We have proceeded on the inference that my great great great grandfather was Sylvester of Virginia. Now we are beginning to have doubt. Information from a relative shows that the name could have been William not Sylvester. If this is correct, we will have to return as we have been looking for the line of the person named Sylvester Jr.

What seemed so easy has now become difficult. It is frustrating to again be dragged back in time to a point not much further than what we knew by word of mouth at the very beginning. There is a William with a son named John who is about the correct age to be John Calvin, my great great grandfather. Is this John  my ancestor? It becomes very confusing. But there is little point in searching at all if we do not follow the trail to the correct conclusion. It is almost like a maze, trying path after path to search for the one that is correct.

Information arrived from my mother with other history about the family. Most of this genealogy, however, seems to center around other people and names other than Adams. My great great grandmother, the wife of John Calvin, was named Harriet Houston. Interestingly, there is also a county named Houston. A check of the record shows that it was named after the legendary Sam Houston of Tennessee and Texas.  Harriet's genetic trail, however, leads to a Henry Houston from North Carolina whose mother was named Anna.  Another story for another time.

My grandmother’s genealogical lineage is also another story. She was a Boyd, another very old name. The genealogy of her family appears to go at least all the way back to Thomas Boyd of Scotland. This confirms the Celtic connection of the family that I have always wondered about. There is an article from a history book tracing the family, and one cousin has confirmed it with a check of the census records. 

Two of three Boyd brothers came to America in the middle of the 17^th century. They fought in the American Revolution as Virginia militia. After the war, soldiers were rewarded with land grants of up to100 acres. My ancestor moved to Ohio with his wife and 10 children. Later he came down the Cumberland River to settle in middle Tennessee with other relatives in the area. My grandmother's ancestors descended from this same line.

And so, I partly know where my lineage is from, yet I have not yet found the source, the Adams family. My in-law will spend the day at the records center looking for clues to point us in the right direction. How fortunate I am to have someone to help who knows what he is doing. The search continues.  I am anxious to see what it shows.

NEXT:  A Step Backwards