Pvt Adam Overacker - American Revolutionary War Soldier - American Revolutionary War Veteran Graves on Waymarking.com

Adam Overacker was born on the 27th of June 1761 on the Beekman Patent in Dutchess County in the British Colony of New York. He was the seventh of eight children born to Micheal and Barbara Ann (Stover) Overacker. Michael and Barbara Ann had come to the American colonies with their parents in 1739 from the district of Karlsruhe in the German Province of Baden, and had married in 1741. In the early 1770s, Micheal Overacker took his family north to Schagticoke, a small village near where the Hoosick River joins the Hudson in what was then Albany County.

As Adam reached the minimum age for militia service in 1777, the Revolutionary War was beginning its third year British General Burgoyne commanded an Army advancing south along the Hudson, and a call went out for the New York’s Militia. Adam joined several family members in Colonel John Knickerbocker’s 14th Albany County Militia Regiment. Although present for the battles at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights, the 14th Albany County Militia Regiment was not actively engaged in the fighting. Ironically,.
while the militia was on the west side of the Hudson, their families on the east side had to flee their homes, which were occupied and ransacked by small detachments of enemy soldiers. Only the intervention of their Tory neighbors kept their homes and crops from being burned. Every summer thereafter, to the end of the war, Adam served in militia units or Warner’s Continental Regiment at either Fort Edward or at Palmertown building fortifications and guarding against attacks by the British and their allies.

In between his periods of military duty, Adam courted Cornelia VanderCook, daughter of Michael and Cornelia (VanNess) VanderCook, early residents of nearby Pittstown. They married in Schagticoke on May 1st, 1781. Adam and Cornelia had eight children, seven of whom reached adulthood. Those born in Schagticoke were Barbara Ann, Micheal, Eva, Ester and Catherine.

In the late 1790’s, Adam emulated his Grandparents wanderlust and moved his family to the tiny village of Northampton on the west side of Great Sacandaga Lake. Here the the last two of their children were born - Sarah and Anthony. About ten years later, they moved again, nearly 175 miles through the middle of the New York State to the east side of Lake Canandaigua in Ontario County. Several of Adam’s and Cornelia’s family members, many of the men also being veterans of the 14th Albany Militia, lived nearby.

During the War of 1812, Revolutionary War veterans were exempt from active service, but they organized themselves to defend their homes if necessary. Fighting remained on the Niagara frontier and Canandaigua was not threatened throughout the war.

After the war, Adam felt compelled to move again, this time to the Ohio county. He settled in Cuyahoga County near Lake Erie. In June 1819, several men in the area, which included Adam, his son Michael, and son-in-law Henry A. Francisco, met to form the town Mayfield. It was there and about that time Cornelia died. When exactly she died and where she’s buried is unknown. The following year, on 26 July 1820, Adam married Chloe Canfield Burk, a widow with children of her own. His son Micheal, Mayfield’s Justice-of-the-Peace at the time, officiated.

Adam remained in Ohio, in Cuyahoga or Loraine Counties, until about 1832 when he joined his children in Michigan Territory, settling in Saline Township, Washtenaw County. Chloe had died in Ohio and he a widower for a second time. While in Saline, Adam applied for a pension from the federal government in November 1832 for his service in the Revolutionary War. By this time, he was seventy-one years old and needed help to support himself.

It was also difficult to live alone. Adam married for a third time on 7 June 1833 to Patience Herrington Adams, a widow with older children. The wedding took place in LaSalle, Monroe County, but they made their home in Saline. Later that year, on October 24, tragedy struck again when Adam’s son Michael died in Ingham County.

A few years later, Adam and Patience took up residence in Grass Lake, Jackson County, with two of Patience’s children in the household, and several family members lived nearby. Here they both lived out their lives. Adam died on 14 November 1842 at the age of eighty-one was buried in East Grass Lake Cemetery (Oakwood). Patience lived to the admirable age of 98, dying on 9 August 1872 in Grass Lake.

Adam Overacker lived a long and active life. He witnessed, experienced, and participated in the birth and early development of the United States. His numerous descendants have spread throughout the country, and have continued his legacy. He was a true American patriot.

Written and presented by Mark Stowe of Grand Rapids, MI, a third great grandson of Adam Overacker.

Location type: Single Grave Date of Birth: June 27, 1761 Date of Death: November 14, 1842 Cause of death: Died Later Grave Marker Text: Revolutionary War Soldier Adam Overacker PVT – NY Born 27 June 1761 Died 14 Nov 1842 Grass Lake, Jackson CO., MI Marked Placed By Sarah Treat Prudden Chapter, NSDAR. October 5, 2019 Ranks: Private

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PLEASE NOTE: This category is for American Revolutionary War Veterans only. Veterans of other revolutions are not part of this category.

I have allowed one entry for a grave of British solders, but it was an exception. Please only list graves for Colonial soldiers.

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