When Abigail Adams was born on 7 January 1758, in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, her father, Sampson Adams, was 28 and her mother, Mary Burridge, was 23.
Do you know Abigail? Do you have a story about her that you would like to share? Sign In or Create a FREE Account
+3 More Children
English, Dutch, and German (mainly northwestern Germany): patronymic from the personal name Adam . In North America, this surname has absorbed cognates from other languages, e.g. Greek Adamopoulos , Serbian and Croatian Adamović (see Adamovich ), Polish (and Jewish) Adamski .
Irish and Scottish: adopted for McAdam or a Scottish variant of Adam , with excrescent -s.
History: This surname was borne by two early presidents of the US, father and son. They were descended from Henry Adams, who settled in Braintree, MA, in 1635/6, from Barton St. David, Somerset, England. The younger of them, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) derived his middle name from his maternal grandmother's surname (see Quincy ). — Another important New England family, established mainly in NH, is descended from William Adams, who emigrated from Shropshire, England, to Dedham, MA, in 1628. James Hopkins Adams (1812–61), governor of SC, was unconnected with either of these families, his ancestry being Welsh; his forebears entered North America through PA.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
Possible Related NamesAs a nonprofit, we offer free help to those looking to learn the details of their family story.