Ann Adams' brothers (General)

by rookancestrybest , United Kingdom, Sunday, November 09, 2008, 06:41 (5870 days ago)

Ann Mary Ad[d]ams married Charles J Rook in the 1804s prior to them emigrating to Poughkeepsie, New York in the early 1850s. She died on 29th December 1900 but her husband died shortly after they arrived in the USA in the autumn of 1854.

I have known this for a while but I have now come to know that Ann had a brother called George, whose wife was probably called either Eliza or Elizabeth and children who also appear to have been living in Poughkeepsie.

I have also found out that Ann Adams had other brothers (no dates of birth for any of them)- John who died in 1858 after having been in Worcester Infirmary and described as "a miser" by his sister and having "a belt of avarice around his waist" (this brother left them all a legacy which led to Ann and one of her sons and probably one of George's sons returning to the Forest of Dean for two months from the USA in order to collect it).

Their other brothers were called James, William and Stephen and they had another brother Edward who died before 1858.

Can anyone shed any light as to why they emigrated and what made John's sister call him a miser?

Ann worked for a doctor as his housekeeper but I'm not sure whether she took on this job as a widow or whether she had worked for him prior to her husband's death. The librarian in Poughkeepsie has told me that there were no industries akin to those in the Forest of Dean i.e. no steel, coal or similar industries at that time and that it was a very quiet town.

John Adams left approximately £119 in his will which was shared between his living siblings and a few other relatives. I think that this must have been a considerable amount in the 1850s to have left.