Early Kentucky Settler Alexander Adams

Alexander Adams in Fayette County, Kentucky, 1787‒1805

Jean M. Hoffman, CG

Alexander Adams was “one of the first settlers” in the Lexington area living there by 1787.¹ He didn't apparently own land in the early years but he did have political opinions. He signed a counter-petition to the Virginia legislature—while Kentucky was still part of Virginia—on 24 October 1788 against a petition to divide Fayette County. Levi Todd, the county clerk, was the third to sign the counter-petition. The man signing after Alexander was his son-in-law, Robert Eckles.² Most years from 1789 through 1795 they appeared on the same book and page in the roughly alphabetic county tax rolls as Robert was listed as “Ackles.” Neither was taxed on land, just one white male over 21 and livestock.³

Where He Lived

Alexander Adams lived “at M’Connel’s mill near Lexington” in 1795. He placed an ad in the newspaper with a reward for return of two horses strayed or stolen from there on 17 February 1795.⁴ McConnell's mill may have been in the vicinity of McConnell Springs Park in the current city of Lexington but outside the original town site.⁵ Robert Eckles also lived near McConnell's mill in 1791 when Lexington was surveyed in a rough circle two miles across. Beginning on Main Street southeast of the courthouse and continuing clockwise, the description eventually included these bounds: “northeast of the old Leestown road, crossing the head of McConnell's mill pond at 45 poles; thence north 56¼, east 125 poles to post, passing and leaving out Eckle’s and Brown’s plantations.” The drawing illustrates two dwellings outside the perimeter northwest of Lexington and north of the Town Branch.⁶ With no other records of the surname Eckles in Lexington at this time, this is undoubtedly the location of the home of Robert Eckles near McConnell’s mill.

Alexander Adams purchased Lot No. 17 in the town of Lexington from John and Penelope Harrison for 20 pounds current money in October 1796.⁷ He first appears in the tax rolls for the town of Lexington in 1796 when he was described as a “very old man” with tax on three town lots and four cattle.⁸ Alexander and his wife Ann sold a portion of Lot No. 17 to Benjamin Love on 14 November 1800.⁹ Lot 17 was described in 1796 as bounded by Upper and Second Streets measuring four poles (66 feet) on Upper Street and ten poles (165 feet) on Second Street. The portion they sold in 1800 was twenty feet in front and sixty-six feet back. The neighbors were Vanpelt on the southwest, John Keizer on the northeast, the cross street, and Alexander Adams on the northwest.

Death in 1805
Alexander Adams died in January 1805 at age 85 according to the newspaper death notice.¹⁰ If his age was correct, he was born around 1719. Invitations to attend his funeral were printed and delivered, the funeral held at his house in Lexington at 10:00 am on Saturday, 12 January 1805.¹¹ He had written his last will and testament on 23 December 1799. It was presented for probate in May 1805 and Isaac McIsaac, one of the witnesses, testified to its authenticity. An executor named in the will, John Maxwell, went to court and refused to take on the execution of the will.¹² An inventory of the estate was ordered to be taken in the July 1805 term of court. His estate was appraised at 603 pounds, 12 shillings, 9 pence by Thomas Wallace, George Trotter Sr, George Trotter Jr, and James McCoun on 20 January 1807, the inventory recorded at the May 1807 session of court.¹³

Miscellaneous household goods, many described as old, two pots as damaged, and some bedding as much worn, made up a small value of the inventory. Furniture was given a greater value, but all together the personal property came to very little. A cow and calf listed at 2 pounds, 14 shillings, were the only livestock. A set of six blue-edged dessert plates might imply a once higher level of goods. Other interesting items include a gold scale with a part of the weights, one sheep shears, an old spinning wheel, and a reel. Since the inventory was two years after Alexander’s death, part of his personal property may have been distributed or claimed by his widow. No clothing was listed. Real estate was where the money was. The house and lot in Lexington came in at 225 pounds. Outlying lots were a surprise given the lack of tax records on land outside of town. There were two adjoining Mrs. Megowan’s meadow valued at 270 pounds and one adjoining Mrs. McNair’s locust lot at 90 pounds.

Alexander’s estate was for his widow’s use during her life and after her death to be divided equally among his daughters Mary Milligan, Jane Eason, Eleanor Steele, and his grandson Alexander Eckles, son of his daughter, Agnes (Nancy) Eckles.¹⁴ Ann Adams was granted her petition for administration of the estate of her late husband Alexander Adams. She entered into bond with Andrew McCalla and William Millegan as her securities in the penalty of 1,000 pounds on 08 July 1805 in Fayette County.¹⁵ Benjamin Stout, Samuel Ayres, Matthew Elder and James Morrison, or any three, were appointed on 10 April 1808 to examine and settle the accounts of Ann Adams, executrix of Alexander Adams, deceased, and make a report.¹⁶

Though Alexander Adams was considered quite elderly when he died in 1805, his widow Ann outlived him by many years. She was head of a household of three in 1810¹⁷ and lived alone in 1820.¹⁸ She probably didn't die until about 1827 when she was last in the tax rolls.¹⁹ Alexander would have been 107 then if 85 as reported when he died, so Ann was likely considerably younger. She could still have been the mother of his daughters, but might have been a later wife.

Endnotes:
All online images reviewed 8 January 2023.

1. Fayette County, Kentucky, Tax Assessor, Tax Books, 1787‒1797 and 1799‒1804; Family History Library (FHL) film 2110987, DGS 7833953 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007833953), image 14 (1787), image 96 (1788).
2. Inhabitants of Fayette County: Counter-Petition, Kentucky Counties, 24 October 1788, Legislative Petitions Digital Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. (https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/petitions); citing Legislative Petitions of the General Assembly, 1776‒1865, Accession Number 36121, Box 287, Folder 79, microfilm reel 229.
3. Fayette Co., Tax Books, 1787‒1797 and 1799‒1804; FHL film 2110987, DGS 7833953, image 135 (1789), 225 (1790), 262 (1791), 272 (1792, Ackles), 286 (1792, Adams), 322 (1793, Ackles), 336 (1793, Adams), 370 (1794), 431 (1795), names in alphabetic grouping by surname initial.
4. “Five Dollars reward,” Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, Ky., 7 March 1795, p. 2, col. 4; (https://kentuckynewspapers.org/view.php?id=xt737p8tbg2q).
5. National Park Service, “Lexington, Kentucky: The Athens of the West,” A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary (https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lexington/mcc.htm), McConnell Springs.
6. George W. Ranck, The History of Lexington, Kentucky, Its Early Annals and Recent Progress . . . (Cincinnati, Ohio: Robert Clarke & Co., 1872), 166‒67, citing Trustees’ Book for 1791 survey and drawing.
7. Fayette County, Ky., Deed Book A:466‒67, Harrison to Adams, 1796, recorded 1797, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 8679, DGS 8141011 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008141011), images 262‒63.
8. Fayette County, Tax Books, 1787‒1797 and 1799‒1804; FHL film 2110987, DGS 7833953, image 525 (1796).
9. Fayette County, Ky., Deed Book C:365‒66, Adams to Love, 1800, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 8685, DGS 8336982 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008336982), images 213‒14.
10. “Died (Alexander Adams),” Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, Ky., 15 January 1805, p. 3, col. 1; (https://kentuckynewspapers.org/view.php?id=xt7wwp9t2d5t).
11. James D. Birchfield, editor, A Collection of Lexington, Kentucky, Funeral Invitations, 1802‒1846 (Lexington, Ky.: Special Collections & Archives, University of Kentucky Libraries, 1999), p. 17, item 5.
12. Fayette County, Ky., Order Book 1:274, will of Alexander Adams, May 1805, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 232704, DGS 7646993 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007646993), image 167.
13. Fayette County, Ky., Will Book A:408‒09, Inventory of Alexander Adams estate, 1807, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 2111465, DGS 7553686 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007553686), image 239.
14. Fayette County, Ky., Deed Book 5:112, Agnes Eckles to Fulton Thompson, 1829, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 8697, DGS 8141012 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008141012), image 304. Deed explains terms of missing will of Alexander Adams.
15. Fayette County, Ky., Order Book 1:291, petition of Ann Adams, July 1805, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 232704, DGS 7646993 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007646993), image 176.
16. Fayette County, Ky., Order Book 1:535, settle Adams estate, April 1808, County Clerk, Lexington, Ky.; FHL film 232704, DGS 7646993 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007646993), image 299.
17. 1810 U.S. census, Fayette County, Kentucky, Town of Lexington, p. 757 (penned), line 13, Ann Adams; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7613); from NARA M252, roll 6.
18. 1820 U.S. census, Fayette County, Kentucky, population schedule, p. 63 (penned), line 9, Ann Adams; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7734); from NARA M33, roll 17.
19. Fayette County, Tax Books, 1805‒1816; FHL film 2110988, DGS 8201647, image 42 (1805, Adams widow), image 240 (1807, Ann Adams), image 293 (1808, Ann Adams, wd), image 401 (1809, Ann Adams, widow), image 531 (1811, Ann Adams), image 652 (1812), image 847 (1814), image 1041 (1815), image 1073 (1816). And, Fayette County, Tax Books, 1817‒1827; FHL film 2110989, DGS 8339272, image 7 (1817), image 117 (1818), image 370 (1820), image 491 (1821), image 563 (1822), image 647 (1823), image 726 (1824), image 1050 (1827). Then, Fayette County, Tax Books, 1828‒1839; FHL film 2110990, DGS 8309527, image 7 (1828, heirs of Alexr. Adams). Ann Adams taxed 1805 to 1824 and in 1827 then apparently heirs of Alexr. Adams in 1828. Plus, Deed Deed Book 5:112, Agnes Eckles to Fulton Thompson, 1829.

Invited to the Funeral

Priceless Family History in Kentucky Funeral Invitations

By Jean M. Hoffman, CG^SM

For some families no early Kentucky death records exist in the usual sources of probate, family Bibles, church records, and cemetery inscriptions. A quite different source was a surprise. My Eckles family is well represented in a book I found of transcribed funeral invitations. Some of the information is present nowhere else. Family members also appear in three other published collections of funeral invitations primarily from Lexington and Georgetown in north central Kentucky.

Funeral invitations, some quite elaborate, were in use by the 17th-century in England, some reportedly collected by Samuel Pepys. Kentucky invitations began with simple designs, the earliest in the collections from 1802.[1] They informed friends and neighbors of a death and served as invitations to the funerals. Often held a day after death, funerals could not be announced in the newspapers, as many were weeklies. Modern death notices and funeral cards are widely saved and so were the funeral invitations. Some can be seen as ephemera in online sales, at Pinterest, and in manuscript archives.[2]

Example: Funeral invitation, Broadsides and Ephemera Collection, Duke University Libraries Digital Collections

Marie Dickoré transcribed and annotated a collection but did not reveal the location of the originals. Her book includes funeral invitations for members of the family of Charles Eckles, wagonmaker of Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky.[3] Three are attributed to his first three wives. An elaborate invitation to the funeral of Mrs. Nancy Eckles on 27 April 1839 is noted as being for his first wife, who was Nancy (Boyd) Eckles, but she died before 27 January 1830.[4] Both the first wife and the mother of Charles Eckles were called Nancy and it is undoubtedly his mother who died in 1839. The funeral invitation of Mrs. Ann Eckles for 16 December 1843 revealed a name previously unknown. She is annotated as the second wife of Charles. A newspaper notice of a death that must be hers referred to her as Nancy as well.[5] My cousin has originals of a few of the notices in this collection, the earliest for Charles Eckles in 1867.[6]

Huckster Cyrus Parker Jones collected funeral notices in Lexington for many years. He bequeathed them to James M. Duff, a library trustee who presented the collection to the Lexington Public Library in 1900.[7] Among these funeral invitations is one from 1829 for Eleanora, a daughter of Susan (Eckles) Coffman, though only the father, Philip, was named.[8] One for a Mrs. Jane Huston in 1818 might be for the Jane Eckles who married James Huston in 1807 but that awaits further research. Susan and Jane are sisters of Charles Eckles.

An important find was an index entry for an Alexander Eckles in Kentucky Ancestors.[9] His 15 December1823 funeral was held at the home of his mother.[10] The city is not mentioned but many invitations in this indexed collection are from Georgetown. Tax records help confirm this as the Alexander Eckles of Georgetown. He paid Scott County tax from 1816 through 1823; the 1824 books are missing; and in 1825 Nancy Eckles, his mother, began to pay tax on town lots.[11] Alexander is a brother of Charles Eckles.

John M’Calla kept a scrapbook of Lexington funeral invitations until he moved away. Some duplicate the other Lexington collection but many are for additional people. Alexander Adams is one of the new names with an invitation to his 1805 funeral in Lexington.[12] The father of Nancy (Adams) Eckles, he also had a death notice in the Kentucky Gazette.[13]

The information from these slips of paper helped reassemble the Eckles family of Fayette County and Georgetown. Their few probate records are sketchy, a cemetery not located, no family Bible found, and their Georgetown Presbyterian Church was not formed until 1828.[14] I’m even told the first record book of the church is missing.[15] The funeral invitations in these four Kentucky collections have proven extremely valuable in family research.

Note: the images are taken from larger sheets. Reproduction of images from the library website are not allowed.

CG is a Service Mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluations by the Board.

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    1.    James D. Birchfield, editor, A Collection of Lexington, Kentucky, Funeral Invitations (1802-1846); collected by John Moore M’Calla (Lexington, Ky.: Special Collections & Archives, University of Kentucky Libraries, 1999). [Includes transcriptions, in chronological order, of 430 funeral invitation cards and facsimiles of 24.]

    2.    For a sale see: 1898 Port Providence Pennsylvania Funeral Invitation, David w Fronefield; eBay  (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1898-Port-Providence-Pennsylvania-Funeral-Invitation-David-W-Fronefield-/271294859642 : accessed 30 July 2014). For Pinterest see: Vintage Funerals; Pinterest  (http://www.pinterest.com/lamcraft/vintage-funerals/ : accessed 30 July 2014). For achives see: funeral invitation, Mrs. Ann E. Robinson, 1837, ID bdsv023193; Broadsides and Ephemera Collection, Duke University Libraries Digital Collections (http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/broadsides_bdsva023193/ : accessed 30 July 2014).

    3.    Marie Dickoré, compiler, Copies of Names on Invitations to Funerals and Burials In Scott County and Fayette County, Kentucky, 1821 - 1898: Including Names of Deceased, Family Connections, Ministers, Church, Cemetery, Pallbearers, as They Occur on the “Invitations” (Cincinnati, Ohio: Marie Dickoré, 1942).

    4.    Guardian report from Charles Eckles in Will Book, E, part 2: 161 (this volume contains records reentered after the 1837 courthouse fire, done as best as they could be), Scott County Clerk, Georgetown, KY. Distribution of John Boyd estate to his granddaughters when his will named his then-unmarried daughter indicates the daughter is deceased.

     5.    DIED (Mrs. Nancy Eccles), The Protestant and Herald, Kentucky, 22 February 1844; TheOldenTimes.com - Historic Newspapers Online, digital images (http://theoldentimes.com/nancyeccles44ky.html : accessed 28 March 2011.)

     6.    Collection of J.T.N. inherited from his grandmother, photographed by the author.

         7.    Linda Ramsey Ashley and Elizabeth Tapp Wills, Funeral Notices: Lexington, Ky., 1806-1887 (Rochester, Mich.: L. Ashley, 1982). Digitized and available online through the Lexington Public Library , Funeral Notices Collection: http://www.lexpublib.org/funeral-notices-collection.

    8.    James M. Duff, compiler, Duffs Funeral Notices Scrap Book, 1806-1887 (Lexington, KY: Lexington Public Library, 2002), Eleanora, daughter of Philip Coffman card; digital images Kentuckiana Digital Library (http://name.kdl.kyvl.org/929-3 : accessed 27 March 2011).

    9.    Jonathon Jeffrey, “Final Summons: Funeral Cards in the Kentucky Library of Western Kentucky University,” Kentucky Ancestors 37:74 (2001).

   10.    Alexander Eckles funeral invitation, 1823; Funeral Ephemera F526, Kentucky Library & Museum, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY; photocopy in files of the author.

   11.    Scott County, Kentucky; Manuscript Tax Lists, Kentucky State Historical Society, Frankfort; FHL microfilm 8,221; Alexander Eckles entries: 1816 Tax List, p. 20; 1817, p.11, Capt. Tilford; no 1818 Tax List; FHL microfilm 8,222; Alexander Eckles entries: 1819, p. 22; 1820; 1821, p. 24; 1822; 1823; no 1824 Tax List; Nancy Eckles entry, 1825.

   12.    Birchfield, A Collection of Lexington, Kentucky, Funeral Invitations (1802-1846), 17.

   13.    Died (Alexander Adams), Kentucky Gazette and General Advertiser, Lexington, Ky., 15 January 1805, p. 3, col. 1; Kentuckiana Digital Library, digital images (http://athena.uky.edu/newspapers.html: accessed 2 September 2011).

   14.    Ann Bolton Bevins and J. Robert Snyder, editors, Scott County Church Histories: A Collection (Georgetown, Ky.: Scott County Bicentennial Committee, 1979), 57.

   15.    Pers. comm. from former church Sessions R.R.S., 1 September 2011.

Eason Heirs of Alexander Adams (ca. 1719 – 1805)

Alexander Adams, an early settler in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, died there on 12 January 1805 at the age of 85.[1] His will, written 23 December 1799, was proven in the Fayette County Court in the May 1805 session and ordered to be recorded.[2] Later the will could not be found, but its terms are summarized in an 1829 deed from his daughter, Agnes Eckles.

Alexander’s widow Ann Adams was left a life interest in the estate which was to be equally divided after her death among three daughters, Mary Milligan, Jane Eason, and Eleanor Steele and his grandson, Alexander Eckles, son of his daughter Agnes Eckles.[3]

Alexander Eckles sold his future share of the estate to Fulton Thompson on 18 June 1812.[4] When the will could not later be found, Agnes Eckles executed another deed to Thompson on 5 March 1829 relinquishing any claim to the estate that would have been hers without the will.

In 1831 the shares of Mary Milligan and the heirs of Jane Eason were sold to Charlton Hunt and Richard A. Curd. One deed sold the share of Alexander “Eson” and his wife Jane of Owen County, Indiana, on 13 August 1831. It specified that he was one of the children and heirs of Jane “Eson,” deceased and her husband Robert “Eson,” also deceased. The deed was recorded in Fayette County, Kentucky, on 30 December 1831.[5]

A single deed, dated 10 June 1831, sold the shares of John Milligan and Mary his wife, daughter of Alexander Adams and additional heirs of Jane “Eson,” daughter of Alexander Adams, all of the State of Pennsylvania. Their names and locations were:

• John Milligan, Esquire, and wife Mary of Westmoreland County
• John Eason and wife Elizabeth of Indiana County
• John Patton and wife Jane of Centre County
• Nancy Eason of Centre County
• Henry Hughes and wife Margaret of Lycoming County
• Samuel Shaffer and wife Elizabeth of Lycoming County

This sale was also to Hunt and Curd of Lexington, Kentucky.[6]

The share of Eleanor Steele was not accounted for in these deeds. Robert Eason and his wife Jane (nee Adams) were both deceased by 1831 when the deeds were executed. All of their surviving children may be included in these two deeds. All of them lived in Pennsylvania except Alexander Eason who lived in Owen County, Indiana.

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[1] Died (Alexander Adams), Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, Kentucky, 15 January 1805, p. 3.

[2] Order Book 1: 274, probate of will of Alexander Adams, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.

[3] Deed Book 5: 112, Agnes Eckles to Fulton Thompson, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.

[4] Deed Book G: 62, Alexander Eckles to Fulton Thompson, 1812, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.

[5] Deed Book 7: 435-36, Alexander & Jane Eason, heirs of Alexander Adams to Hunt & Curd, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.

[6] Deed Book 7: 436-48, Eason & Milligan heirs of Alexander Adams to Hunt & Curd, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.

Thriller Thursday: William Ackles Murdered 1789

This is as much mystery as thriller as I do NOT know who William Ackles was. Using abstracts to the Kentucky Gazette and the online index to it at the Kentuckiana Digital Library I have searched for everything on the surname Eckles and its spelling variations. I find no news article on this murder, but it made the paper when the court issued an alert that the perpetrator had fled with a directive to apprehend him. The Kentucky frontier of 1789 was an outpost of Virginia and could be quite dangerous in many ways. Without details of William Ackles being stabbed to death by Thomas McMillin we are left to imagine the location and circumstances.

Kentucky Gazette, 2 January 1790, Lexington, Kentucky, p.2

My ancestor, Robert Eckles first has records appearing in Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1788. The surname often is spelled with an "A" or Ackles and many other variation with either initial. While others of the surname were in neighboring counties, all records in Fayette and its seat of Lexington, seem to be of Robert's family. Except for the stabbing death of William. It is an event I need to research, if possible, to see if William is also related. The County Clerk had records in his home when it burned in 1803, but I have to learn whether that included criminal proceedings.

Robert's youngest son, born 1800 or later, was named William. As William is a common name, it is too early to believe this naming supports a connection to the murdered man.

Mystery Monday: Everyone Knew Her As Nancy – but her name was AGNES!

While I think I've solved part of this mystery, some is unresolved and now there are new mysteries. Last year I created a scrapbook page about three generations in my family all named Nancy. It makes for some interesting problems in identification.

An example of the identity problem begins with a book transcribing funeral invitations including one for a Mrs. Nancy Eckles in 1839. The transcriber attributed it to the first wife of Charles Eckles of Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky. (Marie Dickore, compiler, Copies of Names on Invitations to Funerals and Burials In Scott County and Fayette County, Kentucky, 1821 - 1898 (Cincinnati, Ohio: n.pub., 1942), 8.) Based on other evidence I came to believe his wife had died earlier and that the 1839 death was really his mother. On a recent trip to Kentucky I found an item seeming to confirm that Charles' wife died earlier (see below.)

A big surprise about her name awaited in the County Clerk's office in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. A series of wills appears to show that Nancy (Boyd) Eckles was named Agnes but mostly called Nancy. Look at the names of daughters and sons in the wills of John Boyd (who seemed NOT to be her father with no child Nancy), John's widow Martha and their unmarried daughter Mary. John's will was written before Nancy Boyd married Charles Eckles in 1816 in Fayette County with bondsman James McIsaac. James McIsaac was married to John Boyd's daughter Martha and thus was Nancy's brother-in-law.

John and Martha both signed with their mark. John Boyd had been the most likely candidate for her father, so it is especially rewarding to find that he apparently was the one. Information on nicknames (History and Genealogy Unit, “A Listing Of Some 18th and 19th Century American Nicknames,” Connecticut State Library (http://www.cslib.org/nickname.htm: accessed 31 August 2011).) claims that Nancy could be a nickname for Agnes. The consistent list of names over the three wills seems to agree with that. The mother's will uses a number of nicknames for her other children as well. Another document tying Nancy to John Boyd is a guardian report by Charles Eckles in Scott County, KY. (Charles Eckles guardian report (recorded 17 January 1831), Scott County Will Book E, Part 2: 161, Scott County Clerk's Office, Georgetown, KY.) He received payment from the estate of John Boyd on 27 January 1830 as guardian of Mary and Nancy Eckles. They were his daughters. This seems to imply that their mother, the named heir of John Boyd, was probably deceased by this time and her daughters were receiving her inheritance.

Next question: was her mother-in-law really Agnes too?