The Adams Farm on Northline Road
by Winifred Palmateer – May 1992
(Oliver Adams was a gr-gr-gr-grandfather of Winifred)

Oliver Adams bought this farm of 112 acres in 1791. He had first lived in Dunstable, Massachusetts and was one of the first to take up arms in the Revolution. After the war, he started "west".

Oliver Adams born at Old Dunstable N.H. (now in Massachusetts!), died in Charlton, N.Y. He married Mrs. Catharine Battes in Dunstable. (No one knows whether "Mrs." Was a title of respect or whether she was a widow.

Records from The National Archives, Washington, D.C. show:

1. During the Revolution, Oliver Adams resided at Dunstable.
2. 1781 – moved to Sterling, Mass., lived there about 3 years.
3. About 1784 – to Rockingham, Vermont for about 2 years
4. Then here to Charlton, NY

However, apparently on the way, he spent some time with relatives in Rensselaer County. Records I received from Lutheran Church at Center Brunswick, Town of Brunswick showed that Elizabeth Adams was born in Rensselaer Co. on August 12, 1787. We know he was in Charlton in 1791 and that they had 4 children when they got here. After they got here, they had 2 more.

About 20 years or so after they came here, the 3 older boys, Warren, Cummings, and William, left, and first went to the Johnstown area, and later on they settled in different places, but not far from each other. William Adams went to Franklinville and had 14 children. Cummings Adams went to Farmersville and had 6 children. Polly Adams who married John Clark went to Erin, Chemung County. They had 5 children. Elizabeth married John Smith and secondly married John Hughes. Do not know where they went. Warren went on to Dundas, Canada. Eventually relatives seemed to have lost track of him.

However, a Glen Warren Adams from Echo Bay, Ontario, Canada (near Sault St. Marie, Canada) found me through Frank Lafforthun a few years ago. We had corresponded a while and last year in May 1991, he and his wife Joyce came from Canada and visited a few days. He had been very ill with cancer but it was then in a state of remission. In late fall he got very ill again and passed away in January 1992.

He was a descendant of the Warren Adams who lived on the Adams Farm. He was so happy that Mr. Putsavage, who now owns the Adams place, had given permission for us to go up in his yard. When we got back here, the thing that pleased Glen most of all was that he had been able to walk on the steps to the house where Oliver Adams had once walked!

By the time that brick house had been built, Glen’s ancestor Warren had been gone for probably 15 or more years and, I expect, never saw that house.

Don’t you just marvel at how those early settlers came into this vast forest area covered with huge trees (no underbrush) and cleared the land of trees AND stumps and turned it into farmland? Oh, yes, don’t forget the rocks and stones they moved, and, to get rid of them, used them for fences, or sometimes threw them into a huge rock pile. (There were two rock piles on one of my grandfather’s fields). (I’ve never yet figured out HOW they made a split-rail fence stand up!)

Talk about work! They had no buildings when they came. The women had to work just as hard. If we think about it, we will begin to appreciate the conveniences we have today.

Now … to get back to Joel Adams’ house! When he and Nancy Hallowell were married, they first bought 50 acres off the south end of his father Oliver’s farm and built a house somewhere near the southeast corner of the farm. Then, I suppose, because of his father’s advancing age, Joel bought the rest of the farm and built the brick house and lived there. He would have been in his early 30’s then – born 1796.

Cousin Marion said she could remember seeing the old buildings there and both our son George, and grandson Tom Palmateer know where the old well was.

Oliver and Catharine are buried on the farm – west side of Cook Road – where the cemetery sign is.

From an old letter we know Joel Adams was buried there. I don’t know about Nancy Hallowell Adams, but we do know some of the Adams were buried there and later moved to the West Charlton Cemetery – not Oliver and Catharine though.

Until about 1865 there was also a Cook Cemetery across the road on the east side of Cook Road. Those bodies were moved to Ashley Cemetery – (Joseph Cook and his family).

Our father always referred to that hill as Burying Ground Hill.

I plan to write in more detail about those cemeteries.