Samuel Haskel Adams was born in 1832 in Tennessee, the second of eight children born to Joshua Mackeltree Adams of Virginia and Margaret Sexton of North Carolina. His parents moved from Halifax County Virginia to Tennessee in the early 1820s. In the early 1830s the Alabama Territory opened to settlement and the family of migrated down to Pickens County Alabama where they bought a farm near the Tombigbee River in the old Spring Hill community west of Carrollton, Alabama. By 1841 Sam's family of ten had 400 acres of farm land.
Sam grew up as a fairly wild and rough young man. In his twenties in about 1855 he joined up with William Walker in an ill-fated expedition to take over Nicaragua. The so-called Walker Expedition held Nicaragua for several months until they were run out and Sam barely made it back to Alabama alive. Soon after that the Civil War started and Sam joined the 1st Battalion of Alabama Artillery. They served in the defense of Mobile for two years until they were captured. Sam was a prisoner of war on Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico and almost died from bad conditions and disease. He returned to his home county an angry, but more mature man. He helped his family grow crops and hunt for meat to survive.
After the Civil War Sam took up the trade of house painting and in the days when not may people painted their house he ranged far and wide for work. On one occasion went to Coosca County for a job and to visit relatives. He stayed with his cousin-in-law Delia Melton Adams, the widow of Samuel Greenberry Adams. Delia had a much younger sister Nancy that was not yet married. Sam took a liking to Nancy and he made several trips back and fourth to her house. On one occasion Sam and a friend got a little inebriated and broke up a revival meeting by Sam riding on his friends shoulders and bucking down the aisle swinging his his hat at people running everyone away. Nancy found out about this and thoroughly chastized him. However, she forgave Sam and on his final visit he proposed to her and they married in 1865. They borrowed a mule and buggy to return to Pickens County where he rented a farm near his parents place. Sam and Nancy lived in a one-room log cabin with one table, four chairs, a bed, and no door. At night they put the table up against the opening to block critters. They lit candles to see and cooked in the fireplace.
In the next six years Sam and Nancy had six children - Willie, Fannie, Josh, Sam Felto, Laura, and Mag. Sam had to buy four more chairs and a bed for his growing family. Sam and Nancy used one bed, the girls the other one, and the boys and the dog slept on a pile of cotton in the corner.
Sam was a farmer, but as time went on he turned back to house painting like his brother Sanford. While he was painting houses over in Walthall, Mississippi he decided he liked the area and talked Nancy into moving over there some day. When their two oldest boys, Willie and Josh, got into some trouble by disturbing the peace, rather than pay a fine, the whole family told their close kin goodbye and made the move to Webster County, Mississippi in 1884. They rented a farm two miles east of Walthall, on a hill just west of Double Branches Creek.
Sam continued to paint houses in the Euphoria and Walthall area and the other boys farmed. Nancy and the girls picked cotton. By 1888 all Sam's children married except Sam Felto, who eventually married in 1904.
The years go by and Sam and Nancy give up "housekeeping" and move in with their children. In January 1905 Samuel Haskel Adams passes away. His wife Nancy passes on in 1914. They are both buried in Hebron Cemetery in Walthall.
Sam grew up as a fairly wild and rough young man. In his twenties in about 1855 he joined up with William Walker in an ill-fated expedition to take over Nicaragua. The so-called Walker Expedition held Nicaragua for several months until they were run out and Sam barely made it back to Alabama alive. Soon after that the Civil War started and Sam joined the 1st Battalion of Alabama Artillery. They served in the defense of Mobile for two years until they were captured. Sam was a prisoner of war on Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico and almost died from bad conditions and disease. He returned to his home county an angry, but more mature man. He helped his family grow crops and hunt for meat to survive.
After the Civil War Sam took up the trade of house painting and in the days when not may people painted their house he ranged far and wide for work. On one occasion went to Coosca County for a job and to visit relatives. He stayed with his cousin-in-law Delia Melton Adams, the widow of Samuel Greenberry Adams. Delia had a much younger sister Nancy that was not yet married. Sam took a liking to Nancy and he made several trips back and fourth to her house. On one occasion Sam and a friend got a little inebriated and broke up a revival meeting by Sam riding on his friends shoulders and bucking down the aisle swinging his his hat at people running everyone away. Nancy found out about this and thoroughly chastized him. However, she forgave Sam and on his final visit he proposed to her and they married in 1865. They borrowed a mule and buggy to return to Pickens County where he rented a farm near his parents place. Sam and Nancy lived in a one-room log cabin with one table, four chairs, a bed, and no door. At night they put the table up against the opening to block critters. They lit candles to see and cooked in the fireplace.
In the next six years Sam and Nancy had six children - Willie, Fannie, Josh, Sam Felto, Laura, and Mag. Sam had to buy four more chairs and a bed for his growing family. Sam and Nancy used one bed, the girls the other one, and the boys and the dog slept on a pile of cotton in the corner.
Sam was a farmer, but as time went on he turned back to house painting like his brother Sanford. While he was painting houses over in Walthall, Mississippi he decided he liked the area and talked Nancy into moving over there some day. When their two oldest boys, Willie and Josh, got into some trouble by disturbing the peace, rather than pay a fine, the whole family told their close kin goodbye and made the move to Webster County, Mississippi in 1884. They rented a farm two miles east of Walthall, on a hill just west of Double Branches Creek.
Sam continued to paint houses in the Euphoria and Walthall area and the other boys farmed. Nancy and the girls picked cotton. By 1888 all Sam's children married except Sam Felto, who eventually married in 1904.
The years go by and Sam and Nancy give up "housekeeping" and move in with their children. In January 1905 Samuel Haskel Adams passes away. His wife Nancy passes on in 1914. They are both buried in Hebron Cemetery in Walthall.
Samuel Haskel Adams was born in 1832 in Tennessee, the second of eight children born to Joshua Mackeltree Adams of Virginia and Margaret Sexton of North Carolina. His parents moved from Halifax County Virginia to Tennessee in the early 1820s. In the early 1830s the Alabama Territory opened to settlement and the family of migrated down to Pickens County Alabama where they bought a farm near the Tombigbee River in the old Spring Hill community west of Carrollton, Alabama. By 1841 Sam's family of ten had 400 acres of farm land.
Sam grew up as a fairly wild and rough young man. In his twenties in about 1855 he joined up with William Walker in an ill-fated expedition to take over Nicaragua. The so-called Walker Expedition held Nicaragua for several months until they were run out and Sam barely made it back to Alabama alive. Soon after that the Civil War started and Sam joined the 1st Battalion of Alabama Artillery. They served in the defense of Mobile for two years until they were captured. Sam was a prisoner of war on Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico and almost died from bad conditions and disease. He returned to his home county an angry, but more mature man. He helped his family grow crops and hunt for meat to survive.
After the Civil War Sam took up the trade of house painting and in the days when not may people painted their house he ranged far and wide for work. On one occasion went to Coosca County for a job and to visit relatives. He stayed with his cousin-in-law Delia Melton Adams, the widow of Samuel Greenberry Adams. Delia had a much younger sister Nancy that was not yet married. Sam took a liking to Nancy and he made several trips back and fourth to her house. On one occasion Sam and a friend got a little inebriated and broke up a revival meeting by Sam riding on his friends shoulders and bucking down the aisle swinging his his hat at people running everyone away. Nancy found out about this and thoroughly chastized him. However, she forgave Sam and on his final visit he proposed to her and they married in 1865. They borrowed a mule and buggy to return to Pickens County where he rented a farm near his parents place. Sam and Nancy lived in a one-room log cabin with one table, four chairs, a bed, and no door. At night they put the table up against the opening to block critters. They lit candles to see and cooked in the fireplace.
In the next six years Sam and Nancy had six children - Willie, Fannie, Josh, Sam Felto, Laura, and Mag. Sam had to buy four more chairs and a bed for his growing family. Sam and Nancy used one bed, the girls the other one, and the boys and the dog slept on a pile of cotton in the corner.
Sam was a farmer, but as time went on he turned back to house painting like his brother Sanford. While he was painting houses over in Walthall, Mississippi he decided he liked the area and talked Nancy into moving over there some day. When their two oldest boys, Willie and Josh, got into some trouble by disturbing the peace, rather than pay a fine, the whole family told their close kin goodbye and made the move to Webster County, Mississippi in 1884. They rented a farm two miles east of Walthall, on a hill just west of Double Branches Creek.
Sam continued to paint houses in the Euphoria and Walthall area and the other boys farmed. Nancy and the girls picked cotton. By 1888 all Sam's children married except Sam Felto, who eventually married in 1904.
The years go by and Sam and Nancy give up "housekeeping" and move in with their children. In January 1905 Samuel Haskel Adams passes away. His wife Nancy passes on in 1914. They are both buried in Hebron Cemetery in Walthall.
Sam grew up as a fairly wild and rough young man. In his twenties in about 1855 he joined up with William Walker in an ill-fated expedition to take over Nicaragua. The so-called Walker Expedition held Nicaragua for several months until they were run out and Sam barely made it back to Alabama alive. Soon after that the Civil War started and Sam joined the 1st Battalion of Alabama Artillery. They served in the defense of Mobile for two years until they were captured. Sam was a prisoner of war on Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico and almost died from bad conditions and disease. He returned to his home county an angry, but more mature man. He helped his family grow crops and hunt for meat to survive.
After the Civil War Sam took up the trade of house painting and in the days when not may people painted their house he ranged far and wide for work. On one occasion went to Coosca County for a job and to visit relatives. He stayed with his cousin-in-law Delia Melton Adams, the widow of Samuel Greenberry Adams. Delia had a much younger sister Nancy that was not yet married. Sam took a liking to Nancy and he made several trips back and fourth to her house. On one occasion Sam and a friend got a little inebriated and broke up a revival meeting by Sam riding on his friends shoulders and bucking down the aisle swinging his his hat at people running everyone away. Nancy found out about this and thoroughly chastized him. However, she forgave Sam and on his final visit he proposed to her and they married in 1865. They borrowed a mule and buggy to return to Pickens County where he rented a farm near his parents place. Sam and Nancy lived in a one-room log cabin with one table, four chairs, a bed, and no door. At night they put the table up against the opening to block critters. They lit candles to see and cooked in the fireplace.
In the next six years Sam and Nancy had six children - Willie, Fannie, Josh, Sam Felto, Laura, and Mag. Sam had to buy four more chairs and a bed for his growing family. Sam and Nancy used one bed, the girls the other one, and the boys and the dog slept on a pile of cotton in the corner.
Sam was a farmer, but as time went on he turned back to house painting like his brother Sanford. While he was painting houses over in Walthall, Mississippi he decided he liked the area and talked Nancy into moving over there some day. When their two oldest boys, Willie and Josh, got into some trouble by disturbing the peace, rather than pay a fine, the whole family told their close kin goodbye and made the move to Webster County, Mississippi in 1884. They rented a farm two miles east of Walthall, on a hill just west of Double Branches Creek.
Sam continued to paint houses in the Euphoria and Walthall area and the other boys farmed. Nancy and the girls picked cotton. By 1888 all Sam's children married except Sam Felto, who eventually married in 1904.
The years go by and Sam and Nancy give up "housekeeping" and move in with their children. In January 1905 Samuel Haskel Adams passes away. His wife Nancy passes on in 1914. They are both buried in Hebron Cemetery in Walthall.
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