Sedgwick County KSGenWeb
Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.
Chapman Brothers 1888
Pages 455 - 456
JAMES McADAM. Similar to a foundation stone which holds its place under an important superstructure, the subject of this sketch occupies an immovable position among the solid men of Salem Township. His occupation is that of a general farmer and stock-raiser, and he has successfully operated for the last seventeen years on section 28, where he has a good farm finely improved, and where he has built up a homestead of no small importance.
Mr. McAdam was born in the North of Ireland, on the 3d of August, 1831, his early home having been in Castle Wellan, County Down. His parents, James, Sr., and Jane (Hagen) McAdam, were natives of the same country. They continued upon their native soil during their entire lives, passing away one year ago, in the year 1887:
The father of our subject carried on farming in a modest manner in his native county, where James, Jr., first learned to cultivate the soil, and also to depend upon his own resources. Early in life he began to experience a desire for something better than he had known, and before reaching the sixteenth year of his age resolved to seek his fortunes on another continent. He had very little capital to start upon, and accordingly embarked as a sailor on the vessel "Fame, of Limerick," bound from Belfast, and which was subsequently lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, off the coast of Anticosti Island, during a storm, going down with all on board, and our subject and ten others escaped.
Mr. McAdam spent his first winter in this country in the city of Quebec, Canada, and continued in various parts of the Dominion for two years following. From there he migrated to the Territory of Minnesota, and having become a naturalized American citizen cast his vote for the first Governor after it had been admitted into the Union as a State. He also obtained a knowledge of surveying, and assisted in forming some of the township boundaries of Rice County.
Mr. McAdam, in the spring of 1852, was seized with an attack of the California gold fever, and accordingly crossed the plains with a company of other men, and followed mining on the Pacific Slope until the fall of 1862. He met with fair success, and resolved to invest his capital in Southern Kansas. Making his way to this county he pre-empted a quarter of section 28, in what is now Salem Township, where he has since continued to reside. In the meantime he has effected a vast improvement in the condition of his property, building up from the raw prairie a fine homestead, with a good set of farm buildings, and erecting for himself in this manner a monument to his thrift and industry which will stand long after he shall have been gathered to his fathers.
Our subject added gradually to his first possessions until he is now the owner of 600 broad acres in this county, all of which is cleared and enclosed, and embraces one of the most fertile tracts in this section of the country. While in the Territory of Utah he made the acquaintance of a most estimable young lady, Miss Jane Allen, and their mutual attachment resulted in an engagement of marriage, which was celebrated Aug. 31, 1865, the presiding official being Jude Titus, of Salt Lake City. This lady was born Jan. 12, 1850, in North Shields, Northumberland, England, and by her union with our subject became the mother of three children, one of whom, Ondieal, was born Oct. 16, 1866; John was born June 24, 1877, and continues at home with his parents; Nellie was born Oct. 27, 1882, and died Aug. 4, 1885.
Mr. McAdam, politically, is a decided Democrat, although he reserves the right to cast his vote independently, and in support of the man whom he considers best qualified for office. As for himself he prefers the quietude of his own fireside, and the privilege of giving his attention to his own personal interests rather than to identify himself with the office-seekers, although repeatedly solicited to accept positions of trust and responsibility. He has watched with the warmest interest the growth of his adopted county, and no man is more cheerful in responding to the call for assistance in those enterprises calculated for its advancement. Socially he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, being a member of the lodge at South Pass, Wyo.
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