William Adrian (Ade) Garrett

  General Notes:

see notes on Ade's Uncle Powhatan Garrett.

Adrian Garrett was contacted by Earl Garrett (of Danville, VA) ca 1936 when Earl was researching the Garrett family history. Earl's efforts brought many family stories and pictures back to the Virginia/North Carolina Garrett families.

The 1900 Federal Census for Jefferson Township, Johnson Co., Missouri, District 109, page 101B records William A. (Oct 1849) and Alice D. (Dec 1851) Garrett with children Daisey C. (Nov 1876), Lennia A. (July 1878) Robert L. (Nov 1879), and Nellie W. (Dec 1883). Nearby are William's sisters, Emma W. (April 1862) and Anna L. (March 1866) Garrett living with their brother-in-law, David L. Sutherland (Feb 1846) and his wife Mary E. [Garrett, William Adrian Garrett's sister] Sutherland (May 1850). Sutherland children include Samuel H. (Oct 1882), Edna L. (Dec 1884), Eldon E. (Sept 1888), and Roland G. (July 1891). Also next door are William's sister, [Sarah] Lillian Russell and her family ... see notes on Sarah Lillian Garrett.


The following text is sourced to Allan G. Joyce referencing Adrian Garrett's 1944 obituary:
--- Memorial of W. A. Garrett, born 11 Oct 1848, died 16 Jan 1944 - W. A. Garrett, son of James W. and Ann T. (Perry) Garrett, was born October 11, 1848, in a little log house on the farm where he died. When at the age of seven years, his parents bought a farm some three miles west, where he was reared to manhood. During the Civil War, while his father was away in the Army, he, a boy of fourteen years, took the care of his mother and sisters, working as faithfully as if he had been a grown man. Mr. Garrett and Miss Alice Walker were married February 16, 1871, living in a house on his father's farm for four years. In 1875 they purchased the home where he spent 76 years of his life, passing away January 16, 1944, after a few days illness. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett made the home what it is today and had a number of happy years together. They were the parents of six children, five daughters, Ivy L. (Mrs. Geo. Munday), now deceased; Mary Edna, (Mrs. J. M. Powell of Leeton); Daisy C. (Mrs. J. B. Scott of Windsor); Linnie A. (Mrs. Arch Kavanaugh, now deceased)); Nellie W. (Mrs. J. O. Reynolds of St. Louis), and one son Robert L. of Leeton, whose wife was Miss Myrtle Glazebrook. He leaves one sister, Mrs. W. E. Botts of Sedalia. Mr. Garrett united with the Sardis Baptist Church at Leeton, Missouri in June 1920. In November of that year he and Miss Mollie Dyer, of St. Joseph, were married, who survives him. He also leaves to mourn his passing, seven grandchildren, namely: Mildred Powell of Leeton; Clara Bell, (Mrs. H. B. Harrop of Mission, Texas); Lewis G. Munday of Odessa, Missouri; Frederick W. Kavanaugh of New Brunswich, New Jersey; Herbert L. Kavanaugh of Rosemead, California; Alice Belle, (Mrs. A. G. Harvey Jr. of St. Louis) and Dorothy Ann Reynolds of St. Louis. One grandson, William J. Reynolds passed away March 22, 1943. There are five great grandchildren: Garrett Munday; Jerry Nolan Harrop; McNeil, Mollie Lynn, and David Andrew Kavanaugh. Also a number of nieces and nephews. The funeral service was held Tuesday afternoon at the Baptist Church in Windsor, conducted by Elder E. D. Botts, of Sedalia, Pastor of the Primitive Baptist Church, of Leeton Mo., where Mr. Garrett was a member; he was assisted by Elder Wm. Pollard, of Independence, Mo., his former pastor; Rev. E. H. Michalkowsky of the Windsor Baptist church also assisted. Pallbearers were J. M. Powell, John Scott, Joe Reynolds, George Munday, H. A. Barber, Logan Sutherland, the first four being sons-in-law of Mr. Garrett. Burial was in Laurel Oak Cemetery. Mr. Garrett had cherished a hope in God's saving grace some fifty years before uniting with the Sardis Primitive Baptist church at Leeton, Mo. After having been a member for a few years, he was heard to say that he had enjoyed the meetings more in that short time than in all the years he had lived outside the church. He had always been a financial supporter and regular attendant of the church. He often said "I have attended Sardis longer than anyone now living, for I was first carried there in my Mother's arms." His Father and Mother were members of Sardis in the early years of its existence; the church is now one hundred and four years old. In former days Mr. Garrett owned a herd of high-grade Red Polled cows which were his pride and joy; they attracted the attention of visitors and his neighbors and friends. He never lost interest in his daily and weekly papers, and loved to read his church paper, the Messenger of Peace, until the Lord called him home. His birth occurred the year gold was discovered in California and thus his life spans the same period that saw the development of the West. He was born in the cabin home when that was the usual building and when this part of Missouri was considered part of the frontier of the United States. He liked to talk about the many changes that he had witnessed. When he was a lad there were no roads and very few fences. The settlers traveled by direction and they obtained their supplies from Lexington and Boonville, river ports. Mr. Garrett still believed there was much genuine pleasure in those "good old days" of long ago. He said that the young people were not shy of simple pleasures and amusements, but enjoyed themselves immensely at house-raisings, corn huskings, spinning, quilting and apple-paring "bees" and country dances. The social conditions were the very best and there was not to be found an inhospitable family in all the country. Horseback riding was the inevitable rule and everyone, who could possibly go, attended church, many men and women coming on horseback from long distances. He had a few reminders of some pioneer customs in a skillet, a crane and in parts of a primitive loom, all of them much over one hundred years old. W. A. Garrett's mother, Ann Tandy (Perry) Garrett, was born in Kentucky and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William T. Perry, settled in this part of Missouri in 1837 and were prominent pioneers of Henry and Johnson counties. His father James Washington Garrett, was born October 23, 1832 in North Carolina and his parents were James and Elizabeth (Sims) Garrett; both of English ancestry. Elizabeth was born August 31, 1792, in Virginia and her parents were Thomas and Amy (Wall) Sims. Thomas Sims was born April 24, 1758, and was a soldier in the colonial army in the Revolutionary War and his father Thomas Sims, Sr. was also thought to have been a soldier in that was. Amy Wall was the third generation of the Wall family in America, her great grandfather, Robert Wall, having come across and settled in the Maryland colony about 200 years ago. Her parents were Zacariah and Annie (Everett) Wall. Amy (Wall) Sims lived to be 90 years of age. James Washington Garrett was the second son in a family of twelve children, eleven of who, grew to maturity, married and reared families. James W. came to Missouri with his parents in 1843 and engaged in farming. He was in the tobacco business and very prosperous when the civil war began. He served in the Confederate army and he and his brother, Robert, were in the battle of Lone Jack, Robert being killed in that battle. After James W. Returned to his large farm at the close of the war, he gave his entire attention to stock raising and agricultural pursuits until his death in 1882. According to Cockrell's history James Garrett came to Missouri from Maryland in 1843. He was born on his father's plantation in that state. However, it seems more likely that he sojourned several years in North Carolina immediately preceding his journey to Missouri. Upon his arrival he purchased 320 acres of land in Jefferson township and engaged in farming and stockraising, becoming one of the most prosperous and influential citizens of his day in the county. He died in 1849.



Biographical Sketch of W. A. Garrett, Jefferson Township, Johnson County, Missouri
From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
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W. A. Garrett, [William Adrian Garrett or "Ade"] a well known and esteemed stockman of Jefferson township, is the son of an honored and respected pioneer of Johnson county, Mo. He was born in 1848 in Johnson county, son of J. W. and Ann T. Garrett. J. W. Garrett was the son of James Garrett, who came to Missouri in 1843 from Maryland, where he was born on the plantation owned by his father. [It is well documented in census records that both James Garrett (grand father of Ade, and James' father, Henry, were in Rockingham Co., NC in the late 1700s and early 1800s] James [grand father of Ade] Garrett purchased 320 acres of land in Johnson county and engaged in farming and stock raising, becoming one of the most prosperous and influential citizens of his day in the county. His mother, Amy (Sims) Garrett, [James Garrett's wife was Elizabeth Sims and her mother was Amy Wall Sims, wife of Thomas Sims.] and his father, who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, lived and died in Maryland. [This passage probably refers to Thomas Sims who served in the American Revoltion.] J. W. Garrett, the son of James Garrett, was engaged in the manufacture of tobacco prior to the Civil War. After the war, he became interested in farming and stock raising and devoted his entire attention to the pursuits of agriculture. He [James Washington Garrett] enlisted in the Civil War, serving with the Confederates under Major Cockrell. He participated in the battle of Lonejack, where his brother, Robert, was killed. Several years prior to the war, he was united in marriage with Ann T. Perry, the daughter of William T. Perry, who came to Missouri in 1837 and was one of the first settlers in Johnson county. The death of J. W. Garrett occurred in 1882. In 1871, W. A. Garrett was united in marriage with Alice D. Walker, the daughter of Wyatt Walker, a Virginian, who came to Missouri in 1869. To W. A. and Alice (Walker) Garrett were born the following children:
Mrs. Ivy Munday, Windsor, Mo.; Mrs. Edna Powell, Leeton, Mo.; Daisy C., Windsor, Mo.; Mrs. Lennie Kavanaugh, Kansas City, Mo.; Robert L, Windsor, Mo.; and Mrs. Nellie Reynolds, Leeton, Missouri. In 1888, Mr. Garrett built the handsome residence, which is their present home. Mrs. Garrett died in January, 1913. In 1875, Mr. Garrett purchased his grandmother's farm, consisting of 260 acres of land in Johnson county. He has since increased his holdings and is now the owner of 320 acres of fine farm land, most of which is in grass. Mr. Garrett devotes almost his entire attention to stock raising, dealing largely in Red Polled cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. The Garrett stock farm is especially valuable, due to a deposit of coal underlying the place at a depth of sixty feet, a vein of perhaps more than five feet and of a splendid grade. The farm is well watered, having an overflowing natural spring. The spring furnished water for many of the early pioneers in the days gone by. Almost seventy years ago, W. A. Garrett was born in the cabin home of his father on Johnson county. He has witnessed many changes in this country since the days of his boyhood. When he was a lad, there were no roads and very few fences, practically all the country being wide, open prairie. The settlers traveled by direction and they obtained their supplies at Boonville and Lexington. Mr. Garrett hauled the lumber, with which to build their home, from Lexington, when the family first came to Johnson county. An old log cabin, the oldest house in Missouri, perhaps, is still standing on the farm now owned by W. A. Garrett. He recalls with much pleasure the days of his youth, the "good, old days" of the long ago. Mr. Garrett states that the young people were not shy of simple pleasures and amusements and enjoyed themselves immensely at house-raisings, corn husking parties, spinning, quilting, apple paring "bees" and country dances. The social conditions were the very best and there was not to be found an inhospitable family in all the country. To travel on horseback was the invariable rule and everyone, who could possibly go, attended church, many men and women coming on horseback from long distances. Mr. Garrett remembers a pioneer preacher, having the same name as his own, who preached the doctrines of Christianity in the good old fashioned way at Old Sardis. Among some very valuable relics of the olden times, which W. A. Garrett has in his possession, are a skillet, a crane, and parts of a very primitive loom, the last mentioned having been brought to Missouri in the earliest days from North Carolina.


The 1930 Federal Census for Jefferson Township, Johnson Co., Missouri (ED# 9, page 73B, dated April 18, 1930) records William A. [Adrian] Garrett (81 - Missouri/NC/Kentucky) with his wife Mary D. Garrett (59 - Missouri/Missouri/Missouri). Mary indicates that she was first married at age 50 while Adrian at age 22). Nearby is Adrian's aunt, the widow of Powhatan Garrett, Mary L. Garrett (82 - NC/NC/NC) living with her son, Robert Garrett (59 - Missouri/Missouri/Missouri) their servant girl, Edith L. Peden (17 - Missouri/Missouri/Missouri).

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Farmer.

William married Alice D. Walker, daughter of Wyatt Walker and Permelia Gilchrist, on 16 Feb 1871 in Henry Co., Missouri. (Alice D. Walker was born on 10 Dec 1851 in Yanceyville, Caswell Co., N.C, died on 14 Jan 1913 in Windsor, (Henry) Johnson, MO. and was buried on 16 Jan 1913 in Laurel Oak Cemetery, Windsor, Henry Co., Missouri.)

William next married Mary (Mollie) Dyer, daughter of David L. Dyer and Lauretta Breeze, on 23 Nov 1920 in Missouri. (Mary (Mollie) Dyer was born on 2 Oct 1870 in Clark Township, Chariton Co., Missouri and died in 1958 in Missouri.)