Fifteenth Generation

29844. Jeremy ADAMS⁹⁰ was born in 1604/5 in England. He died on Aug 11, 1683 in Hartford, CT. Jeremy Adams is said to have come over with Thomas Hooker, settling with him first in Braintree, then in Cambridge, and finally going with him to Hartford. In Cambridge he was freeman, 6 May, 1635. He is listed among the Hartford freemen 13 October, 1669. In the Connecticut Colonial Records he is first mentioned as joined with Captain Mason in a mission to the Warronocke Indians "to know why they are affraide of us," 5 April, 1638. In 1639(1) he married Rebecca, widow of Samuel Greenhill, and came into possession of the Greenhill property in Hartford by giving bond to pay the Greenhill children when they came of age. He sold his own house and lot to Thomas Catlin. In 1651 he purchased a lot of John Steel on the east side of Main Street and kept a tavern there for years,(2) the well in front of the inn being used for more than two hundred years. The colonial rules governing inns were most minute, some of them amusing. A servant must be kept to make a fire for a guest and to pull off his boots. Acording to Roberts, in Towns of the Connecticut Valley, p. 204, Adams was a famous character. "Hospitable, jolly, and full of deviltry in his youth when he began the duties of landlord, he settled down and became a solid, substantial, and prominent citizen." At his instigation Thomas Hosmer resisted the levy of the constable, for which Adams was formally censured by the General Court 5 March, 1644. In 1663 he was appointed master of customs. By special enactment it was provided that if Adams failed in any particulars of his duty, his license should not be forfeited, but he should continue in its possession at the discretion of the Court and be himself subject to censure, 13 March, 1662 -- a kind of probation. He was thus given a practical monopoly and had control of the wholesale and retail liquor trade of the colony. It is evident that Adams had what in these days is known in politics as a "pull." However, in 1679, he was fined forty shillings for failing to have placed a sign where strangers entering the town could see it. About this time he was obliged to mortgage his property to the colony. His wife died in 1678 and he married, in 1679, another Rebecca, widow of Andrew Warner jr., and daughter of John Fletcher. She died 25 June, 1715, aged seventy-seven. He died in 1683, willing his property to his grandson Zachariah Sanford who redeemed the inn in 16852 and was in charge of it in 1687 when with Andros the General Court held its famous charter meeting in the inn.


(1) Mention of Greenhill's will (Thomas, son of Samuel,) is made in
Connecticut Colonial Records 4 October, 1660. On 14 March, 1660(1),
Adams "did resigne all power of disposing ye estate (left by Thomas
Greenhill to Goodwife Adams) into his wives hands to be wholly at her
dispose."
(2)An account of the history and location of this tavern is found in
Colonial Records 3, p. 145. Jeremy ADAMS and Rebecca GREENHILL were married in Hartford, CT.

29845. Rebecca GREENHILL⁹⁰ was born about 1608. She died in 1678. Children were:

	i.	Hester ADAMS90 was born in 1622 in Hartford, CT.
	ii.	Ann ADAMS90 was born about 1626 in Hartford, CT. She died on Jul 12, 1682 in Hartford, CT.
	iii.	Hannah ADAMS90 was born about 1637 in Hartford, CT. She died in 1670 in Hartford, CT.
14922	iv.	John ADAMS.
	v.	Sarah ADAMS90 was born about 1641.
	vi.	Samuel ADAMS90 was born on Nov 23, 1645. He died in 1661.