Name/Title
Adams family: Ferdinand John Sr and Anna Maria (Ackerman) Adams, pioneers of land near Reynolds, Dakota TerritoryEntry/Object ID
2025.232.1Description
This family history folder contains information about Ferdinand J. Ackerman Sr. and his wife Anna Maria Ackerman based on three sources: Vol. I of Traill County History, obituaries in the Hillsboro Banner, and data in Ancestry.com such as from the Ackerman/Kneip/Fleischer/Hagen Family Tree developed by Jackie Ausk.
Ferdinand John Adams (Adam in some documents) was born on 5 March 1855 in Otterstadt, Germany, to parents John Adams and Johanna (Schotthoefer) Adams (see Adams_Genealogy.pdf*, pages 1 & 2, below). In Germany, Ferdinand Adams married Anna Maria Ackerman, who was also born in Otterstadt Germany (see Traill Co. History, below). Anna was born on 5 September 1859, the eighth child of George L. and Maria K. (Regenauer) Ackerman (see Ackerman_Genealogy.pdf, page 4, below).
In 1882, Ferdinand Sr and Anna (Ackerman) Adams came to America and homesteaded farmland about 5 miles northwest of the new town of Reynolds on the border of what became Grand Forks and Traill counties. As shown in a 1927 Atlas plat map of the SE portion of Michigan Township (below), the Ferdinand Adams Sr farmstead was located in the NE Qtr. of Sect. 22. By 1927, the 160 acres Qtr. was in the name of Ferdinand Sr. and Anna Adam's son, Ferdinand Jr. with their other nearby farmland in the names of their other children, such as Alphonso Adams and Phillip Adams.
Ferdinand and Anna (Ackerman) Adams had 14 children (see Adams_Genealogy.pdf, pages 2 & 3, below). They had seven sons and seven daughters, including Rudolph Henry (b. 1877, d. 1969), Kathrina (b. 1878, d. 1880), John (b. 1879, d. 1901), Katie (b. 1881, d. 1950), George L. (b. 1883, d. 1950), Nettie (b. 1884, d. 1956), Martin (b. 1886, d. 1920), Anna (b. 1888, d. 1971), Jenny (b. 1890, d. 1952), Mary (b. 1892, D. 1973), Philip (b. 1894, d. 1966), Ferdinand Jr (b. 1896, d. 1984), Alphonse (b. 1898, d. 1971), and Alice (b. 1901, d, 1976). Their first four children were born in Germany before they came to America in 1882. For more about these 14 children, see information in the Ancestry.com Ackerman/Kneip/Fleischer/Hagen Family Tree by Jackie Ausk.
Of interest, as noted in the Traill County History page (below), Ferdinand Adams Sr passed the farm onto is son, Ferdinand Adams Jr. who then passed the farm onto his son, James Adams and onto James' son Lyle Adams--four generations as of 1986 (also see TCHS Catalogit family history entry 2025.233.1}.
Ferdinand John Ackerman Sr. retired from the farm in about 1910 and he and Anna moved into Reynolds. Anna Maria (Ackerman) Adams passed away, age 63, on 22 October 1922 in Reynolds, ND. Ferdinand Adams Sr died, age 76, on 3 December 1930, in Grand Forks, ND [obituary, Hillsboro Banner, 12 Dec. 1930].
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*a Adams_Genealogy.pdf document was compiled and written by Karen (Fleischer) Ackerman and kindly proved to the TCHS by Karen's granddaughter Jackie (Ausk) Baumgartner. This document is available for viewing as a printed document and on a PC from a USB flash-drive kept in the Ferdinand Adams Sr family history folder, which is located on a shelf in the Resource Room at the TCHS Plummer House Museum in Hillsboro, ND.Acquisition
Accession
2025.232Source or Donor
Karen (Fleischer) Ackerman, Jackie (Ausk) BaumgartnerLocation
* Untyped Location
Resource RoomBuilding
Plummer House
