Professional research (2014) by the late Margery M Heffron as published in her book, Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams, based on surviving Johnson/Adams family correspondence supports that the biological father was Col George Boyd, Adelaide's brother-in-law. He is recorded as in Georgetown in Washington by 1817, later moving to King George County, VA, and departing from there for Wisconsin in 1819, appointed as an Indian Agent. He later returned east briefly, and made his final departure with his family in the spring of 1820.
The circumstances of conception in about January of 1818, certainly in Georgetown, where Adelaide continued to live after being widowed (and Boyd had previously retained a residence), remain wholly unknown, nothing implied in any of the known surviving correspondence or diaries of any of the Johnson or Adams families. Adelaide's older sister, Louisa Catherine Adams was recorded as "irritated" with her, but no comment on Boyd was noted. It also remains unknown as to who else among the Johnson siblings and/or in-laws were aware of this conception and Boyd's complicity,
Adelaide spent the summer prior to Georgiana's birth in York, PA, likely to minimize to some degree knowledge of the pregnancy and birth. Georgiana was given the surname Hellen, the Hellens and Johnsons being still prominent families, and the specifics of her birth quietly glossed over, one likely reason records are now difficult to find.
Also see links to Walter Hellen Jr. for additional biographical information and links to other family buried in this plot, all as inscribed on the single shared marker (all four sides) as noted below:
________________________________________________________________________
Inscriptions on the "obelisk" marking the plot, in known order of interment, first by Walter Hellen Jr, then later by his second wife, Adelaide Johnson Hellen, and lastly by then widower Theodore Moody:
Washington Hellen, 1805
Walter Hellen III, 1806
Anne "Nancy Johnson Hellen, 1810
Catherine Nuth Johnson, 1811
Walter Hellen Jr., 1815
After Walter's death and Adelaide's lawsuit, the plot appears to have become her property, the following interments made there by her, and limited to her family.
Eugene Joseph Moody, 1840 – see link
Thomas Baker Johnson, 1845 - see links
Walter Thomas Hellen IV, 1850 - no date inscribed
William Stevens Smith – no date inscribed – see note below*
Adelaide Maria Moody - 1862 - see link
Georgiana Adelaide Hellen Moody, 1863
Adelaide Johnson Hellen, 1877 – see link
And finally, Adelaide Johnson Hellen's son-in-law, who inherited the plot upon her death, Walter Hellen IV's inscription immediately above:
Theodore Lyman Moody, 1878 - see link
* William Stevens Smith cannot be identified and no date of birth or death is inscribed. As his name is below that of Thomas Baker Johnson on one face of the marker, about all that can be surmised is that he died after 1845, but with names carved on all the available space on the maker, it could have been later, after Georgiana, but assumed before Adelaide herself, she likely having him interred her, not her son-in-law. He may have been Adelaide's first son, but it appears not from a first marriage. That remains speculation, however. See her memorial page for additional information.
Allan Garner - Rev: Feb 23, 2023
Professional research (2014) by the late Margery M Heffron as published in her book, Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams, based on surviving Johnson/Adams family correspondence supports that the biological father was Col George Boyd, Adelaide's brother-in-law. He is recorded as in Georgetown in Washington by 1817, later moving to King George County, VA, and departing from there for Wisconsin in 1819, appointed as an Indian Agent. He later returned east briefly, and made his final departure with his family in the spring of 1820.
The circumstances of conception in about January of 1818, certainly in Georgetown, where Adelaide continued to live after being widowed (and Boyd had previously retained a residence), remain wholly unknown, nothing implied in any of the known surviving correspondence or diaries of any of the Johnson or Adams families. Adelaide's older sister, Louisa Catherine Adams was recorded as "irritated" with her, but no comment on Boyd was noted. It also remains unknown as to who else among the Johnson siblings and/or in-laws were aware of this conception and Boyd's complicity,
Adelaide spent the summer prior to Georgiana's birth in York, PA, likely to minimize to some degree knowledge of the pregnancy and birth. Georgiana was given the surname Hellen, the Hellens and Johnsons being still prominent families, and the specifics of her birth quietly glossed over, one likely reason records are now difficult to find.
Also see links to Walter Hellen Jr. for additional biographical information and links to other family buried in this plot, all as inscribed on the single shared marker (all four sides) as noted below:
________________________________________________________________________
Inscriptions on the "obelisk" marking the plot, in known order of interment, first by Walter Hellen Jr, then later by his second wife, Adelaide Johnson Hellen, and lastly by then widower Theodore Moody:
Washington Hellen, 1805
Walter Hellen III, 1806
Anne "Nancy Johnson Hellen, 1810
Catherine Nuth Johnson, 1811
Walter Hellen Jr., 1815
After Walter's death and Adelaide's lawsuit, the plot appears to have become her property, the following interments made there by her, and limited to her family.
Eugene Joseph Moody, 1840 – see link
Thomas Baker Johnson, 1845 - see links
Walter Thomas Hellen IV, 1850 - no date inscribed
William Stevens Smith – no date inscribed – see note below*
Adelaide Maria Moody - 1862 - see link
Georgiana Adelaide Hellen Moody, 1863
Adelaide Johnson Hellen, 1877 – see link
And finally, Adelaide Johnson Hellen's son-in-law, who inherited the plot upon her death, Walter Hellen IV's inscription immediately above:
Theodore Lyman Moody, 1878 - see link
* William Stevens Smith cannot be identified and no date of birth or death is inscribed. As his name is below that of Thomas Baker Johnson on one face of the marker, about all that can be surmised is that he died after 1845, but with names carved on all the available space on the maker, it could have been later, after Georgiana, but assumed before Adelaide herself, she likely having him interred her, not her son-in-law. He may have been Adelaide's first son, but it appears not from a first marriage. That remains speculation, however. See her memorial page for additional information.
Allan Garner - Rev: Feb 23, 2023
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