Dr. Franklin S. Adams, a well known dental surgeon of Waterville, Kan., is a native of New Jersey, born at Newark, March 13, 1865. He is a son of Henry J. and Mary A. (Ward) Adams, the former a native of New York, and the latter of New Jersey.

Henry J. Adams in later life became a very prominent figure in State and National affairs. When a young man he went west, and for a time was superintendent of schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, and while holding that position read law in that city and in 1854 came to Kansas, and located at Leavenworth, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession. He lived in Leavenworth during the stirring days of the border warfare, which was raging about the time that he came to Leavenworth, and continued to do so until that form of warfare was succeeded by the Civil war. During the war Henry J. Adams served as paymaster, ranking as major, in the Army of the West, and at the close of that great struggle he resumed his law practice in Leavenworth. In 1868 he removed to Marshall county, Kansas, to recuperate his health, more than anything else, on account of sickness contracted during his service in the army. However, he never recovered, but died on his homestead, in June, 1870. His wife survived him several years, departing this life at her Waterville home in 1907. Henry J. Adams took an active part in politics and was an enthusiastic Free State man, which in those days, in Kansas, meant that a man must, literally, have the courage of his convictions. He was the first Free State mayor of Leavenworth, and made a capable and fearless executive at a time that "Tried men's souls."

Dr. Adams, the subject of this review, was but five years old when his father died. He received his early educational discipline in the public schools at Waterville, where his widowed mother resided, and after completing school he entered the employ of the Missouri-Pacific Railway Company at station work, remaining in the employ of this company eleven years. He was then employed in a drug store for a while, and later clerked in a bank at Waterville for three years. He then became interestd in dentistry, as a profession, and entered the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Baltimore, Md., where he was graduated in the class of 1899, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. He returned to Waterville, Kan., and at once engaged in the practice of his profession, where he has successfully continued to the present time. In 1911 he decided to branch out in the field of commercial enterprise when he, in partnership with Mr. M. I. Parker, purchased a hardware, furniture and harness business at Waterville. The concern is known as the Adams-Parker Hardware & Furniture Company, and is one of the most complete mercantile houses in Marshall county.

Dr. Adams was united in marriage December 31, 1903, to Mrs. Margaret J. Parker, the widow of the late Schuyler R. Parker, a personal sketch of whom appears in this volume. Margaret J. Parker bore the maiden name of Grier. She was the daughter of William and Isabel (Livingston) Grier, both natives of Ireland and both descendants of prominent English families. Their respective parents located in Ireland about 1806. Margaret Grier's father, William Grier, was born March 4, 1836, and his wife, Isabel Livingston, was born in March, 1834. William Grier was a son of Samuel Grier, who went to Ireland in the early part of the Nineteenth century, as above stated, where he reared a family of eight children, three boys and five girls. The three boys came to America in 1845, all of whom remained in Philadelphia several years. Later William, with another brother, came west, locating in Illinois, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. He met and married Isabel Livingston in Philadelphia, who was also of English descent, having been born in 1834 in Ireland, of English parentage. She came to America with her father when seven years of age; her mother having died when she was a small child. Her father, George Livingston, was an early day educator in Illinois, where he settled upon coming to this country. The Livingstons are an old and honorable English family, and are direct descendants of Livingston, the great African explorer. To William Grier and Isabel Livingston were born nine children, Margaret J., now the wife of Dr. Adams, being the only daughter. She was born November 5, 1865, and reared and educated in her native State at Cornwall, Ill., where she graduated from the high school. She is a member of the Eastern Star and of the Presbyterian church. Dr. Adams is a a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, Knight Templar and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The doctor takes an active interest in public affairs and has served four years as mayor of Waterville.