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I absolutely could not have found this information on my own; and I extend to you my sincere thanks and appreciation.I don't think it gets much better than this

(OM, Quebec)

Adam Family Research

Research Summary

The information provided was that George Adam was born on 25th November 1855 in Glasgow. His parents were Thomas Adam and Martha Thomson. Some time around 1870, George emigrated to the US.

The brief was to find information on George and his family from the Scottish records.

I have found the Adam family in the Scottish records. I have also found evidence that George’s parents were living in New Jersey in 1880 and at least one of his brothers was still there in 1920.

Research Detail

Since the information on George Adam’s birth date and parents’ names came from his death certificate, I was fairly sure it was accurate and started the research by looking for George’s birth.

I found his birth, which matched the information given. The full details are:-

Reference 644/4, Year 1855, Parish Calton, Glasgow, Entry 1569
Name/Sex	George Adam, Male
Date/Place	25th November 1855, 9:30pm, 6 Suffolk Street, Glasgow
Father	Thomas Adam, Spirit Merchant, aged 30, born in Lesmahagow parish
Mother	Martha Adam, maiden surname Thomson, aged 32, born in New Lanark, her 6th child
Parents' Marriage	1844, New Lanark. 1 boy and 3 girls living and 1 boy deceased from marriage
Informant	Thomas Adam, Father, present
Registered	29th November 1855, Glasgow

1855 was the first year of compulsory statutory registration and for that year alone, we get more information than on later birth certificates. So, as well as the date and place of George’s birth and his parents’ names, we also know that his father Thomas was born in about 1825 in Lesmahagow. Thomas was a Spirit Merchant. Martha was born in about 1823 in New Lanark. Thomas and Martha married in 1844 (although as we shall see later, it was actually 1845) and George was their sixth child, with one deceased.

To find the names of George’s siblings, I looked first at the 1861 census. This has the family as follows:-

Census Year 1861, Parish Calton, Glasgow, Ref 644/4, Enum Book 31, Page 10
Address - 15 South St. Mungo St.
Name	Rel	Mar	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Thomas Adam	Head	Mar	35	Wine and Spirit Merchant (Master)	Lanarkshire, Kirkfieldbank
Martha Adam	Wife	Mar	37		Lanarkshire, Lanark
Jane Adam	Dau		13	Dressmaker (Appr.) Lanarkshire, Kirkfieldbank
Allison Adam	Dau		11	Scholar	Lanarkshire, Glasgow
Thomas Adam	Son		9	Scholar	Lanarkshire, Calton
Isabella Adam	Dau		7	Scholar	Lanarkshire, Calton
George Adam	Son		4		Lanarkshire, Calton
Martha Adam	Dau		5m		Lanarkshire, Calton
Catherine Mace	Serv	Wid	23	Domestic Servant	Lanarkshire, Baillieston

From this entry, we have the additional information that Thomas was born in Kirkfieldbank, which is in Lesmahagow parish. The family must have lived at Kirkfieldbank for a short time after they married as their oldest surviving child, Jane, was born there. The other children were all born in Glasgow (Calton and Baillieston are districts in Glasgow).

George’s birth certificate said that he was Thomas and Martha’s sixth child, with one deceased. The census gives us the names of the four surviving older children – Jane, Allison, Thomas and Isabella. As mentioned earlier, it was not compulsory to register births before 1855. Those that were registered are mainly in the Old Parochial Registers (OPRs). I checked the OPR index and there is no sign of the births of the older children.

After George, I found the following births, which I have summarised:-

Name	Date of Birth	Address	Reference
Martha	26 Oct 1858	15 South St Mungo Street	644/4, Entry 1611
Martha Thomson	16 Oct 1860	15 South St Mungo Street	644/4, Entry 1325
Archibald	28 Jan 1863	15 South St Mungo Street	644/4, Entry 163
Robert Thomson	9 may 1865	15 South St Mungo Street	644/4, Entry 593
Elizabeth	6 Jun 1866	15 South St Mungo Street	644/4, Entry 764

The first child named Martha died of British Cholera on 26th August 1859 (Ref 644/4, Entry 681). Robert Thomson died of Meningitis on 12th March 1866 (Ref 644/4, Entry 233). Elizabeth died of congestion of the Bowels and Brain on 23rd June 1866 (Ref 644/4, Entry 549).

So, the surviving children were Jane, Allison, Thomas, Isabella, George, Martha(2) and Archibald.

Although there was no record of the births of the older children in the OPRs, there was a record of the marriage of Thomas and Martha. This was recorded in both the Lesmahagow and the Lanark OPR. It was common for marriages to be registered in the home parish of both the bride and the groom. Although the OPR entry states that Martha was residing in Lesmahagow at the time, we know that she was originally from Lanark.

The OPR entries are as follows:-

OPR for Lesmahagow, Ref 649/5, Frame 1200

Thomas Adam and Martha Thomson both in this Parish were booked for proclamation of Banns 18th July 1845, were proclaimed 21st (sacrament Monday), 27th of said month and 3rd August 1845.

OPR for Lanark, Ref 648/6, Frame 1979

Thomas Adam of the parish of Lesmahagow and Martha Thomson of this parish were proclaimed 20th July 1845.

Next, I looked for the birth of Thomas (senior). We know that he was born in Kirkfieldbank in about 1825. Although we do not know the names of his parents, I did check the OPR index and there was no match for his birth.

I then tried to find a possible match for his family in the earlier censuses. There is an index to the 1851 census for Lesmahagow. Using this index I found one entry for a Janet Adam, aged 30 and working as a Pirn Winder. She was born in Lesmahagow. With her was her daughter Jean Caldwell aged 3 and born in Greenock. Just three doors away was the following family:-

Census Year 1851, Parish Lesmahagow, Ref 649, Enum Book 3, Page 11
Address - Dublin Row
Name	Rel	Mar	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Archibald Adam	Head	Mar	53	Hand Loom Weaver Cotton	Lanarkshire, Cambuslang
Jean Adam	Wife	Mar	63		Berwickshire, Lauder
Alexander Morton	Gson		7	Scholar	Lanarkshire, Cambuslang

There was no-one else with the surname of Adam in the parish. Dublin Row did not appear to be within Kirkfieldbank, but it was certainly very close as far as the census entries are concerned.

My thought was that Archibald and Jean were probably Thomas Adam’s parents and Janet was his sister. To check this, I then looked for Archibald in the 1841 census. I found him and his family as follows:-

Census Year 1841, Parish Lesmahagow, Ref 649, Enum Book 17, Page 4
Address - Dublin Row
Name	Age	Occupation	Born in County?
Archibald Adam	44	Cotton H.L.W.	Yes
Jean Adam	54		No
Archd. Adam	21	Cotton H.L.W	Yes
Thomas Adam	15		Yes
Margaret Adam	13		Yes

Although relationships were not given in the 1841 census, I think we can be fairly sure that Archibald junior, Thomas and Margaret were the children or Archibald senior and Jean. Thomas’ age matches his approximate birth date and I am sure this is the right family. Archibald and Jean were, therefore, George Adam’s paternal grandparents.

To try to trace back a further generation, I looked for the death of Archibald senior. Unfortunately, he must have died before 1855 and so, even if I could find a record of his death in the OPRs, it would not give the names of his parents. His wife Jean died on 1st October 1864 at Kirkfieldbank. Her son, Archibald, was the informant but he did not know the names of her parents (Ref 649, Entry 140).

Going back to Thomas and Martha, since Thomas appeared to be in business for himself, I looked in the Trade Directories for an entry for him.

The 1861, 1862 and 1863 Glasgow Trade Directories show Thomas Adam, Wine and Spirit Merchant at 171 Gallowgate. His home address was 15 South St Mungo Street.

There was no entry in 1864.

From 1865 to 1869, Thomas’ premises were at 74 Nelson Street. His home address was still 15 South St Mungo Street.

There was no entry in the Trade directories after 1879.

There was also no sign of Thomas, Martha or their children in Scotland in the 1881 census or later. It, therefore, seemed likely that the whole family left Scotland in 1870.

I then checked the 1880 census for the United States. I found a probable entry for Thomas and Martha in Paterson, Passaic, New Jersey. There was a Thomas Adam, aged 54 and born in Scotland. He was a Saloon Keeper. Martha was 55 and born in Scotland and with them was their grandson Thomas, aged 6 and born in New Jersey. (Film Number T9-0796, Page 267A).

I could not find any sign of the rest of the family in the 1881 census, however I did find an Archibald Adam aged 56 and born in Scotland in Paterson, Passaic, New Jersey in the 1920 census. With Archibald were his wife Mary, aged 52 and son Clarence aged 25. Archibald’s date of arrival in the US was given as 1870 and the year of his naturalization was 1885 (Film Number T625_1066, Page 6A).

Given all this evidence I am sure that the 1880 census entry was for George’s parents and the 1920 census entry was for his brother Archibald.

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