SIXTH GENERATION

36. NELSON ADAMS ^{(2)(6) (7)} was born on 20 Sep 1809 in ROANE CO TN. He died on 19 Jun 1892 in CROSSVILLE, REYNOLDS CO, MO. He was buried in MT PLEASANT CEMETARY, GOODLAND, IRON CO, MO.
Nelson Adams, grew up in Tennessee on his father’s pioneer farm and somewhere in that area married Rebecca Stevens in 1830. In 1833, Nelson, Rebecca and two small sons, Matthew and Roe, moved to Missouri, traveling by wagon. He secured an improvement on the Middle Fork up stream from David’s place and settled there. David and Nelson’s homes were about one mile apart. When the United States Government opened up the land for
sale in about 1856, Nelson bought a large track extending from his original house up the valley about a mile. The price of the land at that time was twelve and one half cents per acre. Very little land was cleared when the family settled on the improvements, but during the years that followed he and his growing sons cleared a large acreage. When the older sons could plow Nelson put them to plowing and he cleared land as they
cultivated the crops. Matthew, the oldest of the children, told of fishing, before he was old enough to do much work, to supplement the food supply.
Nelson and Rebecca had twelve sons and three daughters.
In 1859, Nelson took the leadership in organizing the Central Missouri Association of the United Baptists. It was made up at the time of nine churches scattered over a good sized area, including Mount Pleasant Church. Other churches were added later to the Association. Nelson served as Moderator of the Association from 1859 through 1865 and again in 1867, 1868 and 1869. Because of Price’s raid in 1864,
the Association did not meet that year.
As Nelson’s children reached school age he started a school, hiring a teacher himself. The log school he built stood near the Sam Larue house and was the typical pioneer school building of the time in Missouri. This building was burned by the Bushwackers during the Civil War. Later Nelson and his sons built another log school on the bank by the Mount Pleasant Church Cemetery. Nelson learned to read and write along with his older children and became a preacher in the United Baptist Church, serving Mount Pleasant and other
churches in the Association for many years. Five of his sons became preachers in the United Baptist Church: Matthew, David, Zenas, John and Morris. After the school had existed for a few years as a private affair, Nelson helped organize a district and made the school part of the public school system. In the early days of the school, three of Nelson’s children served as teachers: Zenas, John and Sarah.
Nelson was a Whig in politics, and when the party ceased to be he became a Republican as soon as that party was organized. He, along with all of his sons who were old enough, voted for Lincoln in 1860. Morris was not old enough to vote then but he went along to the election and had a fight with a man who was talking against Lincoln. When the Civil War came Nelson was strongly for the Union along with his father, David. Six of his sons saw service with the Union Army: Zenas, John, Daniel, Marion, Morris and George. Nelson’s house, barn and other buildings with the exception of two log buildings were burned by the Bushwackers during the war. Nelson then took the family to Potosi for reasons of safety and remained there until 1866 when he had completed rebuilding.
Nelson’s wife Rebecca died in 1881. In 1884 he married Mrs. Henson, widow of Lige Henson, who had been a neighbor, and moved to a farm on the West Fork, where he died on 19 Jun 1892 at the age of 83. He is buried by Rebecca and his parents in the Mount Pleasant Church Cemetery.
Nelson was a stocky, blond man, some five feet ten or eleven inches tall and weighed around two hundred pounds. He was strong and muscular, capable of doing the hard work necessary to pioneering in Missouri at the time he lived. He was agressive, a hard worker, a good manager and a capable leader in his community. He was highly respected and considered a well-to-do man.

He was married to REBECCA STEPHENS in 1829 in TENNESSEE. REBECCA STEPHENS⁽⁷⁾ was born on 20 Aug 1809 in DAVIDSON CO TN. She died on 6 Oct 1881 in CROSSVILLE, REYNOLDS CO., MO. She was buried in MT PLEASANT CEMETARY, GOODLAND, IRON CO, MO. NELSON ADAMS and REBECCA STEPHENS had the following children:

+68 i. MATTHEW ADAMS.
+69 ii. MONROE (ROE) ADAMS.
70 iii. THOMAS ADAMS was born on 14 Jan 1834 in GOODLAND, IRON CO, MO. He died YOUNG CHILD.
+71 iv. DAVID S ADAMS.
+72 v. ZENAS (SEEN) ADAMS.
+73 vi. DR JOHN RHINE ADAMS.
+74 vii. DANIEL SIMON ADAMS.
+75 viii. FRANCIS MARION ADAMS.
+76 ix. MAURICE MORRIS ADAMS.
+77 x. SARAH JANE ADAMS.
+78 xi. GEORGE ADAMS.
+79 xii. WILLIAM P ADAMS.
+80 xiii. JAMES M ADAMS.
+81 xiv. ARTEMISSA (ARTIE) ADAMS.
+82 xv. EDITH CORDELIA ADAMS.