John Adams ( March 26, 1849) was an American shoemaker, veteran of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

who may be the earliest-born person to have been photographed alive. While he was never a President of the United States, he shares the name with two former presidents,

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

and

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

. He is however, a third cousin once removed with President Adams through

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

as a common ancestor, making John Quincy Adams his fourth cousin.

Biography

John Adams was born on in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, then part of

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...

, to Captain Thomas Adams and Lydia Chadwick. He moved to

Ashburnham, Massachusetts Ashburnham () is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 6,315. It is home to Cushing Academy, a private preparatory boarding school. Ashburnham contains the census-designated place ...

in 1766. There, Adams became a permanent resident and was frequently elected as a

selectman The select board or board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms. Three is the most common numb ...

and assessor. He married Joanna Munroe on July 9, 1770, in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

. After her death in 1822, Adams married Lucy Simonds Munroe, who was the widow of his first wife's half-brother. Adams fought in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the

. He enlisted in Whitcomb's Regiment for 10 days, shortly after the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot militias from America's Thirteen Co ...

on April 19, 1775. On July 6, 1780, Adams received a commission as a lieutenant in the 8th Worcester County Militia, where he served in Captain Francis Lane's company. Adams never applied for a

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

. Adams moved to

Harford, Pennsylvania Harford is an unincorporated community located in Harford Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atl ...

in his later life, where his son, James, lived. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, Adams returned to Ashburnham and posed for a

daguerreotype Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...

portrait, making him possibly the earliest-born person to have been photographed alive. His date of birth surpasses that of Conrad Heyer, who is often credited as the earliest-born person photographed. However, there are photographs of others who claimed to have been born earlier, including Baltus Stone, a veteran of the American revolution whose date of birth is given between 1743 and 1754,

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

, an enslaved man allegedly born in 1737 and a man named John Owen, supposedly born in 1735 or 1741. According to local accounts, Adams' hearing was perfect until two years before his death and he could read without glasses. A shoemaker, Adams made a pair of shoes for himself in his last year. Adams died on March 26, 1849, aged 104, in Harford.

Notes

References

External links

John Adams at findagrave.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John 1745 births 1849 deaths American men centenarians 18th-century American military personnel Massachusetts militiamen in the American Revolution People from Worcester, Massachusetts People from Ashburnham, Massachusetts History of photography American shoemakers People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph