Adam

It was the fall of 1844 in the fledgling 

 County of Stanly in the State of North Carolina and a young boy, of about twelve years old had been ordered to be brought to court.

Ordered by the Court that the Sheriff bring Adam Springer, a Bastard child to the next term of this Court to be bound out according to law.

And again, months later, in another term of Court, the Sheriff was again ordered to bring Adam Springer, son of Barbary Springer, to court to be bound out, according to law. Altogether, there were three orders of this kind issued involving the boy, Adam Springer.

So who was Adam, and his mother, Barbary?

Barbara Springer, nicknamed Barbara, was the daughter of George and Sylvia, or Sylvania, Springer. She was a sister of Lewis Springer who was mentioned in my last post. Born about 1800, Barbara would have been around 32 years old when Adam was born. His father remains unknown. 

Barbara's father died around 1830, and in 1847, her mother wrote a Will shortly before she died, entreating that her single, living, daughter be cared for and left with provisions.

Three years after the death of her mother, Barbara is found living in the home of her sister and brother-in-law, Joshua and Sarah Springer Burris.

Another Barbara was in the home at the time, Barbara Revels, a free person of color, as the year was 1850 and non-free persons were not listed by name. She was labeled black, but knowing that Revels is a common surname among the indigenous people of Eastern North Carolina, it's highly likely she was a Native American woman, possibly multi-racial. I have knowledge that a handful of Native persons had moved west on a temporary basis, as by this time, the surviving tribes were trying to assimilate into the dominant culture.

Barbara would be found living with her sister in the 1860 and 1870 census records. In the 1880 census, she was not to be found, leading to the assumption she died during the 1870's. 

What about Adam? There was never a mention of whom he was bound out to, if he ever was. 

The same year that he was ordered to be brought to court, Adam was a chain carrier, along with his Uncle Dempsey Springer, in a land grant for George W. H. Springer, for 100 acres that met the property of Dempsey Springer and John Perry, who was an Uncle by marriage, having married his aunt, Margaret Springer. George W. H. Springer may have been a son of Dempsey Springer, as he ends up in Georgia, where Dempsey would remove to in the next year or so, and fights in the War there.

At the estate sale of his grandmother, Silvia Springer, Adam, now 15, buys a dish, perhaps just to have something to remember her by. It seems as if his mother's family embraced him and took care of him. At some point he recieved an education and the training of a tailor. He may have been a apprentice to a local tailor,

Name	Adam Springer
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	18
Birth Date	abt 1832
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Tailor
Industry	Apparel and Accessories Stores, Except Shoe
Attended School	Yes
Line Number	20
Dwelling Number	10
Family Number	10

Household members

Name	Age
John Q McPhurson	43
Martha McPhurson	41
Adam Springer	18
Franklin Willoughby	18
Mary A McPhurson	19
Henryetta McPhurson	14
William D McPhurson	10

because in the 1850 census, he and Franklin Willoughby, 18, were living in the home of John Q McPherson, also a tailor, and appear to have been working for him as assitants, in the town of Wadesboro.

As a young man about town in the thriving southern city of Wadesboro in the 1850's, Adam began to establish himself and appears to have been well thought of and respected. He witnessed a number of legal transactions, including a tranaction between J. C. Purvis and J.P. Smith where he acknowledged the payment  in full for "Christian and Milly". Also, the gift of property from Francis Locke, of Stanly County, for love and affection, to his grandsons, William Locke Kendall and John Alexander Kendall.

On the second day of December, 1853, Adam Springer, of Anson County, pruchased his own lot in the Town of Wadesboro, at the age of 21. The purchase was made from William P. Jennings, of the County of Baker, Georgia via his attorney, Richard A. Caldwell, of Anson. The tract was of one acre on the corner of Green and Wade Street and bordered that of Walter R. Leak and near Jennigs Store House. He paid $600 for the lot. 

Later that month, on December 28, 1853, his lot is mentioned in the sale of Martha Morgan of Baker County, Georgia, via her attorney, Mr. Caldwell again, to Eli Freeman, of the lot next to Adam's.

On February 2nd, 1854, Adam Springer sold his lot to B.C. Hutchinson and Matthew Ballard for $600.

And just a few short months later, at the tender age of 22, Adam Springer was gone.

We aren't told what took the young life of Adam Springer, or where his body was laid to rest. In his brief life and in spite of  the circumstances of his birth, Adam Springer was proving to be an enterprising and 'useful' young man, as those of his time would have called him. His mothers family embraced him, raised him, and prepared him for life. A life that deserves acknowlegement.