This is just a short post of my wonderings.
Adam Koontz (1768 - 1848) was born in Loudoun County, VA and died in West Providence Twp, Bedford, PA, husband of Edna/Mary Diehl.
It's been theorized that his father was an Adam Counts/Coons/Koonts (1733 - 1799).
First, I'll list what I believe are the reasons people believe Adam was his father.
(1.) The name
(2.) Adam Sr. was from Loudoun County, VA and died in Bedford County, PA
(3.) Adam Sr. had been in Bedford early on, moved back to Loudoun, and then moved back to Bedford (presumably anyway), and a historical account says Adam Jr.'s father was in Bedford early on before "being driven back by Indians".
(4.) Age-wise, Adam Jr. fits into the Adam Sr.'s known children.
However, the more I look at this, the more questions pop-up in my mind.
(1.) People overlook the fact that Adam Jr. was not listed in Adam Sr.'s will. Is it possible he had already given him something or just didn't want to give him anything?
(2.) Adam Sr. was not the only Koontz/Counts to move from Loudoun, VA to Bedford, PA. His brother Henry *also* moved from Loudoun to Bedford, and is found early on in Bedford as well.
(3.) Adam and Henry also had at least one other brother, Philip, and are believed to have another brother, Frederick.
Now, it is almost certain that one of these four men is indeed the father of Adam Koontz (1768 - 1848), I am just not as willing as most to lay claim to Adam Counts (1733 - 1799) as his father.
You may ask, "what did he name his sons?" Well, he only had three living children, Mary, Catherine, and John. John is unfortunately not one of the choices for his father.
From Loudoun County, VA land records, this leaves us with, Adam & Mary, Philip & Margaret, or Henry & Katherine as his likely parents (unless of course Frederick is correct).
I can't say why exactly, but I am leaning towards Henry as Adam's father.
The Henry who you suspect might be Adam's father is unlikely to be it. I have a copy of a letter written in 1878 by Henry's grandson Jonathan Koons in which he lists all of Henry's kids (his father, aunts & uncles) and they are Peter, Samuel, Henry, Mary, Susan, Elizabeth & Catharine. I think it's unlikely that he would have forgotten an uncle Adam. Please contact me if you want to know more. I'm also researching the Clingerman family btw.
ReplyDeleteHi Niels, Yes I'd be very interested in knowing more, thank you for posting!
DeleteThe only child I have for Henry and his wife Katherine is Salomay. She was listed in the lease of lives in 1762 as aged 3 years. It's possible she died young though.
I look forward to hearing from you. I know very little about Henry or his family.
I wanted to add a comment for anyone else who reviews this blog post, I've since found Henry's will and he does not list Adam as a son either. He died in 1795 in Colerain Twp, Bedford, PA and listed the following children in his will,
ReplyDeleteSalamy, Elizabeth, Susanna, Peter, Cartrole, Samuel, Hendy (sp?), Maria, Mataline
He also mentioned his wife Catharine and his brother Adam "Cuntz" was a witness for his will. So, it seems highly unlikely Henry was the younger Adam's father.