My grandmother’s maiden name was McAdam, born in NJ in 1918 as the daughter of John J. McAdam, who was himself born in Albany, NY on the 4th of July, 1886. John had several brothers and sisters, and the various family members reading this are descended from this same family.
A number of close calls and unfortunate events involving the McAdams led to each of us being here (and almost not!). This is their (and our) story, pieced together from census forms, city directory listings, newspaper accounts, obituaries, maps and other local historical materials (as well as family lore).
While we all grew up in NJ, the story of our McAdam(s) family begins back in County Cavan, Ireland, where John McAdams was born about 1813 (if you figure his age according to his 1881 death certificate, where he died at age 68), or perhaps in 1818 (if this is him at age 3 with his family on the 1821 Ireland census for the townland of Kevit [also spelled Cevit or Cruit] in Killmore, County Cavan):
Speaking of his family in the census above, John’s father’s name was James and his younger brother was Robert. John named his own firstborn son James Hugh Robert (more later), so that is decent evidence we’ve got the right family here. Many people with the surname McAdams were living in this general area at the time but not in the surrounding townlands.
In 1846 (based on his 9 years of residence in Albany as per the 1855 census), John, son of James, arrived in the South End of Albany, seemingly in his late 20’s. He was already a cooper by trade, a maker of casks to hold beer and other such elixirs. After all, Albany was known as a brewery town even back in the 1700s and was a great place for a cooper to settle.
The earliest contemporary written reference to a “John McAdam” in Albany is from November 2, 1849 when someone of that name appears as one of many signatories on a pro-labor petition called “A Voice from the West Responded to by the Workingmen of the City and County of Albany” in the News-Opinion Albany Evening Journal.
At this early point in our story we must introduce the John Burns family, who became John McAdams’ in-laws. John was from Kilkenny, Ireland and arrived in Albany’s South End with an early wave of Irish in 1825, when he was 28. His wife Ann arrived the same year and at the same age from Ireland; perhaps they were already married. In the early 1830s, their daughter and our future ancestor Margaret Burns was born in Albany. We first see Margaret in the 1850 Albany census (open any image in a new window to enlarge):
In 1844 a John Burns is living at 46 Rensselaer St.:
In 1853 we see our known John Burns at his later confirmed address of 47 Rensselaer St. Maybe he is also one of the other “John Burns” listed at the nearby addresses, owning multiple properties?
About 1852 or 1853, John McAdams married Margaret Burns (age 19 or so) and their first child James (later known as The Rt. Reverend James Hugh Robert McAdam) was born on May 13, 1854. Sadly, just a few days later on the 17th (as reported by three different Albany newspapers), a “Margaret McAdams” suddenly attempted suicide by walking off of a steamer boat into the Hudson River.
She had boarded the steamer Hero with her child (presumably James) and was headed toward New York (City) to get away from a husband who beat her when he was drunk and whom she could not change. When her husband came on board the ship he took the child from her, after which she quickly decided to make the leap. Thankfully for her (and us!) she was rescued after some bystanders saw her float by. She went on to have another son, John Joseph McAdams, two years later in 1856. That was our first close call…
We know from various sources that the Burns and McAdams families lived with or near each other for the rest of their lives, in the area of Rensselaer and Arch Streets (there was also later an “Estate of John Burns” property on nearby 8 Clinton). The earliest specific date we can tie to one of these properties is December 10, 1851, when John Burns purchased frontage on Arch Street from Frederick Lansing.
In 1855 we see the Burns and McAdams families living together (presumably at 47 Rensselaer), with John Burns listed as “laborer” and John McAdams “cooper”. This census noted how many years each person had lived in the city (John and Ann Burns, 30; John McAdams, 9; Margaret Burns McAdam, 22).
In 1860 the McAdams and Burns families were listed separately on the census, but in the same ward (1). As we will see further below, they were most likely neighbors:
(Looking at the 1860 Burns census above, the names and location in town are correct, and the ages advance closely enough from the 1850 and 1855 censuses. But when we come to the 1865 census, the seemingly same Burnses are suddenly younger with an infant son, John – who is a known Burns due to the familiar 45 Arch St. address where they live-! Maybe there’s a generation missing from the record, or the Burnses lied about their ages, or somebody’s not a relevant Burns to us…)
The 1862 Albany city directory lists John Burns as still living at 47 Rensselaer. The next year John McAdams Sr. is listed at 74 Arch, which so happens to be the other side of the same block from 47 Rensselaer – basically the same property spanning the full width of the small block (see map below).
In 1863 John Sr. and Margaret McAdam seem to be selling Ann Burns some property, the description of which involved Rensselaer and Arch Streets and a previous John Burns acquisition:
In 1865 We see John and Ann Burns and son John Jr. in the census:
In 1867 we see John McAdam Sr. at 49 Rensselaer, from where a friend’s funeral was held (47 and 49 were considered the same property):
In 1869 John McAdams Sr. is listed at 74 Arch. Interchangeable homesteads! Back to back anyway.
The McAdams family on the 1870 census:
In 1871 Margaret (Burns) McAdams died at age 40 of rheumatism. It was noted she owned two homes on Rensselaer and two on Arch which were left to her sons:
These adjoining addresses we saw listed over the previous years remained occupied by the two families until about 1876, when 54 and 54 1/2 Rensselaer (across the street and a few doors up the same block from 47-49) become the new main living quarters of the McAdams. It was purchased by John McAdams Sr. from Francis Withers, whose name you can see at the left of the 1876 map below.
More detail showing 54 & 54 1/2 Rensselaer and 74 Arch from an 1892 insurance map (two doors to the right of number “11”, top and bottom):
Fast-forwarding to modern times, we get a fuzzy glimpse of the Rensselaer/Arch block in 1959. 54 Rensselaer should still be standing somewhere left of center; 47 Rensselaer and 74 Arch at right of center:
The comparison photo below shows a much clearer 1964 view of the same block and a current satellite image. In 1964, the 74 Arch St. house (and maybe 47 Rensselaer) still seemed to be standing (below and to the right of center). Arch St. itself still ran through the center of this view, in front of where the newer warehouses that replaced the Albany Brewing Company stand (more on that brewery business later).
The street at left in the 1964 view was eventually closed off and the modern block extended to the left; compare the view of the row houses at the top of each photo to line things up (the square green lawn at upper left of the modern view is where the old street went through).
The 54 Rensselaer St. address was covered over by the Giffen Memorial School in the late 1950s, as shown at left in this modern street level view:
If we restore the closed streets (Franklin at top and Arch, in the middle) to the modern neighborhood, the McAdams and Burns properties can be more precisely located:
The contemporary aerial view below, taken from almost the opposite angle from the one from 1964 above, shows the original but modified St. John’s Church at lower left (green roof), where the McAdams’ funerals were held, and the now-empty location of their old properties, left of center, next to the DMV office. The entire footprint of the Albany Brewing Company (more later) was located where the largest open parking area now is.
The Burns family, including son John Burns Jr. (later a plumber), eventually moved a block or so east down nearby Arch St. to #45. (However, 47-49 Rensselaer remained listed as the property of John McAdams until 1912 when Rev. J.H. McAdam finally sold it.)
In the center of the block behind 45 Arch was Pennie & Woelfinger Coopers, where John McAdam Sr. (with 28 years’ experience as a cooper at that time) worked for some period of time. This list was published in 1874:
An 1878 ad for the Pennie cooperage:
Here is the same location as mapped later on in 1892, where you can see the relation between the cooperage at #39 and the Burns’ home at #45 Arch (it is not known whether John Burns had anything to do with the cooperage but the juxtaposition is interesting):
Father and son McAdams, living at 54 Rensselaer in 1878:
1878 was the year young John McAdams Jr. began work at the Albany Brewing Company (as per his obit). The brewery was just a block away from his new home on Rensselaer and directly across the street from his older property at 74 Arch St. (see large map earlier in this post). John Jr. would work there for the rest of his short life, another 20 years. Had he lived a full life, he would have retired just in time, as Probation closed down Albany’s breweries in 1926.
Perhaps it was the location of this brewery, established in 1796, that drew John McAdams Sr. to this particular part of town in 1825?
The Albany Brewing Company (originally known as the “Arch St. Brewery” and site of a mineral spring) was quite a large and popular enterprise, as evidenced from the 1870 illustration below (note the Arch St. address under the red banner):
In 1879 the McAdams, father and son, were living at 54 1/2 Rensselaer. John Jr. had his first son James Hugh McAdam with his first wife Mary Catherine Lilly, then 21. One of the John’s, probably Jr. due to the middle initial (it gets confusing which John McAdams was which as they were both now adult coopers) was Corresponding Secretary of his Cooper’s Union #7:
Ann Burns had a terrible experience in February 1880, when her upstairs neighbor at 45 Arch St. seriously burned herself (the neighbor died the next day):
In the June 1880 Albany census, we see John McAdam’s Jr. as the head of the house with his young family, father and even a servant at 54 Rensselaer! (The neighbor in 54 1/2 seems to be related to the Withers who sold 54 to John McAdams Sr. in 1876.) This picture of domestic tranquility would change dramatically in just a year-and-a-half.
For some reason John Burns is missing from the 1880 census taken at 45 Arch (he lived another five years), but his wife (“Groceries and saloon”) appears with son John Jr. (apprentice plumber):
In 1881, John McAdams lost both his father (age 73, from general debility) and wife (only 22, from consumption) one of them a day before and the other a day after Christmas Day. This was also not long after John and Mary’s infant child John J. McAdam died in September (the baby’s name was reused for my great-grandfather after John remarried).
In John McAdam Sr.’s will, he left the 54 and 54 1/2 Rensselaer properties to his sons and grandson:
In Mary’s will four days before she died, she directed that her piano be sold to help support her son James:
John Sr. died at 54 Rensselaer. While John Jr.’s wife Mary died at her mother’s home at 57 First St., her funeral was held at the same Rensselaer home, with her mass held at St. John’s church nearby. (Sadly, Mary’s father George Lilly had just died a month before and her brother Michael just over a year later.)
This is how the McAdam gravesite looked in 1937 (black and white) and in the 2000’s (color):
For the year 1882 only, John McAdams Jr. is listed as “b” (boarding?) at 133 Green, just around the block from his usual home at 54 Rensselaer.
In December 1883, John McAdams Jr. married Mary Elizabeth Norton of Jersey City (daughter of marble cutter and stone polisher John Norton and his wife Margaret Flanagan), with the wedding officiated in Jersey City by John McAdams’ brother Rev. J.H. McAdam. According to a member of the family, Rev. McAdam and Mary’s brother Rev. William Norton went to college together at St. Bonaventure in NY State and were instrumental in John and Mary meeting. In 1884 John and Mary had their first child, William Alyious McAdam.
In 1885 John McAdams Jr. would lose both his father-in-law John Burns (also known as Byrnes) and his brother-in-law Rev. William Norton, only 29.
The next year John McAdams Jr. was involved in politics as a member of the Democratic Club and also served as an Inspector of Elections and Poll Clerk for the first of several years, at least until 1896. In June 1886 he was elected President of the John Bowe Democratic Club, headquartered near his home:
1886 was also the year John McAdams Jr.’s son, John Joseph McAdam (my great-grandfather) was born in July, the second of a total of six children by his second wife and one of only two of them to live to exceed the age of 80, the other being Margaret.
In April 1887 John McAdam came down from Albany to the Bowling Green in New York City where he and others of the Twilight Club met at Martinelli’s restaurant, where they discussed the issue of prohibition and the High license bill. John was quoted at length:
This photo of John’s son John Joseph McAdam (born July 4, 1886) was taken in Jersey City and might have been made during the trip described above, given John’s apparent age in the photo:
In fall 1887 (as he was over the course of several other years), John McAdams was a Poll Inspector for the Third Ward (his section of town used to be in the First but was changed at some point).
Thomas Francis McAdam was born in 1888. In 1889 Ann Burns was still living and listed in the city directory as a widow at 45 Arch (while John McAdams was still living at 54 Rensselaer, his last address in the city):
In 1889 John McAdam was listed among those taking part in Albany’s labor day parade. In 1890, John’s son Leo Joseph McAdam was born. The 1892 census was the last one where the family appeared all together (except for Mary Margaret McAdam, who was born in 1893):
In 1894 John was listed as a grand juror, and in 1896 as a Democratic Inspector along with a John Burns (probably Jr.):
Around this time John J. McAdam (my great-grandfather, born 1886) had his photo taken in Jersey City, implying the family visited the Norton in-laws there periodically:
On February 14, 1898, John J. McAdam Jr., American-born son of the immigrant John McAdams, died, cause unknown, not quite age 41 and six months after the birth of his eighth child Anna. His obituary described him as “whole-souled and generous to a fault”. The Albany Brewing Company closed for the day to allow John’s fellow employees to attend the funeral:
Among his pallbearers were members of his Cooper’s Union. His older brother Rev. J.H. McAdam chanted the mass at St. John’s church, where John’s late first wife Mary Lilly was taken after her death almost 20 years before.
In 1899, the year after John’s death and for some years afterwards, his name remained attached to the Rensselaer property:
Obviously the early death of her husband John was a great strain on his widow Mary (Norton).
Sixth months later, in June 1900, Mary returned to her widowed father John Norton’s home at 148 York St. in Jersey City with her six young children, where they remained for the next nine years. Without this relocation, none of the McAdam children who married (John, Thomas, Leo and Mary Margaret) would have met their future spouses in NJ and none of us would be here…
In the next post we will explore the lives and adventures of the McAdam family as they resettle in Jersey City and points beyond.
If you have further information about your branches of the McAdams family (especially old photos!), please email me or contact Lynda (McAdam) Batson.