Family:John Adney and Barbara Lesera (1)

The foremost researcher on this family is Alice Woodlief. You can find her tree on ancestry.com on "The Hopkins Family Tree". Here she writes about the marriage record of John Adney and Barbara Lesena:

I do not know what document Ancestry used to post their Marriage Bonds of Franklin County, Virginia, i.e. John Thos. Adney and Barbara Leseuer, dau. Elizabeth. Sur. Samuel Reedy. I have searched the Franklin County, Virginia early census for the name “Leseuer.” I find no such name or anything similar to it. Also, I believe that after the name of John there should be an indication inserted to show that John was the son of Thos. I do not believe “Thomas” is John’s middle name.

In the Franklin County, Virgina 1786 census I do find a Nathan Ready and in the 1799/1800 census a Charles Readey; although, no Samuel Readey or Reedy. In the Franklin County, Virginia 1810 census I find no Rudys or Reedeys.

I believe the marriage document clearly shows Samuel Rudy and NOT Samuel Reedey. If you download this marriage bond to your computer and greatly enlarge it, you will see that after the “R” is written, the pen is then lifted from the paper to start the “u” at the top, going down to make the bottom loop of the “u” and then up again. I believe if this would have been a double “e” (re: Reedy) the pen would not have been lifted.

I believe these families were close. Thus, Samuel Rudy being John Adney’s close friend and surety on this marriage bond for the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars current money of Virginia. Many people from Franklin County, Virginia made the move to the Ohio country at the same time as the Adneys and the Lesenas.

Daniel Rudy (b. 1745), father of Samuel Rudy (b. 1770), is shown on the 1786, 1787, 1790, 1800, 1802 and 1804 Tax Lists for Franklin County, Virginia. On 4 Nov 1786, Daniel and Mildred French sold 200 acres on South Branches of Maggoty Creek to Daniel Rudy, part of 824 acres granted to Thomas Arthur on 20 July 1780. src: Franklin County, Virginia Deed Book 1, pp. 223-5

In the 1790 and 1800 census in Franklin Co., you will find Daniel (the father b. 1745) and Samuel (the son b. 1770) Rudy listed next to each other.

About 1804 they were selling land, possibly, preparing to move to the Ohio country: On 10 Feb 1804, Daniel Rudy of Franklin County, Virginia conveyed to Daniel Lehman of Franklin County 75 acres of land on the waters of Maggotty Creek in Franklin County for 100 pounds Virginia currency. src: Franklin County, Virginia Deed Book 4, p. 601

June 1804, Daniel Rudy of Franklin County, Virginia conveyed to Jacob Harkrider of Franklin County for 90 pounds, 150 acres on the waters of Magotee Creek. src: Franklin County, Virginia Deed Book 6, p. 64 No further record of Daniel or Samuel Rudy is found in Franklin County, Virginia after February 1806. In 1810 you will find Samuel and his son, Daniel Rudy, listed in the 1810 Jefferson, Montgomery, Ohio census. Fort Dayton seemed to be a “stopping off” place for those going on in different directions. In this township, Elizabeth (Jr.) Lesena married her husband, John Simmons of Franklin County, Virginia on February 7, 1804, by Rev. Jacob Miller an Anabaptist Minister (Dunkard) of Franklin County, Virginia. src: Montgomery, Ohio Marriage Book A - 13th entry.

They later moved on to Miami County, Ohio where Elizabeth’s brother, John Leseney, lived in Newberry Township. Her sisters, Barbara Adney and Ann Baker, were also living in Miami County, Ohio. In 1809 John Simmons sold his Montgomery County land to Daniel Rudy: Section 12, Township 3, Range 5E . John Simmons sold another portion of the same section at the same time to Samuel Rudy. John Noffsinger, of Franklin County, Virginia owned land in Sec 14. src: Montgomery County, Ohio Deed Book B, pp. 205-7

In 1816 Barbara's brother, John Leseney, married Sally Rudy in Miami County, Ohio. John’s last name is erroneously listed as John Lopcena. src: Miami Valley Genealogical Index

The 1820 Ohio census show Samuel Rudy and his son are now living in Newberry Township, Miami County, Ohio with John Leseney as their neighbor. Submitted by Alice Woodlief

The John Adney story, by Alice Woodlief With excerpts from "Adney Family of America"

John, the reputed oldest son, was actually the second son of Thomas and Elizabeth Dunn Adney. We know from tradition of Mrs. Daniel Adney that Dan and his brother John had cabins not far apart after John was married, for old Dan told how once when John and his wife paid them a visit and were on their way back through a field when Barbara was bit by a rattlesnake. John told her to sit down - she was barefoot - and sucked out the poison, and there was no ill effect.

At one of the general musters of the militia in Virginia John got into a fight with a big "two-fisted" man named Fee, Scotch. John got the worst of it, has a piece of his ear bitten off. Dan heard the rumpus and ran up and saw the trouble. "John," he said, "You are a fool to fight at all." Turning to face the two-fister he said, "You had no right to fight a smaller man than yourself. I'm going to lick you." Daniel took off his "Quaker coat" and did. This from an old Adney of John's family in Ohio.

1799 Franklin County, Virginia Tax List shows John Adney at the bottom of the page before the page that shows his brothers, Daniel and Thomas, Jr.

John Adney worked as a millwright both in Virginia and in Ohio. He was closely associated with his brother Dan in the same occupation, the two families lived near each other at Adney's Gap, and both decided to remove to the free territory north of the Ohio, which ceded by England after the Revolutionary War was declared by the Ordinance of 1789 should be forever "free," though the two brothers did not leave Virginia at the same time. This decision was reached according to the family tradition, because to be and remain respectable in Virginia one had to own slaves, to which both were opposed.

1807 - 1815 Brown Twp., Miami County, Ohio.John Adney immigrated to Brown Township in 1807 from Pennsylvania (sic), of which state he was a native. Upon arriving in this township, he entered the southwest quarter of Section 31 and erected his cabin and put up a rude barn, as preliminaries to the more extensive operations which he expected to carry on afterward. He was accompanied to this township by his family, consisting, at that time, of several sons and daughters. Mr. Adney worked upon this place seven years, and succeeded in clearing quite a large portion of his farm, when he disposed of his property here to Nicholas Platter, in 1815, and Mr. Adney, with his family, swelled the mighty stream of emigration pouring westward, and sought a home where such an abundance of wood and water was not to be contended against.

Brown Township was located in the extreme northeastern corner of Miami County. It was bounded on the north by Shelby County, on the east by Champaign County, on the south by Lost Creek Township, and west by Spring Creek Township. The country round about is watered by several streams of considerable importance, of these, Spring Creek flows through the two northwest sections in the township, and passes from them into Spring Creek Township. Lost Creek, the most important water course in the township, rises by three heads in the northern part of the township, and flows in a southwesterly direction to the central part of the western portion of the township, when it takes a course directly south, and enters Lost Creek Township at its northwestern section. Leatherwood Creek rises in the eastern part of the township, and flows in a northwesterly direction into Shelby County. It was so called from the great amount of that species of timber which skirted its banks. Ramp Run, another small stream in Brown Township, received its name on account of the great abundance of ramps, a vegetable production resembling Indian turnips, which grew along its course. The township contains some thirty sections, making about 19,200 acres of tillable land.

At about this time in the history of this township, rumors became rife in the neighborhood concerning the fearful depredations of the Indians, not only in the State at large, but in the neighboring townships in particular. The terrible tragedy that has made the names of Dillbone and Gerard household words throughout Miami County, plunged the inhabitants of their respective neighborhoods into such a state of feverish excitement as was not to be allayed for the space of several years. Blockhouses were built, firearms procured, constant watch was kept, and all signs of danger rapidly reported from settlement to settlement, Brown Township, like the others, became submerged in a sea of feverish excitement, and preparations were made here to protect themselves and families from the fiendish cruelty of the red man. The few families in the neighborhood met at the house of Mr. Kiser in January, 1812, and decided to build a house where the inhabitants might meet and spend the nights free from danger. Accordingly, the blockhouse was built on Kiser’s place early in the summer of 1812, and this was the common rendezvous in all times of apprehended danger. Nothing occurred, however, to mar the peace of the little colony, and, their fears gradually subsiding, the old fort was finally abandoned as a place of refuge, and instead, was used by Mr. Kiser as a stable and general storehouse for many years. (src: 1880 History of Miami County, Ohio - Brown Township)

The road back to Virginia was not that by which he had come. The return route led directly through Ohio past Chillicothe and would have struck and crossed the Ohio river somewhere opposite the Kenawha. So John packed up and started back. When he reached the present site of Vinton in Gallia County the family were taken down with ague (malaria fever).

There he found several families that had recently arrived from Virginia, among whom was William Glenn. John Adney stopped here because of the sickness, and as he looked the ground over he saw in Raccoon Creek, or River, a chance for a millsite, although there was not much pitch of water. Seeing the nucleus of a settlement and being a millwright he decided to remain and he built the Adney mills, that are known to the present time although Adneys have long ceased to dwell there. From now begins the second period of Ohio settlement of the Adneys.

Of this little settlement at Raccoon Creek, Charles Matthews wrote in the Vinton Leader 1909. "Accordingly (John Adney) loaded his wagons and started back across the State of Ohio with the intention of following the old Indian trail from the Scioto to Virginia, which struck the Ohio at Gallipolis, and crossing over ascended the Kanawha River and entered the Valley of Virginia through Greenbrair County. On reaching Raccoon Creek, sixteen miles from Gallipolis, where Samuel R. Holcomb, Andrew Ewing, William Glenn, George Taylor, John Robinson and others had recently settled and organized the Township of Huntington, he was compelled on account of ague in the family to stop."

"Being a millwright, he was so impressed with the fine millsite, that he decided to locate and build a mill. There were two good millsites within one-half mile. The lower one at the Big Bend on the lands of Samuel Holcomb seemed the most preferable, and to abviate any objection to the same, Holcomb bought of Jesse Collins one-half acre adjoining the east side of the creek, but Adney finally selected the upper site and on May 25, 1815, entered by patent the northwest quartre of Section 24, Township 7, Range 18, 159 acres of available land at two dollars per acre - $318."

"Adney's first residence however was upon a tract that he entered near the lower mill-site now known as the Thomas Gardwell place."

"At the point selected, the creek made a great bend with less than two hundred feet across. Before building his mill Adney changed the channel of the creek by cutting (ploughing) across the neck and damming the creek with logs, brush and stone, and the first high water after that cut the present channel across leaving the Old Bayou to fill up years after"

"The first dam and mill were built of round logs, with a puncheon floor, the neighbors all turning out to help erect the same. This was a wheat mill, to which was added a run of stone for corn, and then a bolter, which was turned by a hand crank. Also a sawmill just below, and then one across the creek at the other end of the dam."

"Power was applied through a 'reaction-wheel' of turbine pattern, the low fall of Raccoon Creek not permitting the use of the 'over-shot' wheel so picturesque a feature of the old pioneer mills, and every bit of the machinery, every cog, drive and spur-wheel, except the stones themselves, was made of wood, and on the ground."

"This mill proved a great success and benefit to the settlers for many miles around. They came with their grists not only from Vinton and Meigs but from as far away as Athens County. The log building was soon replaced by a more permanent frame one, the sawmill supplying the boards, but every stick was hewn by Jonathan Adney with his own hands."

"The first frame dwelling house in the district was erected by John Adney before the sawmill was in operation and every board was sawn by John and his son in an old-fashioned 'saw-pit,' by hand, one standing above on the platform with the log upon it, the other operator below on the ground or in a 'nit.' This house stood on the north side of the Bull Run Road a little east of an old Indian Mound." (In 1904 only the foundations remained.) Adney prospered and he not only encouraged many persons to stop and cast in their lot there, but gave them assistance."

The Vinton historian goes on to tell his father the late Moses R. Matthews, wished to start a tannery. He bought a two-acre lot from Holcomb in 1831 and began its erection, Adney furnishing the lumber and perhaps paying some of the workman, and allowed the account to stand for a time until Matthews was able to pay him.

We have before us no record of the mill-site patent but do have one of a quarter section lying next west of Holcomb dated March 9, 1818, indicating a purchase by Adney of a prior right of Andrew Ewing, but otherwise showing the form of early Ohio land patents:

James Munroe, President of the United States of America, To all whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Know ye, that John Adney assignee of Andrew Ewing, Gallia Co., Ohio, having deposited in the general land office at Chillicothe whereby it appears full payment has been made for the south east quarter of section twenty-three township seven range sixteen of the lands directed to be sold at Chillicothe by the Act of Congress, entitled, an Act providing for the sale of lands of the United States in the territory northwest of the Ohio and above the mouth of the Kentucky River and of the Acts amendatory of the same, There is Granted by the United States unto the said John Adney the quarter lot or section of land above described: to have and to hold, with the appurtenances, unto the said John Adney, his heirs and assigns forever. In testimony whereof I have caused ................ these latters to be made patent and the seal of the general land (SEAL) office to be applied. Given under my hand at the City of ..................Washington the 9th day of March in the year of our Loard one thousand eight hundred and eighteen and of the Independence of the UNITED STATES the THIRTY * SECOND. BY THE PRESIDENT (SGD,) JAMES MUNROE

Two and a half miles north of Vinton near Raccoon Creek John Adney purchased other land. On May 22, 1819 he bought from John Martindell a tract of 45 acres mostly in the same section, which became known in after years as the old John Adney place. From which he sold off a westerly tract of 100 acres to his son Jonathan for the nominal sum of $100, which in turn became the nucleus of the Jonathan Adney farm of some 500 acres at the side of Raccoon Creek. In all the Adneys had at one time upwards of 1,000 acres in Gallia County.

John Adney remained at Vinton, and on his farm among other activities was the manufacture of whiskey. Currency was at this period very scarce and unless one was a salaried officer the only commodities that would bring currency into the country were furs and whiskey. They were the only products that could easily or profitably be shipped to a market. Whiskey like furs became a regular currency, and a farm might be sold as the father of Abraham Lincoln sold his for ten barrels of whiskey, a commodity of value that could be carried by the seller remained of the "distillery," a small building with a modest output. It was only at a much later period that it became necessary for a biographer of Lincoln, for instance, to explain the early frontier conditions, where not the least opprobrium attached to its manufacture and sale?

1820 Huntington Twp., Gallia County, Ohio census:Adney, John:1 male 10 and und. 162 males 16 and und. 262 males 45 and upward3 females und. 101 female 10 and und. 162 females 16 and und. 261 female 26 and und. 45

Toward the year 1830 Adney began thinking of returning to the western country. By deed dated Sept. 15, 1832, he sold his mills and 25 acres of land to James McGhee for $3,000. Later the mill burned down and McGhee erected a new building on the old stone foundation. This with the old dam and remains of the old sawmill were in evidence in 1904, and still called the Adney Mills. The remainder of the quarter section on which the mills stood, Adney sold to Mrs. Tamor Wallace all remaining on the west side of the creek and on Feb.16, 1836 for $500 to Wm. Potter except 2 1/2? acres previously bonded to convey to George Copen on which stood a dwelling house (since called the George S. Hanna place) close to the bank of Raccoon Creek commanding a pleasing view of its quiet tree-shaded waters, the house to which after the death of her husband, Barbara Adney returned to reside until her death in 1855. 1830 Huntington Twp., Gallia County, Ohio census:Adney, John:1 male 50-601 female und. 51 female 5 and und. 102 females 10 and und. 151 female 15 and und. 201 female 20 and und. 301 female 40 and und. 50 Long before the sale of the mills, Adneys were married and living in various places between Vinton and the old Adney place. The year of the mill sale was that in which Holcomb laid his lands off as a townsite, and in the same year John Butler, John Adney's trusted son-in-law, husband of Polly Adney went out to the fort which had been built by St. Clair and was afterwards called Fort Recovery and located a tract of 79 acres there in the angle of the Wabash and the boundary line of Indian Territory in the name of Adney and Butler. Butler is said to have lived here for a while. (Early Land Entries, History of Mercer and VanWert Counties, Ohio, 1882) *Later this John Butler became a prominent contractor in the construction of the Santa Fee railroad through Kansas. [* In corresponding with John Butler’s descendants, they know of no connection with the railroad; that John was always a farmer. Also see: Early Days in Greenbush, Ill by Wm L. Snapp. aw]

In appearance John Adney was not a large man but well-built, fair, with darkish straight hair inclining to sandy or redish, which he wore rather long in the fashion of the day. He was smooth-shaven, and remembered as always wearing a long frock coat reaching nearly to the knees, with a rather wide-brimmed dark felt hat, the costume of the town dweller or professional man of the period.

According to tradition about Vinton, John was considered a hard man to get ahead in a trade or bargain and it used to be said that "When the game was gone, old man Adney had the hide of it." Here too, his favorite expression "By dad." Milton Kent of Vinton told how when a boy he once visited the Adney farm, when "old John" suddenly said to him, "Come here, I want to show you something!" and he led the way to an out-building which he had fitted up as a sitting-room. He threw open the door and exclaimed, "Just take a look in there, By dad, did you ever see such a fine gang of panky roarins?" There they were spread out before the fire place, on chairs, everywhere, eighteen full grown cats.

1840 Gibson, Darke County, Ohio census: taken June 1Adney, John:1 male 60 -70 (John) 1 female 10 - 15 (could this be a granddaughter?)1 female 50 - 60 (Barbara his wife)

Although John Adney had his son-in-law John Butler take land for him at Recovery it is not certain he intended to go there to live until pressed by his son John L., younger brother of Jonathan, who had gone back to the old settlement at Pequa, and brought word of the situation at Ft. Recovery, where a townsite had been laid off. The old St. Clair fort was in what had been organized as Darke Co. but later the boundary between Darke at Mercer to the north was brought southward to a point south of Ft. Recovery which brought into Mercer. The early Adney records are therefore to sought in the courthouse at Greenville the county seat of Darke. There was opportunity of a millsite though the Wabash here is near its source and not a large stream.

While it was still Darke Co. John Adney on March 16, 1840 bought of Wm. McDaniell lot No. 6 in the Town of Ft. Recovery for $125 and on July 1, 1841 from Noah Wood lot 22 for $150. The Township having been duly organized by qualified persons on May 5, 1841, we may assume that John Adney was among the organizers thereof.

On July 24, 1841, John Adney, now of Darke County, and resident of the Town of Ft. Recovery took from the sheriff a deed to the N.E. quarter of sec. 25, and the W. half of the S.W. quarter of the same, in Township 15, Range IE, a farm of about 240 acres for which he had 'publicly bid' $327. This was a tract beautifully situated mainly on the south bank of the Wabash about half a mile west of the town. He started erection of a mill here, assigning the work to his son-in-law, Martin Burris, who was a good carpenter and returned to Vinton. Discovering not long after that the cost of the mill was exceeding his estimate, he returned to Recovery, directed the completion of the mill himself, and remained. He built also a dwelling on the south side of the present road from Recovery to Portland, Indiana, beside a brook that is still known as Adney's Run. The rooms of this house were paneled, and the paneling and the doors, perhaps more of the house was of black walnut, then a plentiful, large, beautiful timber tree in the valleys. In 1904 we found of the house only the stone foundations and cellar, the well and the dairy-house. Close by at the river bank were remains of kilns where he manufactured lime, and just across the river the remains of the old mill-race. The mill and the dam had disappeared. The old mill-pond is where now the bridge of the Erie Railroad crosses the river. These were shown to us by old residents.

In the town Adney set up a general store. The son-in-law Martin continued after John Adney's death to operate the store and the business became, in a sense, his share in the estate. Martin was of Greenville, and a good business man.

From the farm tract before mentioned Adney set off a tract for a burial ground and gave it to the neighborhood. Here John and his son John L., lie side by side under suitably inscribed headstones. It occupies a knoll that commands a wide view in all directions of the broad valley of the Wabash. Though still spoken of as the Adney Graveyard, it is also known appropriately as Green Mound Cemetery.

John Adney bought lands also in the adjoining Jay Co., Indiana, part of which went to his daughter Mrs Lovisa Steel, and a part to his grandson the late Daniel Adney (son of John L.) who was living there in Noble Township in 1904. He also had lands in St. Joseph Co., the same state, located for him perhaps by John Butler.

About Fort Recovery, John Adney was accounted a wealthy man and remembered with exceeding respect as a man and as a useful citizen. He left an estate of upwards of $18,000 after all expenses and the widow's dower of one-third was deducted; all of which except $400.00 came from sale of real estate and personal property.

It is evidence of a grandson and others of the town of Recovery that he possessed also a large amount in currency of which only a small amount reached the administrator Henry Lipp. There was a person suspected who had access to the Adney house during the last illness, who from having little nothing before, blossomed out as a man of means. In those days there were no banks of deposit and good deal of currency for the time and place was passing through Adney's hands. Daniel Adney for a number of years lived with his grandfather, from him in 1904 we had the stories told to him by John Adney that we have given, and it was from Daniel we heard a story of wealth that must have seemed to the boy like the riches of Croesus. And this is the story:

"I was in the house with old grandfather, sitting there by the fire. Old grandfather smoked considerably and he carried his pipe and his tobacco and matches in his vest pocket. He sat there quite still, and bye and bye he took out his pipe and had a smoke, and then he put his pipe away, and sat as if thinking, and then he said to me - he used to say, 'By dad --- By dad, Dan, let's count out money.' I said not a word. Old grandfather went out of the room and went up stairs, and though I never went up there and saw him, I could hear him, and he appeared to be moving a board where the chimney was, and inside chimney. When grandfather came down he carried a tin box, it was so big - and had a rounding top. He set the box down, and he had a key, he unlocked the box and there were silver dollars. He poured them out on the floor and then he piled them in rows." (The speaker indicated a box perhaps a foot long, narrower and several inches deep which would hold at least 800 silver dollars.) Then he put them back and carried it away upstairs again. He came down again and he carried three or four sacks, small sacks about eight inches long; he untied them, and he poured them out. They were all silver dollars. He counted these and then he took them back and brought back some more. I didn't keep count exactly of these but there must have been as many as eight sacks and they were all full of half dollars. Grandfather then went into his own room and brought out a cup that held between a pint and a quarter, and he poured this out. It was gold pieces, all sizes and it was full. Then he took this back and he brought out a slate it was a slate in two pieces that folded together that he had made himself. He opened this and there was laid in there all paper money, I don't know how much there was. Then he said to me 'By dad, Dan, we'll look at our small change.' I said, 'all right.' that was the first word I had spoken. He led the way into his sleeping room. He had there a big old-fashioned bureau and opened the ton drawer, a big top drawer, and I looked in and there was all small pieces of silver, quarters and less than quarters. I don't know how much there was, but it seemed to me, as I looked, that there was enough to fill a wooden bucket. That was just a little while before old grandfather died. The day that he died, I went with my father and the administrator Mr. Lipps to the house. Mr. Lipps asked me if I knew where grandfather kept his money and I told him I did, and we went upstairs, and there I saw with my own eyes the sacks on the floor, kicked to one side, empty. They found the hole in the chimney, but the administrator couldn't open it. He tried, he could not lift the boards, but a person present said, 'I'll show you' and he lifted it, like that. There was just four hundred dollars and that was all they ever found."

This person was the one who overnight, as it were, became a person of affluence. It was town talk, as naturally in a little place people will talk. But he was a relative and nothing was done about it. It is inconceivable that a relative would steal.

At Fort recovery his favorite pastime was squirrel hunting for which he carried a long single-barreled shotgun. This with the powder horn went at the sale of effects to William Martin of Greenville. He had a great way of rousing a person to a required pitch of energy, and saying, "Why when I was young, and alive, etc.

Of John Adney heirlooms, a tall grandfather clock was in possession of a descendant Mr. Fee of Menlo Park, Iowa, and a Silas Headley clock presented by Daniel Adney to the present writer. Jonathan Adney appears as having had also something to do with the settlements of his father's estate which it in spite of "losses" of cash, gave a tidy sum to each of the numerous sons and daughters. Submitted by Alice Woodlief

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