John Wallace Adams was born November 13, 1831 in Butler County, Pennsylvania.  He died August 06, 1910 in Richland Twp., Venango County, Pennsylvania.  He was the son of James Alexander Adams and Anne Wallace.  He married Elizabeth Bly June 10, 1856 in Richland Twp., Venango County, Pennsylvania.  She was born March 07, 1839 in Richland Twp., Venango, Pennsylvania, and died July 09, 1934 in Richland Twp., Venango, Pennsylvania.  She was the daughter of Daniel Bley and Elizabeth Hetzler.  

Children of John and Elizabeth Bly Adams are Charles Edwin, Frank Leslie, Mary Etta, Daniel William, Myra Ellenor, John Hetzler, Robert Boyd, Effie May and Anna Adams.

John Wallace Adams was a survivor of the Civil War, having served as a private in Company F of the 121st regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He enrolled on August 21, 1862, and was commanded by J. M. Clapp.  While participating in the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on or about May 5, 1864, John was taken prisoner by the Confederates (his brother, Abner, was killed in the same battle) and spent nine months in the Andersonville Prison.  John's granddaughter recalled a story he told: During the hottest part of the summer when the fetid stream was a mere trickle, and prisoners were dying of thirst, they began to pray for water. A spring burst forth inside the stockade. Many prisoners attributed the occurrence to Divine Providence and named it Providence Spring.  It was a permanent source of fresh water that still exists to this day. 

Upon his release from Andersonville (his whole company had been let out of prison because they were so ill), he was required to march 270 miles on foot from City Point to Washington, D.C., part of which he crawled on his hands and knees.  He was honorably discharged at or near Washington, D.C. on June 2, 1865.  One of John Adams' granddaughters remembered that when he came home from the Civil War, the family did not recognize him. All of his teeth were gone and he a mere skeleton of what he had been. John evidently got a sum of money when he was discharged, because they were able to build a new home and buy new furniture. They hadn't been in the house very long when it burned to the ground. As a result, they had to move back into the old house again. The granddaughter remembers her Grandpa Adams saying, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." (1)

(1) from Jean Houpt's book

	John's Bio
	Elizabeth Bly Adams
	John and Elizabeth Adams Tombstone
	Daniel Bly's Bible (father of Elizabeth)
	Ancestors of Elizabeth Hetzler (mother of Elizabeth Bly Adams)