 mile up the field from the highway). As you drove in, there were storage builings on the left side. His own truck and tractors would be there. To the back right of the farmhouse was the chicken roost building. And at the back right of the property was the the 2-hole outhouse. I hated that outhouse. I was always afraid of falling in and snakes (rattlesnakes there) and spiders.
Not just a farmer, a craftsman
Papa made the antique furniture that was in his bedroom. I met Carroll Author online in the 1990s , and he is a distant cousin (another genealogist). His grandparents were Ol and Mary Susan Hartley Adams. He's my 2nd cousin once removed. He had pictures of the bedroom furniture and a rocking chair that Bill had made, as his family inherited it. He shared it with me.
I wonder if he made the dining room table. This table was HUGE. It was almost as big as the dining room. A large round table, with a large lazy Susan on it. It was so big that Aunt Jean and Uncle Marvin would sit on it (one at a time) and the other would spin them around. Uncle Marvin sold it to his in-laws family (first wife Gladys Venters). No idea where it is now; however, Marvin still knows and it's being used and loved. Also, it's too big for anyone's dining room as far as I know.
Dementia and then some.....an Adams family trait.
Dementia runs on the Adams side of the family. Bill Adams was not immune. My last memory of him was when he was 90 and I was 10. We had gone to visit Grandma Wiggins (who lived with him after her divorce from Granddaddy Roy Wiggins); and we had picked up Bill's older brother at Hwy 43 at the end of the path.
The path was a huge firmly packed 1 mile long dirt road with huge ditches on the side. The farmhouse was a mile back into the farm. Old Man Tom (He would have been 86 years old) rode up with us and as soon as the car was shut off, he slid out of the back seat and made his way to the back of the farm. It was straight, and my parents realized he'd gotten out quickly to not be seen. I was uncomfortable riding back there with him, so I was glad he was out.
I saw my Grandmother Nettie Adams Wiggins standing in the doorway behind the screen door. I jumped out and ran to her. I was pulling on the door handle and she was holding on to the other side of the door. I pulled several times. I was very involved in what I was doing. She shushed me and said "Listen". It was then that I realized my Great Grandfather Bill, who was sitting in a rocking chair to my left, was struggling to get his thin age ravaged body up from that chair. The porch wasn't screened in, but there was a railing across the front and I still see him pulling himself up with one hand on that rail, his cane draped across his left arm. He was pointing his finger at my father, who was still standing beside his car at the front porch. Everyone parked right in front of the house. I listened as Bill told my Dad. "You're not welcome at my house and you have to leave. I heard you last night under my window plotting to take my farm away from me. You get off my land." We lived in Rocky Mount NC, and Bill's farm was near Vanceboro - nearly an hour away. We were just visiting Mom's family as most 1970s families did. They would drive on Sundays to visit (almost every Sunday). I still had trouble believing my beloved Great Grandfather would run us off the farm. I was hurt. Papa Adams had dementia. He dreamed that Dad was there discussing taking his farm. Unfortunately, One of Grandma's siblings supported the dementia as they were left the lions share of the farm. I'm glad the farm still belongs to the family. My mother's cousin and his sons had to get loans to buy the farmland and there is a shooting range and other businesses on that property now. William Henry Adams, Bill's Grandson (Mom's cousin) died on the farm a few years ago. A tornado came up on the property and he drove the ATV into the barn and it fell on him. He was such a wonderful person.
We all got back in the car and drove down the path to the first house on the left where my Aunt Doris and Uncle Billy lived with their 2 children. We were all shocked. We stayed long enough to talk with the them and then headed back to Rocky Mount. We didn't want to get them kicked off the property.
I mean what I say....
I found out later, instead of being hurt when Papa Adams ran us all off, I should have been very frightened. Papa a pistol in his pocket. And evidently he wasn't afraid of firearms. I'm sure he hunted, but I didn't realize he had done more than that.
I would find out much later, that he had killed a man when Grandma was 3 years old...in front of her and her siblings. The man was trespassing on his property. It was raining and this drunk man came to the farmhouse. He stood at the end of the path near the fence and was very beligerant. He told Papa that he was there for his share of the fodder.
Fodder is the covering of corn that when dried out, was folded into small packets and stored in a silo. Later it was used to feed the mules and horses. The big thing about fodder is, it should never get wet. Wet fodder molds and can't be used as feed.
Papa warned the man that 'If you cross over to my land, I will kill you." He warned him at least 3 times. The man kept yelling at Papa saying he wanted the fodder now (in the rain), and wasn't leaving without it. He made the mistake of coming over the fence and onto the property. Papa took the rifle from behind the door and shot the man, killing him.
Grandma Nettie told me about this when she was deep into her dementia. She repeated the same 3 stories over a 3 hour period while I watched her. Grandma never had to go to a home. She was able to die in her own home. When telling me the story, she'd say "I'm just like my Papa". "When he said something, he meant it, and so do I". Then she'd tell the story about Papa killing the man.
I asked Mom and one of her sisters about this story on the way home. Crazy.....
Aunt Jean's memories
Grandma Nettie Adams Wiggins lived on the farm after the divorce (Granddaddy was 'run off' by Bill). So that makes 3 people Bill (Papa Adams) ran off. His wife - Maggie Nora McLawhorn, his son in law Roy Wiggins, and then my Dad. Dad's case was Papa's Dementia.
Aunt Jean would ask Grandma for money to go to the store to buy a can of spaghetti. Papa Adams would say "I don't know how you can eat that". "I have all kinds of good food in the smokehouse, that you could cook" Being a kid, she didn't want that. LOL.
Bill Adams Death Certificate
William "Bill" Adams Death Certificate
Maggie McLawhorn 11 Jun 1884 - 19 Dec 1974
Maggie Nora McLawhorn parents are Jermiah "Jerry" N. and Sarah Virginia "Jenny" Cox.
Maggie Nora McLawhorn wore a white bonnet tied under her neck, and was rarely seen without it. At an older age, she would remain in her room most of the time and would only come down after dinner, to get cold biscuits to take back to her room to eat. I just realized I said 'old age' and she died at 59 years of age.
She and Bill Adams divorced (he divorced her) and ran her off the farm. Bill ran lots of people off the farm. Maggie died of hardening of the arteries and I'm certain she had dementia.
Stories about Great Grandma Maggie's parents.
Jerry McLawhorn loved to have company visit. Almost everyday he would cut a watermelon (in season) and share with the family and any visitors. It was his favorite. He was a kind gentle man according to Grandma Nettie Wiggins.
Jenny Cox McLawhorn (and assuming Jerry) lived on what is now the Davenport Farm Rd in Winterville NC. My Aunt Jean has lived on that road most of her adult life, and farmed the area. She was very gentle and soft spoken. Sure wish I had pictures of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment