Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

was made a freeman in October, 1681
was captain of the train band at the north
end of Wethersfield in September, 1689;
was deputy 1690-91-92-93-94, 1697-98-99-
1700-01, in 1704-05, 1 707-08-09-10- 1 1- 12-
13-14. He also served as commissioner,
justice of the peace and member of the
Council, and died June 22, 1714. His
house was one of those fortified for pro-
tection against Indian attacks in 1704.
He married, June 9, 1675, Elizabeth Good-
rich, born 1658, died February 17, 1698,
daughter of William and Sarah (Marvin)
Goodrich.
Their third son, Joseph Wells, born in
September, 1680, lived in Wethersfield,
where he was lister in 1712, collector in
1715, and died in 1744. He married, January
6, 1709, Hannah Robbins, born June
10, 1688. daughter of Captain Joshua and
Elizabeth (Butler) Robbins.
Their second son, Joseph Wells, born
September 17, 1720, in Wethersfield, made
his home in that town, and died April 1,
1788. He married, in March, 1745, Mary
Robbins, born June 24, 1721, died November
8, 1797, daughter of Samuel and Lucy
(Wolcott) Robbins.
Their third son, Elisha Wells, born
January 10, 1751, was a soldier of the
Revolution, in which he saw hard service,
and which so greatly impaired his health
as to cause his death at the age of forty-
five years on December 23, 1796. He par-
ticipated in the battles of of Bunker Hill
and Trenton. He married, November 12,
1772, Sarah Balch, who was born April
1, 1751, in Hartford, and died March 4,
1823, daughter of Ebenezer and Sarah
(Belding) Balch. Their daughter, Mary,
became the wife of William Adams, as
above noted.
Russell Adams, third son of William
and Mary Adams, was born January 8,
1807, in Wethersfield, where he was very
active in the management of local affairs,
;
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
374
represented the town in the Legislature in
1852 and 1858, and died June 28, 1885.
He married, November 26, 1829, Mercy
Miller Griswold, born March 2, 1809,
daughter of Josiah and Charlotte (Adams)
Griswold, died August 31, 1865.
Alfred Russell Adams, eldest surviving
son of Russell and Mercy M. (Griswold)
Adams, was born April 6, 1838, on Har-
ris Hill, Wethersfield. He attended the
country schools, and after one winter at
an academy in New York, he attended the
Wethersfield High School until twenty
years of age, when he started out to support
himself. For some time he was em-
ployed as a guard at the State Peniten-
tiary in Wethersfield ; was afterwards
employed as carpenter and a painter. For
over thirty years he was station agent of
the railroad at South Wethersfield, filling
this position consecutively for twenty-
nine years, from 1880 to 1909, when he
retired from active life. He is a man of
domestic nature, cares little for public
concerns, is a member of the Wethersfield
Congregational Church. When he first
became a voter, he was a supporter of
the Whig party, and has been a Republi-
can since the organization of that party.
He married, December 25, 1856, in Brooklyn,
Marguerite Jane Tiebout, born May
9, 1837, in New York City, daughter of
John H. and Martha (Haford) Tiebout,
natives respectively of New York and
Wethersfield. Her paternal ancestry is
traced to an early period in the History
of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Adams were
the parents of a son and daughter: Al-
fred Leslie, born May 7, 1864, engaged in
the lumber business, residing in New
York ; and Cornelia Tiebout. born April
23, 1870. married James Frederick Hunter,
lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Leslie Emerson Adams, fourth child of
Russell and Mercy M. (Griswold) Adams,
was born February 25, 1847, m Wethers-