John Jefferson Adams, farmer, deceased, Sec. 17; P. O. Campbell; owns 1,240 acres; Mr. Adams was one of the early pioneers of Coles Co.; he spent nearly half a century in Coles Co., Ill., and was one of the men who helped to change it from a wilderness waste to a land of fruitful fields, of bursting barns, bending orchards and happy homes, and, therefore, deserves more than a passing notice; he was born Sept. 30, 1806, in Williamson Co., Tenn. Was married to Martha Gammil in 1829. On the 26th of October, 1830, he, with his wife and firstborn child (W. E. Adams, who was then 11 days old), emigrated to what was then Clark Co., and after twenty four days’ march, pitched his tent near the spot where he died; Mrs. Adams died in 1844, leaving six children – William E., of Charleston; the next lived to be a soldier, who died in a hospital during the late rebellion; Mrs. Brown, of Hillsboro; Mrs. Dr. Reel, of Oakland; Mrs. West, of Texas, and Mrs. J. S. Grimes, now of Kansas. Mr. Adams was then married to Nancy Caroline Dryden Jan. 29, 1845; she was born Jan. 23, 1821; died Sept. 2, 1854; he was then married to Sarah E. Dryden Feb. 27, 1855; Sarah E. Dryden was born Jan. 14, 1827; the fruit of this marriage was eleven children, six living, five dead; the names of the living are William E., Elizabeth A., Eliza, Martha J., Margaret M. and David; the names of the deceased are Mary J., James H., Mary D., Unity E. and John W. David Adams was born in Coles Co., Ill., June 26, 1849. Was married to Hannah J. Harris May 6, 1873; she was born in Coles Co., Ill., Oct. 10, 1853; the fruit of this marriage is two children, one living and one dead; the name of the living is Grace.
