Richard Adams

Richard Adams Family

The overlay on the 1874 map of Salina Lot #18 shows the land purchased by Richard Adams from Clapp & Clary in 1836. The southern boundary of Adams' property is now West and East Molloy Roads. At that time E. Molloy Road was known as the Richmond Road. Most of this land, west of the Plank Road, later became the John Kirsch farm. Richard Adams retained the approximately 100 acres in the north east corner of Lot #18 as his farm. The C. Adams seen on the map above was Richard's son Claudius.

Connection to Mattydale

Richard Adams came to the Town of Salina in 1821 according to his obituary. On May 1, 1836 Richard Adams purchased the northern third of Salina Lot #3 when he bought 224 acres from Zenas Clapp and Lyman Clary for $5,609. Richard was one of the officers of the Plank Road company. In 1849-50 Adams was the Town Supervisor for the town of Salina. He lived on his farm until his death on April 19, 1871 at the age of 78 [1871-04-21].

Family History

Where did they originally come from

Richard Adams was born in Rensselaer Co., NY on April 25, 1793.

Where did they initially settle

In 1801, when Richard was 8 years old, his parents moved to the Onondaga Valley. He lived there for an additional twenty years until he moved to the Town of Salina.

Family connections

Richard Adams and his wife Caroline had nine children according to the 1865 New York State census. With the exception of his son Claudius, who took over the farm after his father's death in 1871 and who tried for several years to sell the farm, it hasn't been possible to track down any of the Adams' children.

Property History

In 1854 Richard and Caroline Adams sold 114 acres of their land to Alanson Thorpe, W. Brown Smith, John C. Hanchett and Alferd Tahnestock of Syracuse, NY. These gentlemen ran a large nursery on the property for many years and occasionally sold off small parcels of land along the perimeter of their 114 acres. In 1900, the multiple owners (Augusta M. Smith, Lucy S. Powell, Wing R. Smith, Mary B. Smith his wife, W. Judson Smith and Laura G. Smith his wife) sold the remaining 96.7 acres to John Kirsch. In 1927 the southern portion of the Kirsch farm was opened as the Kirsch Tract and was comprised on Kirsch Drive, Leonard St and West Molloy Road plus associated cross streets. In the mid 1950s most of the remaining northern portion of the Kirsch farm was sold to the North Syracuse Central School District for the construction of the Roxboro schools. 

Richard Adams' farm, located east of the Plank Road, proved harder to sell. After his father died in 1871, his son Claudius began the effort to sell the "Adams Farm." In 1882 [1882-02-15] he was still trying to sell or exchange the farm for other property. However, by this time Claudius had relocated to Chicago. IL and he wanted to trade for Chicago real estate. In 1886 Silas and Harriett Zimmer purchased the old Adams farm from Claudius Adams and his wife for $11,250. Silas died in the early 1890s and his wife continued to live on the farm until her death in 1899. In June 1900 Frank Matty purchased the approximately 100 acres. In 1922 a development company began selling residential lots on 20 acres of this farm, that Matty had sold them. This was the beginning of the name Mattydale as that was the name Matty had given to this tract. It would soon be used as a label to describe the entire area. The Mattydale Tract would finally expand to include Matty, Earl and Beley.  

Notable Facts or Events

NOTES:

[1871-04-21] - "Death of an Old Resident," The Syracuse Daily Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, April 21, 1871

[1882-02-15] - "For Sale Or Exchange for Chicago property, the 'Adams Farm', " The Syracuse Daily Journal, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, February 15, 1882.