Of Wagons, Indians and Gold – Part II

Continuing Alan McAdam's story of his mysterious uncle, James McAdams. You can read the first part here.

One of two scenarios takes place here.  Either James had told something of a tall tale to his brother, with respect to this Indian story, or Gum and Robert were attempting to pull a fast one, as I found out later on (keep reading), that James was just a hired driver for this trek – the losses were not his, personally.

Then I found a probate report from Madison County, Montana.  This record makes for some pretty good reading.  The court appointed administrator determined that James owed quite a bit of money and his assets were not worth that much.  He had stake in two different gold mines, but the administrator could not get bids on either holding.  There are genealogical goodies in this report though.  At one point the administrator writes:  “Refusing to retire from the contest bootless, I contacted a cousin of the deceased, Robert Renshaw of Deer Lodge, MT.”  This would be Robert McAdams Renshaw, son of Hosea Renshaw and James’ aunt, Nancy.

What little personal property James had went to his landlord. Charges of the newspaper were settled with an old buffalo robe belonging to James. 

Again, I wonder if James inflated his gold mining success to his brothers.  Newspaper articles at the time said that Gum and Robert T. went to Montana to settle his estate.  Surely they would not have made that trip had they known that their brother had no estate worth exploring.  Maybe James had borrowed money from them after inflating his own wealth?  There were unpaid doctor bills and a claim against the estate by Robert McAdams for $245.00.

Here comes the good part in my research on old James:  I was just doing some idle “Googling” on the internet, and had plugged in James McAdams, Mules, and Freight.  I came up with excerpts from an autobiography written by a Utah pioneer named L. H. Kennard.  This man was a Civil War veteran from Ohio.  After the War he came west, first to Missouri.  Along the way, he became friends with our James McAdams, and together they made a trek from Sonora MO., via Brownsville and Omaha, NE to Salt Lake City.  Our James went from Salt Lake on to Montana.  Mr. Kennard at first intended to follow him, but ended up staying in Salt Lake, marrying a Mormon woman and converting to that faith.

Mr. Kennard’s story tells of when he and James McAdams shared travel time together.  His arrival in St. Joseph makes some good reading. He walked from St. Joe to Atchison County to save travel expense, spent some time teaching school, and made a foolhardy trek across the Missouri River on thin ice! 

What I love about this story is that it comes close to bringing our James to life!  When Mr. Kennard decided to go west, he had no idea how he was going, he just took off.  He took a steamboat from Sonora up the river.  At the Nebraska City wharf, he found James McAdams, the only familiar face in sight.  James had been in Nebraska City a few days boarding.  One gets the sense that if you weren’t working a steamboat whistle would draw all the locals to the wharf to see who was getting off the boat.  You can almost hear James speak as he invites L. H. Kennard to come west with him and share expenses.

I sometimes wonder why James stayed so long in Montana. According to what I’ve studied, the gold rush began playing out in the 1870s.  James is found in the 1870 census.  There are long lists of Chinese people.  The census taker evidently gave up understanding them, because there are pages where all that is written is “Chinaman”, no age, no names, followed by endless ditto marks. Many other trades are in Virginia City, Stage coach drivers, watch makers, wagon makers, and wheel makers.  The sheriff, jailers are listed as well as the inmate population.

By the 1880 census, the population had pared down quite a bit.   The census taker has even started recording some of the Chinese names. Several women are recorded with their trade; prostitute.  James is here, in a cabin in a residential neighborhood, families around him, still listed as a placer miner.

I suspect one of those life experiences where James manages to eke out enough gold to make a meager living, and just becomes too comfortable with neighbors to try moving on.  He must have stayed in contact with relatives, however.  In the early 1880s, I found a brief blurb in a Rock Port, MO newspaper.  It details how Thomas McAdams and Frank Shaver are leaving town for Virginia City, Montana.  Thomas would be Gum’s oldest son, the one who would go get his body in St. Joe in another 10 yrs.  Later on the same paper announces a letter from Thomas:  The boys have arrived in Virginia City, find work to be plentiful and high paying.  Their spirits are “way up yonder!”  In a few more weeks though, the boys are back home.  Maybe they did not like the Montana winters?

Wish I had a picture of James.  I have a couple copies of unidentified photos I’ve received from fellow researchers that may well be James; but they are not identified – just found with other McAdams photos.

Hope you enjoy these stories of a man that used to be largely forgotten – his only memento being an “old buffalo robe”. 

Note - Alan refers to an autobiography written by L. H. Kennard. The book, Leonidas Hamlin Kennard - his family : a selection of narrative histories, is available through the Family History Library. It has also been microfilmed.

Of Wagons, Indians and Gold

Years ago, when I first discovered genealogy message boards and RootsWeb, I was in touch with a wonderful McAdams family researcher. We shared information in the old fashioned way – snail mail. Through her I became aware of other McAdams researchers.

Recently one of those other McAdams researchers emailed me, Alan McAdams. I'd read articles he wrote in the now defunct McAdams Family Newsletter and knew what a wonderful researcher he was. We share a common ancestor – my 5^th great-grandfather Thomas McAdams (d. abt. 1813, Washington County, TN). While my family remained in Tennessee, his boarded flatboats and headed west, settling in Missouri. We've been emailing, exchanging information – actually he's been sharing and I've been oohing and aahing.

With Alan's permission I am sharing one of his McAdams stories. We seem to share a soft spot for our reverse orphan kinfolk.

Of Wagons, Indians and Gold

Or……When Life leaves you With Just an Old Buffalo Robe………..

James W. McAdams,  1836-1891

When I was growing up and we made trips to Tarkio’s Home Cemetery, my father would give us little history lessons detailing those buried on the “Home 40”.  Our beloved were interred in two different plots, each with 10 grave spots.  One plot, Dad referred to as the Wood Lots; these were purchased by Dad’s maternal grandfather, Francis Marion Wood.   The other plot was called the McAdams Lots, and was purchased by his paternal grandfather, William Montgomery, “Gum” McAdams.   Dad would give us a bit of history about each of the occupants, and then told us that he was aware of one grave that was not marked.  He did not know who was in it.  He said his uncles may have told him at one time, but he could not remember what they told him.

Years later, my oldest brother, Charles Miles McAdams “Bud” entered the genealogy field.  I went with him to the funeral home once, and we asked to see their records.  The mystery person was identified!  He was listed as “Mr. McAdams”. 

A few years later, Bud found a newspaper article from a March, 1891 edition of the Tarkio Avalanche.  Paraphrased, it went like this.  W.M. McAdams sent his eldest son, Tom to St. Joseph yesterday with a team to pick up the body of Mr. McAdams’ brother.  The brother will be interred in Tarkio until his relatives can pick him up.  This was done before copy machines, etc., so Bud only has his own transcription.  I tried some time ago to access this newspaper, but the newspaper told me these papers had been sent to the state archives for microfilming.  I’ve still not been able to find it in either location.  

When I entered genealogy, I solved some more of the puzzle.  I found a biographical sketch for Gum’s brother, Robert T. McAdams, a banker in Peru, NE.  In a family listing, Robert mentioned brother James Madison McAdams.  James was born in Tennessee, went to Colorado in 1849, to Montana in 1866, engaged in gold mining and in failing health, returned to die at the Ensworth Hospital in St. Joseph, MO.  With this information, my brother Bud, bought a temporary marker to put where we now knew James to be.  Hope we can find a way to fund a permanent marker eventually.

James was born in Washington County, TN. On 8 June, 1836 to William S. McAdams & Eleanor McNeal McAdams.  He had Brothers, James McNeal, Robert Thompson, and William Montgomery “Gum”, my g-grandfather.  Also a sister, Anna Eliza. The father, as well as having endeavors in farming and cabinetmaking, was also engaged in the flatboat trade with his brother Thomas, brother-in-law John McNeal and others.  He died in 1842, leaving his wife with five young children to what must have been a hardscrabble existence.  In 1853, these flatboat men loaded up their families and left East Tennessee for Sonora Missouri. Eleanor and her children, now teenagers, went along.  The McNeal history book says that Eleanor had property on the Southwest corner of Watson, MO.  According to land records I’ve found, that acreage was in Robert’s name.  The boys and Anna Eliza all eventually married, except for the subject of this sketch, James.  As far as I’ve determined, he remained a bachelor all of his life.  Can’t figure out the reference to “his folks” in the article Bud cited. 

Later on, I found a court document in Nemaha County, NE, Probate Court wherein Gum McAdams filed a claim for losses suffered to the late James M. McAdams under the Indian Deprivations Act of 1891. He detailed how James was an owner or part owner of a train of mule teams that was attacked by Indians in Western Nebraska and suffered losses claimed to be nearly $ 8,000 dollars.  Can’t find that anything ever came from this petition. 

The story is continued here.