Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 908 - 910

JOSEPH ADAMS. Prominent among the more intelligent, active and enterprising citizens of Attica Township, is the gentleman whose name heads this biography. His reputation for integrity and industry is second to none in the county, and being a man of rare intellectual attainments, he is authority on many questions with the people of the community. His home, which is beautifully located on a branch of Dry Creek, is surrounded by a fine farm of 160 acres of land, on which he carries on the raising of fine stock and grain.

            The subject of this sketch is a native of Ohio, having been born Oct. 31, 1837, within a mile of Painesville, and distant but three miles from the home of the Martyr President, Garfield. His father, a blacksmith by trade, was a native of England, and came to America when about twenty-five years of age. His name was William Adams, and while a resident of Ohio he married a widow at Painesville, whose maiden name was Lucretia Ryder. Of this marriage there was but one child, the subject of this sketch.

            When Joseph Adams was a youth he attended school in his native county, but his mother having died when he was about two and a half years old, and his father having married again, before our subject was twelve years of age he commenced the battle of life for himself, working for some farmers in the neighborhood, and attending school in his leisure moments, and in this manner acquired the rudiments of his education. This he has supplemented through life by a systematic course of reading, until today he is one of the best informed men to be met with in a long journey. By the second marriage of his father there was a family of three children.

            While still in his youth our subject removed with his father to Neenah, Winnebago Co., Wis., where he remained for about three years, engaged in various pursuits. About 1852 he returned to Painesville, Ohio, where he made his residence for about two years, after which he acted as cook on a sailing-vessel on Lake Erie. This business he followed but one summer, after which he returned to Wisconsin and made his home in that State for four years, spending one winter in a lumber camp in the northern part of that commonwealth. In February, 1858, our subject removed to Peoria County, Ill., where for about two years he followed farming, but in 1860 he commenced the sale of fanning-mills for E. A. Proctor, of Peoria. In this business he traveled over the greater part of Southern Illinois, and being peculiarly fitted for a solicitor met with remarkably good success.

            But he was rudely awakened from his quiet dreams of the future, by the dark cloud of war which overshadowed our beloved country, and in the fall of 1861, his patriotism having been aroused, our subject enlisted in Company B, 11th Illinois Cavalry, under the command of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. The regiment to which he was attached participated in the battle of Shiloh, but he was not present with them when that gallant band of heroes carried to the front the State flag of Illinois in that fearful contest of April 6, 1862, "where deeds of eternal fame were done." At that time he was lying at home sick, disease having been a consequence of hardships endured in the service. At the re-organization of the regiment to which he was attached, in the fall of 1862, he was discharged on account of the rank of Sergeant Major that he held being dispensed with.

            While at home on his sick furlough, in the spring of 1862, Mr. Adams was united in marriage with Miss Sarah E. Merrill, who became the mother of one child, Jennie, born Dec. 20, 1865, and who makes her home in Chariton, Iowa, with her maternal grandfather, James E. Merrill. After his discharge from the service, in the spring of 1863, the subject of this memoir removed to Lucas County, Iowa, where he purchased some eighty acres of land, upon which he carried on farming for about thirteen years. At the expiration of that time he sold out and came to Kansas, and settling in Reno County, took up 320 acres of land as homestead and tree claims. While still living in the Hawkeye State, his wife was taken from him by death, on the 8th of January, 1866. Mr. Adams again entered the marriage state, the ceremony which united him and Miss Sarah E. Boyson being solemnized March 20, 1867. The lady was born June 5, 1838, at Merrimack, N. H., and is a daughter of Ebenezer and Isabel (Cushing) Boyson. Her parents were natives of Massachusetts, whose ancestors were of Scotch descent, and settlers in the old colony of Boston and Massachusetts Bay. Mrs. Adams has often heard her mother speak of having been brought up beneath the shadow of old South Church, which was made so famous during the early history of Boston, and which is more widely known through Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride."

            In the spring of 1881 Mr. Adams sold out his property in Reno County, and moved to the farm of J. R. Mead, south of Wichita, where he lived about eighteen months. The next year was spent on W. L. Jackson's place, northwest of Wichita; but in September, 1884, he purchased and moved to his present farm. In July, 1884, the organization of Acme School District No. 150 was effected at a meeting held at the residence of N. Nelson, at which time D. S. Aldrich was chosen Director, E. D. Roemer, Treasurer, and Joseph Adams, Clerk. Money to build a school-house was raised, and the building erected on land kindly donated for that purpose by Mr. Adams, and in this building, which cost, with its furniture, $687.67, the first school was taught by Miss Kate Loosee.

            To Mr. and Mrs. Adams have been given two children, both of whom were born in Iowa: Maude A., Sept. 26, 1871, and Carmie A., Oct. 25, 1875. Our subject, although his father was a Democrat, cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and since that time has always affiliated with the Republican party. While a resident of Iowa Mr. Adams held the office of Supervisor for three years, Assessor one year, and Road Overseer. In Reno County he was Justice of the Peace for one year, and in Attica Township was Clerk of the School Board for three years.

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