John Q. Adams was born about 1802 in Virginia, according to the 1850 Saline Co., IL Census. The 1850 Federal Census was the first in the United States to list family members by name instead of the tradition of simply counting those living with the head of household. Because of this, we found John Q.'s wife, Ailsey. According to the same census, Ailsey, whose surname is still unknown, was born about 1813 in Georgia. In 1850 John Q. and Ailsey had 11 children. By the mid 1850's they had 13 children, and by 1860 John Q. was no longer listed with Ailsey in the census records. By 1865, according to military records of son Stephen Adams, both John Q. and Ailsey were claimed as deceased.
    Our Adams line in Southern Illinois began in Saline County after the family left their home in Kentucky; either Hopkinsville in Christian County or near Bowling Green in Warren County. Their youngest child at the time, Louisa (Harriet) Adams, was born the same year the census was taken but recorded as having been born in Kentucky. The 1850 Census is as follows:

Adams, John, 48, M, Laborer, VA
Adams, Ailsey, 37, F, GA
Adams, Anderson, 18, M Laborer, TN
Adams, Letty A., F, 16, TN
Adams, Thomas, 14, M, TN
Adams, Alexander, 13, M, TN
Adams, Sarah, 12, F, KY
Adams, Stephen, 10, M, KY
Adams, John, 8, M, KY
Adams, Eliza, 6, F, KY
Adams, Ailsey, 5, F, KY
Adams, Delpha, 1, F, KY
Adams, Louisa H., 1/12, F, KY

    When the family reached Illinois, John Q. was listed as a laborer, not a farmer as would later become the family trade. According to family letters, an Adams (assumed to be John Q. but not definite) would travel up river to Ohio to stock a barge with items that he would float back down to Southern Illinois to trade.
    With the onset of the Civil War, two of the Adams boys, Alexander and Stephen, left home near Phillipstown in White County to enlist in New Haven in Gallatin County. The brothers were assigned to the same unit, 7th Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, Company G. Along the way they were evidently separated. Alexander was recorded as having acute bronchitis which rendered him unfit for duty, and Stephen served throughout much of the war and returned home to White County, where he died in the mid-1860's.
    It was during the 1860's that two older Adams brothers, Anderson and Thomas, made their way from White County to Jackson County, Makanda Township. Anderson bought 40 acres of land in 1865 and Thomas followed with the purchase of another 40 acres, not far from Anderson. The brothers had also married two sisters, Nancy and Lavina Duncan, who were born in Kentucky. Several of John Q's children followed the brothers to the Jackson County area, where we find them listed in marriage records. Many of them are found in Williamson County as well, the land in Makanda bordering the Carterville and Grassy Township area.
    Anderson Adams died in 1900, and is buried at the North County Line Cemetery in Williamson County. His wife, Nancy, is believed to have died around the same time and is buried in the Carterville Community Cemetery in Williamson County. As of yet, no information has been found on the death and burial of Thomas Adams and his wife, Lavina. The 1900 Williamson County census, Eight Mile Precinct, lists Lavina as living with her son, Enoch.

    We currently have no documented evidence of John Q. Adams in Kentucky, Tennessee, or Virginia except through Illinois census records. Recent ancestors hint that the family originated in North or South Carolina when they reached the United States from England. We encourage any collaboration on this family. The following people are currently working on this line:
 

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