A family story says that the parents of Adolphus Middleton Strain, Jr., died from typhoid and that he was given to family friends, the
Hardbargers, by his older brothers .
The older brothers then went west. He is listed in the 1850 census
for Walker County, Georgia (age 3) in the home of Robert Hardbarger, but
Adolphus Sr. and Mary with 4 children in Cass County appear to have been still
alive at that time.
A possible brother, William, was married in Cherokee
County, Georgia and later moved to Alabama.
He possessed a family bible inscribed "from grandmother, Mary
Waters to William." (Mary Waters married Adolphus Strain, Sr. July
25, 1835 in Habersham Co., Georgia.)
Another brother James was killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 13,
1861. Brother John Wesley was a prisoner of war. The roll for Aug.
31, 1863, shows him "Absent, detailed by Secretary of War in Nitre and
Mining Bureau." Paroled at Talladega, Ala. May 25, 1865. ( Muster
Roll of Co. D, 36th Regt., GA. Vol Inf, Army of Tennessee, C.S.A., Bartow
County, GA, Vol III, page 963.)