In late 1865, Doc and Cornelia moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut and in 1866 the first of their four surviving children, Catharine, was born. In a family tape recording made in late 1961 by their youngest and last surviving child, Roger Cook Adams (1874-1962), explains that Ridgefield was chosen because of the “altitude” and for “my mother’s health”. In a December 1865 letter, Cornelia wrote to a cousin:

We have hung some of the pictures – have the Resolutions [*] as large as life in the dining room – the glass was cracked in coming up –the only one that was injured.  All that we packed came up safely, and we consider ourselves now quite adept in the art.

Cornelia Adams

*This, of course, refers to the Nestor of Ball Players resolutions which is approximately 17 x 23, unframed.  One has to wonder how this young woman, decorating her new home, felt about hanging such a “large as life” picture (and decidedly unfeminine subject and image) in her “formal” dining room!

In a tape recording, Roger Cook Adams said that when he was a boy, his father often joined his two sons and their friends in their backyard base ball games and even made the balls for their play!  (Doc was in his late 60’s-early 70’s!)  According to Roger, his father soaked the balls in a bucket of water to shrink the leather which made the balls harder.