1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Dr. Lawrence P. Adamson, who for the past ten years has been numbered among the leading physicians and surgeons of Girard, is, in length of residence, one of the oldest citizens of Crawford county, which he has known and considered as his home for the past thirty-five years. He made the acquaintance of this country as a boy of ten years, and at a time when development and civilization had hardly begun.

He was born in Allegheny city, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1859, a son of W. C. and Hannah (Musser) Adamson, both natives of Pennsylvania. Ancestry is Scotch, and his great-grandfather, William Adamson, was born in Scotland in 1760, and in boyhood came to America. He fought with the Americans at the battle on Lake Erie, so that his descendants may claim membership in the patriotic order of the Sons and Daughters of the War of 1812. He had seven children: John, Arthur, William, David, Mrs. Mary McElhaney, Mrs. Pauly Aikley and James. Of these, William, who was born in 1800, was twice married and died in 1866, was the father of William C. Adamson, the father of Dr. Adamson.

Mr. W. C. Adamson was a carpenter and builder throughout most of his life. He came from Pennsylvania to Crawford county, Kansas, in 1869, and took and proved up a claim of railroad land in Crawford township. He was born March 27, 1824, and died in 1894, and was noted for his phenomenal energy and vigorous health, and was never ill a day until his last sickness. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, in which he was an elder. He was married, first, November 16, 1848, to Miss Henrietta Godfrey, who was born September 17, 1832, and passed away leaving one child, Laura, who died at the age of eight. He was married, second, June 15, 1853, in Center county, Pennsylvania, to Hannah Musser, who was born July 26, 1831, and died March 4, 1895. Her grandfather, Phillip Musser, came from Germany at the age of eight years, settling in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, where he grew up and married Rebecca Oswalt, by whom he had the following children: John; Phillip, born in 1790 and died in 1871, was married four times, and Hannah Musser and her brother David (of Center county, Pennsylvania) were the children of the third marriage; Daniel, Betsey, Mrs. John Durst; Liddy, Mrs. John Reem; Hannah, Mrs. Adam Schaeffer; and Kate, Mrs. Elias Wasser. W. C. and Hannah Adamson were the parents of seven children: Emma, wife of F. S. Wolf, of Kansas City; I. J., a farmer near Girard; Dr. L. P.; W. H., near LaVeta, Colorado; Maggie, Mrs. George Baker, of LaVeta, Colorado; Miss Minnie, formerly a teacher of Girard, now of Trinidad, Colorado; and Anna, wife of Horace Maloy, both former teachers of this county, and now in Calhoun, Colorado.

Dr. Adamson was educated in the schools of Crawford county, and, like most of the family, engaged in teaching for a time. He taught his first school at the age of eighteen, continuing till 1879, and then went to Colorado and engaged in building and contracting, also in the grocery and mercantile lines. He was a contractor and builder in San Francisco two years, and also in railroad work. He returned to Crawford county in 1885, and for a time taught in Girard and Monmouth. In the fall of 1890 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for the office of county superintendent, but the populistic landslide overwhelmed him with many others, and this defeat was the cause of his changing his career. He began the study of medicine in the fall of 1891, and spent three years in the University Medical College of Kansas City, where he was graduated in 1894, and has since been building up and retaining a successful general practice in Girard. He is a member of the Southeastern Kansas Medical Association and is secretary of the United States board of pension examiners. He has served on the city council for several years, and is elected for two more. He has always remained loyal to the Republican party. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the F. A. Association, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Home Builders' Union, and is medical examiner for these orders as also for the Equitable and New York Life insurance companies. He is well known in social and business circles, and is one of the substantial and popular men of the city and county.

Dr. Adamson married, October 31, 1889, Miss Mamie Merithew, a native of Indiana, and she died at the age of twenty-four, March 12, 1895. On June 12, 1896, Dr. Adamison married Miss Pearl Meador, of Weir City, Kansas, and they have four children: Loice Pearl, Onoto Watana, Juanita and Lavaughn.