Samuel W. Adams, now deceased, was a Butler county pioneer and a Civil war veteran, who took a prominent part in the development of Rock Creek township. Mr. Adams was born in Boone county, Kentucky, August 16, 1847. He was a son of Samuel W. and Jane (McGinnis) Adams, natives of Kentucky. Samuel Adams, the subject of this sketch, grew to manhood and was educated in his native State, and on September 9, 1869, he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine E. Snodgrass, a native of Pendleton county, Kentucky, born November 1, 1850. Her parents were Joseph and Sarah Ann (Wallace) Snodgrass, natives of Kentucky, the former of Scotch and German extraction, and the latter of Scotch descent. To Mr. and Mrs. Adams were born the following children: Stella, David E., deceased, and Frank and Dessie. The three surviving children live with their mother in Rock Creek township.

In March, 1870, the spring following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Adams drove from their home in Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they shipped their goods to Kansas and came to this State by rail. They first settled in Johnson county, where they leased some Shawnee Indian land on the Shawnee reservation in Johnson county. They remained there until April, 1871, when they loaded their personal possessions in a prairie schooner and started in a southwesterly direction, with a view of locating in Cowley county. When they reached Rock Creek township, Butler county, their journey had been so much interrupted up to this time by swollen streams that they decided to cast their lot with Butler county, and Mr. Adams pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 17. Later his father and two of his brothers settled in Butler county, and two brothers of Mrs. Adams also came here. The first home of the Adams family on the plains of Butler county was a 16x16-foot, one-room structure, built of native lumber, which later, however, was succeeded by a more comfortable and commodious farm residence. When Mr. Adams came to Butler county he had no horses, but broke the prairie with oxen, and he managed to get along in this way for a number of years. His start in Butler county was not unlike that of the average pioneer, but industry and capable management, with good business judgment, brought more than ordinary success to him, and at the time of his death he was one of the prominent and influential men of Butler county.

When the Civil was broke out Mr. Adams was still a boy in his teens, and notwithstanding that he was only fifteen years old, he enlisted August 6, 1862, in Company G, Seventh Kentucky cavalry. After having served three years, he was discharged July 10, 1865, with an honorable

military record to his credit. He participated in many important and hard-fought battles, and at one time was taken prisoner and was confined in the Confederate military prisons for a number of months.

Mr. Adams was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also supported the policies and the principles of the Democratic party. He took an active part in the local organization of his party, and served two terms as trustee of Rock Creek township. He died October 11, 1902, and Mrs. Adams now resides on the home place. She is a typical representative of that noble band of pioneer women who did their part nobly and well in conquering the prairie and making an empire out of the desert.

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