THE MYSTERY OF THE ADAMS FAMILY GIFT

 

Lyman H. Adams was born in Wilton, Maine,  in 1843, and was only 18 years old at the advent of the Civil War.  It is possible that he may have met and bonded with Colonius Morse, originally from Industry, Maine, a small town very close to Wilton – during their wartime experiences. (Colonius Morse was Emma Brockelbank's father).

 

Lyman married his wife Ellen in 1866, the year after the Civil War ended.  They, like Colonius and his wife Martha, settled in Georgetown to raise their family.  He died in 1909 of “senile dementia” which was contributed, in the opinion of the M.E., by “irritation from a bullet wound received in Civil War” (see below).  After 40 years of headaches and a short-circuiting nervous system, Lyman had finally succumbed to his Civil War injury. 

 

In 1912, Lyman’s widow, Ellen and their five children carved off nine acres of their property in Georgetown and gave it to Colonius’s daughter Emma for $1.00.  This suggests a bond between the Adams and Morse families that may have begun when Lyman and Colonius served together during the Civil War (or even earlier, if they knew each other in Maine).  From the deed:  Widow Ellen and children Harry, Sadie, Wallace, Bertha and Bernice give Emma a great gift:

 

Know all men by these presents that we, Ellen S. Adams widow of Lyman H. Adams, Harry O. Adams, Sadie E. Spaulding wife of Charles C. Spaulding,. Wallace E. Adams, and Bertha E. Pingree wife of George H. Pingree, all of Georgetown in the County of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Bernice W. Adams wife of Charles A. Adams of Jay in the County of Franklin and State of Maine, in consideration of One Dollar and other valuable considerations paid by Emma F. Brockelbank, wife of Wendell C. Brockelbank of said Georgetown,