Person:William Adney (3)

The following information was compiled by doreenmc@sbcglobal.net. Please do not use without citation.

The following story was copied from John Robert Adney’s typed account found on microfiche records at the LDS church. The indented notes and items in parentheses I have added for clarity. A sad note to report is that John R. Adney died on Nov 14, 2008 in Miles, Iowa at the age of 97. Many thanks to John for compiling almost all of the records on the William Adney family. They were copied and sent to the Family History Library in 1987 by Dennis Emmers of Minnesota and put on microfiche. We now have this wonderful story about a family’s long journey to a new home in 1855.

WILLIAM ADNEY FAMILY - FROM OHIO TO WISCONSIN

Brother of Jonathan, born April 24, 1802 in Virginia, died Dec. 15, 1873* in Crawford Co. Wisconsin. Buried in Adney (Winn) Cemetery at North Clayton, Wisconsin.

*John R. Adney apparently mistyped the year William died as 1875. I now have an article from the Prairie du Chien “Union” newspaper article dated Jan. 2, 1874 that gave a brief account of William Adney’s death. The index at the Prairie du Chien library gives his death date as Dec. 16, 1873, probably because a William Adney descendant worked there and added the date from her family records. No death record or cemetery record can be found for William. The Winn cemetery is known today as North Clayton Cemetery.

He married in Gallia County, May 25, 1822, Ruth Higley, daughter of Elam Higley by a first wife Jane McMillan, married June 12, 1808 in Gallia Co., but named Ruthy Glenn in certificate by Edward McMillan, J. P., an evident error. (Records of Gallia Co., Gallipolis). Ruth died at McGregor, Iowa and is buried at Giard Cemetery there (date written in by John as Dec. 23, 1894).

(Note: No blood connection to the Glenn family has been found for Ruth, although the Adney’s knew the Glenn’s since arriving in Ohio. Ruth may have gone to live with the Glenn’s after her mother and father separated or divorced. Elam Higley’s father, Joel Higley, had followed his brother, Brewster to Meigs County, OH in 1803 with a contingent of 27 people. Elam would have been about 23 years old at that time. This is documented in an “Athens Messenger” newspaper story, Athens, Ohio. The marriage records in Gallia County show “Elim Heigley” married Jane McMillion on 18 Jun 1806. Edward McMillin, justice of the peace, is most likely Ruth’s grandfather.)

Land records of Gallia County show: Oct 17, 1831: 50 acres in NW quarter of Sec 13 bought from his father, John AdneyDec 1831: 70.79 acres, E half of SW quarter of Sec 13 from John and Polly (Mary) Adney Butler, his brother-in-law. Gave mortgage deed for both above lots to his father, John Adney, so the Butler lot was evidently one sold to son-in-law and resold to William. July 10, 1850: the NW quarter of the SE quarter of Sec 18 purchased from Henry S. Eaton for $75. These made a compact tract of 170 acres which in 1855 he sold to Moses R. Matthews on eve of departure for the west. The residence place or homestead was known as “Beech Hill Farm” and was situated about one half mile north of Vinton on the highway to the farms of John and Jonathan Adney which were 4 miles from Vinton. The settlement of the estate of his father gave William a one-eleventh share amounting to $1059.88 and it was with this and proceeds of his farm that he set out for the new country.

(Note: John Adney died on February 20, 1847. According to the 1850 census, mother “Barbary” was living with William and his family in Huntington Township, Gallia Co., Ohio. It is likely he would have also received a portion of the estate of his mother Barbary Leseney Adney that died on March 26, 1855. Her eldest son Jonathan received the assets of $2000.00 as administrator of the estate.)

Our records indicate that William’s first and original intention was to settle in Wisconsin, but, there (were) some of his children who thought Wisconsin a mistake. Two of his daughters, Mrs. Cottrill (Sarah Jane) and Mrs. McMillin (Filinda) had gone ahead and were settled at Keytsville, Missouri, near the Missouri river not far from, and on the way to, St. Joseph where the Emigrant Trail started for the West. So, William decided not to take the direct road to Wisconsin, but to travel by the Ohio and (Mississippi) and Missouri Rivers and visit his daughters. He stopped off the steamboat “Brunswick” and drove to Keytsville (Missouri) William was then decided upon going to Oregon or California, but his wife was strongly opposed. She favored Wisconsin. So William persuaded his daughters (Sarah Jane and Filinda) and their husbands to join him, his own family consisting of his eldest son with wife and baby, three younger sons including one boy of eleven and two daughters, the youngest thirteen.*

(*These Adney family members and their ages in 1855 were: Jonathan Washington, age 22; his wife Sarah and baby, Nancy Ellen; William Perry, age 20; Daniel Webster, age 16; John Taylor, age 11; Mary Ann, age 24; Esther Caroline, age 13.)

William with all this array procured a wagon outfit and farm equipment and went overland across the whole length of Iowa to the southernmost part of Wisconsin, locating on Knapp’s Creek, a tributary of the Kickapoo River. An account of the whole journey from Vinton to Wisconsin has been written for this record by the youngest of William’s daughters, Mrs. Esther Caroline St. John, then a girl of thirteen. It is a young girls vivid memories of a unique experience. The relatives gathered at William’s home on the eve of the departure to say goodbye, all realizing that they might never see each other again. It was Sunday the Eighth of April* and they all joined a song entitled “the Glorious Eighth of April” composed probably for the occasion by Uncle Jonathan’s son Glenn, who was among the singers.

(*Note: This places the year that they left Ohio as 1855 as can be determined by consulting a date/year/day of the week calculator. John R. Adney originally typed 1857, probably estimating the year from land records. Jim Wheaton, owner of website “www.siterrific.com/Adney” wrote to me that Jonathan’s son “Glenn” would be William Harvey Glenn Adney that was born April, 1834. He would have been 21 years old at this time. Glenn was Edwin Tappan Adney’s father, the most well-known researcher of the Adney Family.)

The next day the party of ten in number drove to Gallipolis and, on the following day, went aboard the steamboat “Keystone State” which took them to Cincinnati where they changed to the “Jacob’s Trader” which could only take them as far as Louisville, Kentucky on account of the falls in the Ohio River. They transferred again, losing in the confusion a large box with the whole of their precious stock of books, and went aboard the “Baltimore” which took them to St. Louis on the Mississippi, where they transferred again to the “David Tatum” bound for the upper Missouri. Stopping off at Brunswick (Missouri), they drove to Keytsville where the question (of the) ultimate destination was decided upon finally. William persuaded his married daughters and their husbands to go with him to Wisconsin, promising to look after them until they got established, and he gave them land and money and saw them to a start. The party now numbered fifteen.

(Note: Adding five more people would be Filinda and Andrew McMillin, Sarah Jane and her husband, Greathouse Cottrill, and one more baby, Sarah Jane’s only child at that time, Nancy Ellen born April 30, 1854.)

William bought four large wagons with double bodies covering them with strong ticking, a la prairie-schooner, a large tent, and four yoke of oxen, and five head of “milch” cows. Though he arrived at Keytsville on April 23rd, he could not start promptly as the whole family were taken down with measles and it was the 10th of July before the cavalcade made a start on their three hundred miles of roadless prairie. Iowa then had few settlers and, as they journeyed along, the wide prairie was covered with the most beautiful flowers and other verdure which was all very pleasant “except when it stormed hard and became very muddy.” Once a week they stopped at some nice place beside water and, while the women washed and ironed, the men went out to “look over the land”. Thus, for thirty-eight days which brought them to the site of the present city of McGregor, Iowa.

William almost decided to remain and to enter a farm, (that now owned by Mr. St. John.). But, he went on, and the next day came to the crossing of the Mississippi, where the “Father of the Waters” at this season was wide, swift and dangerous to cross with the primitive means at hand, an old Government flat-boat with peddle wheels propelled by a pair of mules in a treadmill. It took two trips to make the passage and, at evening, arrived at Prairie du Chien, an old trading post and the county seat. Here, maps were looked over and a suitable location decided upon and the journey resumed. All next day they traveled in an almost trackless wilderness. Toward evening they reached an abandoned log cabin “out of sight and hearing of everything except the heavy woods, the high hills, and the screams of wild animals.” The late occupant and builder of the cabin, it seems, had found it too lonesome and moved away, but as luck would have it, he had cleared a bit of ground and planted a garden of beans, potatoes and corn, which were all ready to gather. The father went out with one of the boys to look over the land in the neighborhood while the rest availed themselves of their luck and cooked a good supper of fresh vegetables.

William found a quarter section of 160 acres and they started to build cabins. By the first of October some were ready for occupancy and the family started to move in. “For a distance of two miles through the forest they felled trees and made a road. The woods all about were full of moose, deer, bears, wolves, wildcats, panthers, porcupines and rattlesnakes. The nearest store was twenty miles, and in a radius of five miles there were only five families.”

(Note: Clayton Township was not formed until the spring of 1857, and land records were not recorded until 1858. The Adney family probably "squatted" on this land until they were able to record ownership at the Ashland land office: Total Acres: 120, Issue date: June 01, 1858. Legal land description of Section 12 as shown below.)

The SE quarter of Section 12, Township 10-N, Range 3-W, by original entry and patent. The township was that of Clayton. 440 acres by purchase in adjoining Sections 1, 2, and 12, making a total of 500 acres, which became the Homestead. As more settlers came in, the Town of Clayton was organized. Mrs. (Esther) St. John taught the first school with eight pupils, two terms in 1858, 1859. William Adney was made Justice of the Peace and Road Supervisor. On July 16, 1869, “Knapp’s Creek” Post Office was established, and William’s son Daniel became Postmaster until Feb. 28, 1901 when it was replaced by Rural Delivery on the Soldiers Grove route. On April 9, 1896, Daniel Adney had the name of the post office officially changed to “Adney,” thinking by that means, as his daughter tells us, to get in touch with “other Adney’s” of whom the Wisconsin Adney’s had now lost all trace. The family flourished. His four sons all had large families. Yet, after a period so short as sixty years, there were none living on the Homestead.

William’s widow Ruth, nee Higley, resided her last ten years with her daughter, Mrs. (Esther) St. John at McGregor, Iowa. To Mrs. St. John’s keen interest the present compiler (John R. Adney) is indebted for practically all the western records of the Wisconsin Adneys. SOURCE: Adney Family in Wisconsin and Ohio, FHL Fiche #6010571, written by John Robert Adney ______________________________________________________

Notes by doreenmc@sbcglobal.net: Ruth lived with Henry McMillin on the 1870 US Census, but did not marry him until Dec. 14, 1874. This would be one year after the death of William Adney on Dec. 15, 1873. It appears she waited the appropriate one year before marrying Henry. Ruth and Henry are also found together on the 1880 US Census records of Crawford County, WI. On the 1895 Iowa State Census, her name is shown as Ruth Higley Adney and she is buried with that name. (Comments on that census record = “D” for deceased.) My theory is that she went to Iowa after Henry’s death and the Adney family chose to ignore her second marriage when placing her name on her tombstone.

Henry McMillin also came from Huntington Township, Gallia, OH with his family in the late 1850’s. They clearly knew the Adneys in Ohio as Henry’s son, Andrew Jackson McMillin, had married Ruth’s daughter, Filinda Adney in Gallia County in 1852. Henry’s daughter Eve McMillin had married John Copas in Gallia County, OH and they lived next to Ruth and Henry in Crawford County in the 1870 and 1880 censuses. Henry’s other sons Michael, James, and John McMillin lived in Akan, Richland County (which was just across the border from Crawford county) and close to John Taylor Adney and his wife Sarah.

An interesting side story is that one of Henry McMillin’s grandsons ended up marrying one of Ruth Higley Adney’s granddaughters, whom became my great-grandparents. John Taylor Adney and Sarah had a daughter, the second Esther Caroline Adney that was born in 1866. John Beard McMillin had a son John Emmett McMillin born in 1865. Esther Caroline married John Emmett McMillin in November, 1884. They had one son together, Clarence McMillen born in 1886 (my grandfather) and divorced shortly thereafter. Henry probably died about 1886 per the quit claim deed registered by Verona Fish on his property in Crawford County in February, 1886. Ruth died on December 23, 1894 and is buried at Giard Cemetery near McGregor with the name “Ruth Higley Adney” on her tombstone. Her obituary does not mention her second husband, Henry McMillin, probably due to "bad feelings" between these two families.

Records found for William Adney (1802-1873).

1830 US CENSUS, Ohio, Gallia, Huntington Township: William Adney, age 20-29. (William born 1802) (2) females, under age 5. (Sarah and Mary Ann) (1) female, age 20-29. (Ruth born 1808)

July 10, 1833, Records of Common Plea Court, State of Ohio vs. William Adney:Grand jury charges William Adney with assault that occurred on the 4th of March against Isham Wallace, "with force of arms at Huntington Township in the aforementioned (Gallia) county ... did unlawfully strike and wound"... Defendant pleads not guilt ... Jury returns guilty verdict .... William Adney ordered to pay a fine of five dollars and also the cost of the prosecution based at fifteen dollars and ninety-one cents. (Thanks to Laurie Albrecht for this record>)

1840 US CENSUS, Ohio, Gallia, Huntington Township:William Adney, age 20-29. (William born 1802, wrong box marked, s/b age 30-39) (1) male, under age 5. (Daniel W. born 1838) (2) males, ages 5 - 9. (William P. born 1834, Jonathan W. born 1832) (1) female, under age 5. (Filinda born 1835) (1) female, ages 5 - 9. (Mary Ann born Nov 1830) (1) female, age 10-14. (Sarah J. born 1829) (1) female, age 30-39. (Ruth born 1808)

1850 US CENSUS, Ohio, Gallia, Huntington Township: Image #25 of 33. William Adney, age 48 <1802>, M, Farmer, Land Value=1500, Born in VA Ruth Adney, age 42 <1808>, F, Born in OH Sarah Adney, age 21 <1829>, F, Born in OH Mary Adney, age 20 <1830>, F, Born in OH Jonathan Adney, age 18 <1832>, M, Born in OH William P. Adney, Age 16 <1834>, M, Born in OH Filinda Adney, age 14 <1836>, F, Born in OH Daniel Adney, age 12 <1838>, M, Born in OH Caroline Adney, age 10 <1840>, F, Born in OH John T. Adney, age 7 <1843>, M, Born in OH Barbary Adney, age 70 <1780>, F, Born in VA

1860 US CENSUS, Clayton Twp., Crawford County, WI, Im #12:

DWELLING #1193: Clayton Adney, Age 28, Farmer, Born OH. < this is Jonathan

                Sarah Adney,  Age 27, Born OH.
                William  "    Age 5, Born WI.
                Elenora  "    Age 3, Born WI.
                Jackson  "    Age 1, Born WI.

DWELLING #1194: William Adney, Age 55, Farmer, Born VA.

                Ruth Adney,  Age 50, Born NY (wrong)
                Daniel   "   Age 24, Born OH.
                John     "   Age 22, Born OH.   < this is John Taylor

DWELLING #1195: Jackson McMillin, Age 30, Farmer, Born OH. < this is Andrew Jackson

                Philinda    "     Age 25, Born OH.
                Louisa C.   "     Age 4, Born WI.
                Maria       "     Age 2, Born WI.

DWELLING #1196: Greathouse Cottrill, Age 35, Farmer, Born VA.

                Sarah (Adney) Cottrill, Age 32, Born OH.
                Ellen              "    Age 6, Born MO.
                Perry              "    Age 4, Born WI.

1860 US CENSUS, Clayton Twp., Crawford County, WI, Im #13: (McMillin's living close by to Adney's) DWELLING #1206 Henry McMillin, Age 58, M, Farmer, Born PA. DWELLING #1207 John Copas, Age 40, Farmer, Born OH. Eve (McMillin) Copas, Age 38, F, Born OH .... 7 children.

William Adney is not found on the 1870 US Census, yet his date of death is documented as 16 Dec 1873. His wife, Ruth, is living with Henry McMillin on the 1870 US Census, yet they were not married until Dec. 1874. This seems to me to be a cause of tension between the two families.

Source: "Looking for Yesterday", a quarterly newsletter published by the "Lower Wisconsin River Genealogical & Historical Research Center." Dated Oct. 1992, page 8:

FROM THE PRAIRIE DU CHIEN COURIER, MAY 1, 1888: A Scrap of History of the Town of Clayton. The first election in what is now the town of Clayton, was a precinct of the town of Scott, in the fall of 1856 Presidential Election. The officers of that election were C. W. Baker, Geo W. Briggs and David Smith, Supervisors, Louis B. Smith and David M. Twining, Clerks. There were 47 votes polled (at the election of 1884, there were polled 483 votes) in the spring of 1857 the first town meeting was held to organize the new town officers went a begging. We had no roads, bridges, churches or school houses -- the people came from all parts of the U.S., a mixed crowd, but earnest citizens, and went to work with a will to make it win, and did all they knew how and elected the following officers: . . . Joseph Evans, Geo. W. Briggs, Wm. Adney, Ralph Barker, Justices... (other positions listed.)

Source: "The Prairie du Chien Union" , Friday, January 2, 1874, Pg. 3, Col. 3: Wm. Adney, one of our first settlers eat (sic) his supper at the house of his son, apparently in good health, and was found dead in his chair the next morning. CLAYTON. (Prairie du Chien Public Library, Index of the Union, Wm. Adney death date shown as 12/16/1873. Per Mary Antoinne, Librarian, Doris Adney, daughter George Adney, used to be the librarian there, and she may have known the death date.)

Per John R. Adney's records on microfiche #6010571 at the FHL: on May 28, 1941 John and his father, John Alvin Adney and friend, Thomas Maguire visited the old Winn Cemetery at North Clayton, Wisconsin near Soldiers Grove. William Adney's grave could not be located as there had been no headstone erected; but the approximate location of the grave was found by his father (John Alvin). Nearby were three graves, those of Rosie daughter of John T. and Sarah Adney that died Feb 23, 1882 at age two days. Perry Elmer, also son of John T. and Sarah Adney, died January 1, 1879 (date wrong, should be Dec. 28, 1878) age 2 yrs., 9 mos. Also, another son, Daniel Webster that died Oct 18, 1879 age 6 mos.

Prairie du Chien Union newspaper article

Parcel map from Crawford County Clerk's office showing William Adney's 120 acres he homesteaded in 1857.