John Adams

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John Adams was born in Milton, MA on July 23, 1761 to Andrew Adams and Ruth Wadsworth. 

I am a little suspicious of the service that was attributed to him by his family. John Adams is an extremely common name in Massachusetts, especially in and around the Boston area where he was from. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors gives the following service for John Adams of Milton: Corporal in Capt. Vose’s Company in Col. Heath’s Regiment in 1775, and in 1778 served at Castle Island as a Sergeant in Capt. Babcock’s Company in Col. Pierce’s Regiment. If this service was his as the family claims he would have been 14 when he served in Col. Heath's Regiment. Fourteen is not unheard of for a soldier, but it is extremely young for a Corporal. Likewise sixteen would be an exceedingly young age for a Sergeant.

His first marriage was to Elizabeth Welch in Boston on October 9, 1785, and they had two children: Hezekiah Welch and John Wadsworth.  After Elizabeth’s death he married Sylvia Tobey in Palmer, MA on March 23, 1791 and they had eleven children: Henry, Elizabeth W., Susan, Lewis, Nancy, George W. (died as an infant), Amos, Ruth Wadsworth, Silvia Tobey, Hezekiah, and Deborah Tobey.  The Adamses moved many times, living mostly in Palmer, MA, but also in Hardwick, MA, Barnard, VT, Woodstock, CT, Lancaster, NH, and Attleboro, MA.  They settled in Worcester in the early 1810s.

John died in Worcester on September 23, 1843 and is buried in Hope Cemetery. He was interred elsewhere initially as Hope Cemetery was not established in 1854, but I'm not sure where. Most likely either Rural Cemetery or Pine Street Cemetery.