Adams Farm/Billy and Leslie Adams

Morgan Cockrell was one of the earliest setters in Johnson County, but the first date of his arrival is unsure.
He entered several tracts of land from the government.  The one on which he built his home remains in the family until this day.  This tract was entered November 1, 1830.  This has never been sold, but handed down from one generation to the next.
The owners have been:
Morgan Cockrell
Nancy Cockrell West (daughter)
Anna West Redford (granddaughter)
Billy A. and Leslie Adams (great-great-grandson and wife)

The log house was added onto as the family grew.  The house had modern water and plumbing at an early date.  Water was pumped by windmill to a covered tank and was gravity-fed to the house.
The old Bethel Baptist Church stood on this homestead about one-half quarter from the house.  Bethel Cemetery is on adjoining property and records state that Morgan Cockrell was the first person buried there.
The land is farmed by Billy using various crops.  There is also a hog feeding floor at a barn on the property.  Billy has been farming this for the past forty-two years.


Adams Farm/Richard D. Adams

John A. Adams, one of Johnson County's most honored pioneer and a member of one of the best and most respected of the early families of the state, was born October 16, 1841, at the Adams homestead in Johnson County.  This is 71/2-8 miles southeast of Warrensburg, Missouri.  He is a son of Judge Daniel Adams, one of the leading influential citizens of Johnson County in the early days.  Judge Daniel Adams was born on December 18, 1813, in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on his father's plantation, which was located on the south side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  He was a son of John Adams, Sr., a native of North Carolina, who was a member of the renowned Adams family of Virginia, her father being a native of that state.
The great-great-grandfather of John A. Adams of this review, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, serving with a regiment from Maryland.  John Adams, Sr., a prosperous planter of the South, was a soldier in 1812-13 in Captain Martin's Company, North Carolina Militia.  The soldiers were then paid in shillings instead of dollars as are the soldiers of today.  He moved with his family to Missouri in 1834 and settled on a large tract of land on Bear Creek.  The remaining years of his life were spent on his farm in this state until his death in June of 1870.
John Adams, Sr., his son, Judge Daniel Adams, his son, John A. Adams and his son, Benjamin F. Adams, who is Richards D. Adams' grandfather, are buried in the Adams Cemetery, which is located 8-81/2 miles southeast of Warrensburg, Missouri, on Bristle Ridge.  Judge Adams was the owner of a farm in Johnson County with the place comprising 280 acres of valuable land, all well-fenced and improved.  In 1852, he was elected a justice of the peace of Johnson County, for his township, and he served many years in that office being re-elected. He was elected Judge of the County Court in 1866 and served two terms in that office.  Judge Adams was also township clerk and school director for his district.
John A. Adams obtained his education in a "Subscription school" for there were no public schools in Missouri until after the Civil War.  John Adams, Sr., Daniel Adams, Abraham Adams, and John Jones secured a donation of $100 from the different settlers of the community with which a building was erected on the farm belonging to John Adams, Sr. In this rude structure, both school and church services were held until 1870 when a new schoolhouse replaced the primitive one.  There was a large fireplace on one side of the room and there were puncheon benches for the children, arranged around three sides of the room.  The well at this site is still there on the Richard D. Adams farm.  Also a deed for 11/2 acres from John Adams to Daniel Adams, Nelson Dunbar, Isaac W. Kimsey, trustees of the Bear Creek Meeting House, filed June 26, 1852, Record 1, page 543.
When the Civil War broke out, John A. Adams enlisted with Company B, 27th Missouri Infantry in July of 1861 under Colonel Ben Grover.  He later, on April 1, 1862, enlisted and served three years in Company G, 7th Missouri Cavalry Regiment.  Mr. Adams was in active service three years and seven months.  He was mustered out and honorably discharged on April 20, 1865.  His regiment had been kept in Kansas and Arkansas practically all the time.
Mr. Adams returned to the farm he now owned consisting of 80 acres of land in Montserrat Township.  He owned at one time a much larger tract of land, but shared with his sons in order to keep them near him.  He had a large herd of fine-grade cattle.  He raised pure-bred Shorthorns and kept a registered male at the head of the herd.  He also raised pure-bred Hampshire hogs.
Mr. Adams had long been interested in the subject of tiling.  When just a lad, he read an article concerning the use of tile in Illinois and being a bright and observing youth, he noticed the ill results of poor drainage on this father's farm and he often made the statement that when he became a man and owned a farm, his farm would be tiled.  He kept his word.  At the time he owned his first small tract of land, Mr. Adams began to seriously study the different methods of tiling and from his study, observation, and experience, he developed an excellent combination method of using sewer and drain tile now found in successful use on his farm.  Earlier he had used old rails, hollow logs and rocks in a time around 1878, when few farmers were paying attention to drainage.  Several years later, he began on Christmas week and for three months, laid tile on his place.  Mr. Adams fed a lot of  hogs and he hauled corn in wagons from Warrensburg.  He would stand the tile up in the wagon and fill in around the tile with corn.  The main tile system in still intact and working on the Richard D. Adams farm.  There are 4", 6", and 8" drain tiles and up to 16 foot long bell tile that runs half of a quarter mile under the bottom to Bear Creek.  He had learned that the soil must be kept from washing away or soon he would have no place left, so after laying the tiles, he filled the ditch, which was an innovation in those days.  Mr. Adams had one of the best drained farms in the county.  Most of his place was rich bottom land.  The scenic view from the Adams' residence is beautiful, for from the doorway, one can look out over the surrounding country as far as the vision will reach.