The Springs Family

- Written for children of Thomas Alexander Taylor III

Adam Alexander Springs was born in the Charlotte, N.C. area in 1782, the son of Capt. John Springs II and Sarah Shelby Alexander Springs. Adam was without doubt the most colorful of my ancestors. Many stories have grown up around him, some probably true and others most likely pure fiction He was well educated, a member of the first graduating class of the University of North Carolina. He took advantage of his inheritance to multiply it, and was successful as a businessman and plantation owner. He owned much land at his death, also. Among the stories:-- He was an accomplished ventriloquist, who enjoyed spooking anyone who came near his home and land.-- He was, at his request, buried standing up, facing the shoals of his beloved South Fork River near his home in McAdenville, N.C.-- His ghost is seen swinging a lantern as he tramps through the woods to those shoals where he kept his fish traps. Those stories, however, pale beside the one recounted in 1980 in "The State," a North Carolina magazine, and in the Charlotte Observer newspaper. These articles quoted a tale which for years had made the rounds in the Carolinas: that Abraham Lincoln may have been Adam Springs' son. The articles note that Nancy Hanks had lived with an uncle, Rickard Hanks, near the Springs family in North Carolina, and had washed and ironed clothes for Adam Springs. According to the article in The State, "Rumor and folk lore insist that Nancy Hanks did a great deal more for Adam Springs than just wash and iron.." It says she was allegedly carrying Springs' child when she moved to Rutherfordton, N.C., where she lived in the home of Abraham Enloe until driven out by Enloe's wife. The story has it that she met and married Tom Lincoln and then named the child Abraham after her friend Enloe. Gratton Springs, who was Mary Louisa Springs' half-brother (and perhaps Lincoln's?) bore a remarkable resemblance to the president, a resemblance that Gratton Springs acknowledged, frequently wearing a Lincolnesque top hat and frock coat. People on the street supposedly took second and third looks to make sure it wasn't the president who had just passed them. A picture of Gratton Springs accompanying the article was so badly reproduced that it is impossible to judge. Maybe a better photo can be found. tab I have never seen this story quoted by serious historians, and personally I doubt its accuracy. Nevertheless, the legend is there, however wild it may be. Sarah Shelby Alexander Springs, Adam's mother, was born in the Charlotte area in 1753; she was the daughter of Col. Adam Alexander and Mary Shelby Alexander. The Alexanders -- and there were many -- left their mark on Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, N.C. More on them later.Capt. John Springs II, Adam's father, was born Oct. 27, 1751, in Jones Neck, Delaware, near Dover. He was the son of John Springs Sr., born in 1717 on Long Island, N.Y., and Sophia Gassaway Springs, who was born in 1723 in Maryland. John Sr. and his wife Sophia came to Mecklenburg, N.C., in 1766. John II and his brother Richard became large land owners and were the first to operate a gold mine in North Carolina. They coined their gold into money without alloy by consent of the government; a few pieces are said to be still in the hands of some descendants The Springs family was Dutch and had changed the name from Springsteen. John (or Johannes) Springs Sr. was the son of Derick (or Frederick) Springsteen and his wife Gertrude. Derick Springsteen was the son of Caspar Joosten Springsteen and his wife Maria Storm Springsteen, who were early settlers in the New York area and owned considerable land in what is now Brooklyn. Caspar and Maria were married Aug. 9, 1683, in Castle Philipse in Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, N.Y. A side note: One branch of our Springs family which moved to the Carolinas founded the textile company which makes the Springmaid fabrics line. Sophia Gassaway was the daughter of Henry Gassaway and Rebecca Chapman Gassaway, both of Maryland. Henry Gassaway was the son of Capt. Thomas Gassaway and Susannah Hanslap Gassaway, also of Maryland. Thomas Gassaway was the son of Col. Nicholas Gassaway and Hester Besson Gassaway, also of Maryland. Susannah was the daughter of Maj. Henry Hanslap. Hester was the daughter of Capt. Thomas Besson. Nicholas Gassaway, of English descent, came to South River, Md., in 1650. In 1678 he was captain of the provincial militia. In 1681 he was mayor. In 1684 he was, with others, a commissioner to establish ports of entry and also a justice. His will of 1691 bequeaths what was for that time a considerable amount of money and property. A portion of that came in a fund left to him by an uncle, John Collingwood, a London merchant. Small world: At one point in history Col. Nicholas Greenberry and Col. Nicholas Gassaway were co-regents of the colony of Maryland. I am descended from Gassaway; my wife Sandra is descended from Greenberry.