Would The Real Abraham Adams Please Stand Up! Corrections To My Work On Abraham Adam Adams

Back in January I wrote a blog post about my Adams line in Newfoundland. I am coming back to that today to make some corrections. I have found more documentation which clearly shows there must have been more than one Abraham Adams around the same age in Newfoundland at that time. I tracked the records and grouped them by date and place. Doing this has led me to believe I was mistaken in attributing a baptism record to “my” Abraham Adams.

As I continued to discover more records for the Adams surname, I became increasingly confused as the dates overlapped. This would mean that one man was married to two women at the same time. Possible? Yes. But not likely. I needed to investigate further.

There was an Abraham Adams in St. John’s, married to an Ellen Tuffen (various spellings). They had numerous children. I found records for them being born or baptized between 1880 and 1895, all of whom were born in St. John’s, either at St. Patrick’s Church or Basilica of St. John the Baptist Church. Then I found a death record for an Abraham Adams as having died from gastric perforation on July 20, 1897 in St. John’s. He was buried at the Church of England Cemetery in St. John’s. The record also states he was an Iron Moulder, age 42.

On the baptism record that I had attributed to my Abraham Adams it states Abraham Adams was baptized Mar 4, 1854 and that his parents were Abraham Adams (Servant) and Drusilla Brace. The baptism took place at the Anglican Cathedral in St. John’s. This Abraham is a better match for the baptism record taking into consideration the location. My Abraham would have lived over 400 kilometres away from St. John’s based on his marriage record and baptism records for two of his and Matilda’s children, nor have I found a link to the Roman Catholic Church. When my Abraham married Matilda Jenkins, it was recorded in the Methodist Marriages, White Bay District, Englee, and on the record for his son, Thomas’ baptism their religion is documented as Methodist.

As well, referring back to the “other” Abraham’s probable death record, his occupation is listed as Moulder. In the directory for the city of St. John’s in 1890 and 1897 there was an Abraham Adams living on Williams Lane and he was a Moulder, making this very likely the same person. Whereas, my Abraham was living some 400 kilmetres away and was a fisherman. These two men are obviously not the same individual.

I still believe that the death record I have for Abraham is the correct one, as it has him located in Botwood, District of Twillingate. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a spouse or informant’s name on it so I can’t be sure, but based on the timeframe and location, it seems like a good match.

Here is a chart showing the differences between the two men:

ABRAHAM/ADAM ADAMS (Twillingate)	ABRAHAM ADAMS (St. John’s)
1888: Adam Adams (fisherman, bachelor) married Matilda Jenkins (spinster), Horse Islands, per marriage record	1880: Son, William Charles b. St. John’s, parents: Abraham Adams & Ellen Tuffell
	1882: Son, Robert John b. St. John’s, parents: Edward Adams & Ellen Tuffin
	1885: Dau., Bertha Joseph b. St. John’s, parents: Abraham Adams & Ellen Tuffen
1891: Son, Thomas, b. & bp. French Beach, Twillingate District, parents: Adam Adams & Matilda Adams, per baptism record	1890: Abraham Adams (moulder, Con Foundry Co.), residence: 6 Williams Lane, St. John’s, per Directory
	1891: Son, George Stanislaus b. St. John’s, parents: Abraham Adams & Ellen Treffen
1893: Dau., Anna May b. & bp. Peters Arm, Exploits-Dominion Point, parents: Adam (fisherman) & Matilda Adams, per baptism record	1893: Son, Stanley, b., per 1921 & 1935 Census, St. John’s (he’s living with his mother)
1894: Adam Adams (fisherman), French Beach, Twillingate District, per census	1895: Dau., Gertrude b. St. John’s, parents: Ambrose Adams & Ellen Tuffin, res: Williams Lane
1898: Son, Sidney, b. “Bootwood”, Green Bay, mother: Matilda Shepherd, per Attestation Papers, 1916, parents: Matilda Jenkins & Abram/Abraham Adams, per marriage record, 1919	1897: Abraham Adams (moulder), res: 8 Williams Lane, St. John’s, per Directory
	1897: Abraham Adams (moulder), d. St. John’s, age 42, interred at Church of England St. John’s Cemetery
	1898: Drucilla Adams, wid Abraham, res: 12 Freshwater Rd (same address: George J Adams & Joseph Adams, per Directory
1902: Son, George, b. NFLD, per Cdn Passenger List, 1918
1904: Adam Adams (fisherman), Peter’s Arm, Twillingate District, per McAlpine’s 1904 Directory	1904: Drusilla Adams, wid Abraham, res: h. 3 Maxe. (same address: George I & Alice M., per Directory
1913: Adam Adams, d. pneumonia, Botwood, District of Twillingate, per death record

Since my direct ancestor from Abraham Adams is his son, my great grandfather, Sidney Adams, I had begun my search for Sidney’s parents based on the information I found in Sidney’s records. This is why I was searching for an Abraham/Abram Adams. As I continued searching and found his parents’ marriage record and records for his siblings, the information overwhelmingly supports that even if Sidney’s father’s Christian name is Abraham, he went by Adam. I have searched extensively for records using this name, but I haven’t found any new documentation for him. It is a brick wall for now, but I will continue to search!

Realizing my mistake was a tough blow, as I had accumulated a lot of information for the other Abraham’s lineage, including an Abraham Adam’s link back to England as well as deeper roots in Newfoundland on his mother’s side. I thought there must be an ancestral link between the two Adams families, but try as I might, I have been unable to find one so far. Therefore, sadly after hours upon hours of work I had to remove huge amounts of information from my family tree.

However, it’s an important side of genealogy to address, and a great lesson that one new document can change the entire trajectory of your work…sometimes dismantling it. So here I am at the beginning again. Oh well, not all days can produce amazing finds. You need the lows to appreciate the highs!

Until next time, happy hunting, fellow gene geeks!