El
Dorado County
Biographies
FREDERICK ADAMS
The history of Judge Frederick Adams
covers a long period in the development of this country in which the United
States has made marked progress in business and useful inventions, has
displayed considerable military prowess and has led the van in the settlement
and development of her own and foreign lands.
His is a career of marked interest, owing to his active connection with
many events which have had marked bearing upon the annals of the country. He is a veteran of the Mexican War, the Civil
War and the Rogue River Indian war, and his work has figured prominently in
connection with the progress and advancement of California, for he came to the
Pacific coast in 1849, before this state was admitted to the Union. A man of marked individuality and great
strength of character, his opinions and judgment have aided in shaping public
policy and have influenced public thought, feeling and action. He is still engaged in the practice at
Placerville and has long been accorded a position of distinction at the bar of
central California.
Judge Adams is a native of
Pennsylvania, born in Crawford County, on the 12 of July, 1833, of Scotch
ancestry. His great-grandfather on the
paternal side emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania at a very early day,
bringing with him his wife and children, one of whom was the grandfather of our
subject. This son was reared and
educated in the Keystone state and became a prominent physician there. As a surgeon in the Continental Army during
the war of the Revolution he participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and was
actively connected with the Colonial troops until the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis. He attained the very
advanced age of ninety-four years, living to see marked progress in the
Republic which he aided in establishing.
His wife was Susanna McAuslan and their son,
David M. Adams, became the father of our subject. He was born in Philadelphia, in 1806, and
having arrived at years of maturity married Grizella
Hickman, a daughter of Captain Hickman, one of the heroes of the
Revolution. Both her paternal and
maternal grandfathers were in the War of 1812 and the father served in the Black
Hawk war. In his family were ten children
and five of the sons loyally served their country in the Civil War, two of them
laying down their lives on the altar of their country and one being severely wounded. Two of the
sisters and one brother of Judge Adams are still living.
The Judge obtained his education largely under the direction of his
mother, who was a lady of superior mental culture. He was also instructed by Father Deleman, a Catholic priest.
In 1835, the family having in the meantime removed to St. Louis, our
subject’s father embarked in the profession of law in that city. Young Frederick had through long connection
with the Indian children learned the language of several tribes, and when but
ten years of age he went with a commission, consisting of T. P. Andrews, Thomas
H. Harvey, and Gideon C. Matlock, to Kansas to act as the Indian interpreter
for Major Matlock, being able to converse with five different Indian
nations. For two years he was in Kansas
and then came to Westport, where Kansas City now stands, and there he was in
the employ of Alexander Majors as an interpreter. When the Mexican War was inaugurated he
joined Captain Neal’s Company of the First Missouri Cavalry. His father was an ex-army officer and,
objecting to his enlistment, forced him to leave the army and sent him to St.
Louis. After arriving there he went on
board the Adelia as a cabin boy, but later joined the
Second Indiana Regiment and with that command went to Mexico. In a battle in the vicinity of Brownsville he
was wounded and sent to the hospital at San Antonio, Texas. Later he was transferred to the Second Texas
Regiment, with which he was sent out to fight the Indians. He participated in the battles at Wild Horse
creek, both at the fork of the creek and at its head. The regiment also had an engagement with the
Indians at Silver Springs, in which the red men were victorious and the Texas
regiment lost four hundred and seventy-six men in the four battles. After their return to San Antonio, Mr. Adams
was detailed with an escort and sent with dispatches to Colonel Doniphan, but
the command passed El Paso before the escort arrived there. At that place he was honorably
discharged. Subsequently he carried the
military mail for six months from El Paso, Texas, to Albuquerque, New
Mexico. Indians were very troublesome at
the time, showing great hostility to the white men and during the six months he
had five horses shot from under him and he experienced many hairbreadth
escapes. Judge William J. Graves at that
time had command of his escort. Subsequently
Judge Adams returned to Captain Neal’s company and to Westport, Missouri, in
October, 1848, where he learned of the discovery of gold in California.
With the spirit of adventure strong
within him, stirred with a desire to gain a fortune in the land of the precious
metal, he started on the 14th of November, 1848, for the gold
fields. In New Mexico he joined Captain
Marcy’s discharge. From there he came to
El Dorado County, where he engaged in placer mining from 1849 until 1854. He owned rich claims and made much
money. He arrived at Screech Owl
district just about the time its rich discoveries were made. He inquired of a man where he could find a
gold mine and the man replied “in the gulch.”
Mr. Adams was certainly very fortunate, for his first find was a nugget
worth one hundred and twenty-three dollars, and on the first day he took out
gold to the value of four hundred and seventeen dollars. He succeeded in getting on an average of
about six ounces a day, and thus his fortune rapidly accumulated.
In April, 1854, he went to Siskiyou
County. He took with him sixty-three
head of brood mares, but at the Oregon line the Indians stampeded the horses
and he lost all but the ones they were riding.
Subsequently Mr. Adams engaged in mining on the Klamath and Scott
rivers, where again his efforts were attended with splendid success. He with others in Jackass claim, opposite
Scott’s Bar, took out two hundred and seven pounds of gold in one day, one
piece weighing fourteen pounds. At
Clarksville, in the spring of 1850, Mr. Adams found a piece worth five hundred
and thirty dollars. Like other pioneer
miners, he both made and lost money in different speculations, but altogether
met with prosperity in his search for the precious metal.
When a boy he had
read Blackstone. In 1853 he was
interested in a ditch over which there was litigation, and this led him to
continue his study of law. He made his
first case on French Bar in 1855, where he was opposed by Captain J. D. Fair
and Kentuck Lewis, another prominent lawyer of that
time; but his marked ability enabled him to win his suit. When it was appealed he succeeded in having
the appeal dismissed. His success
encouraged him, and, having a natural taste for the law, he resolved to devote
his energies to practice, and in 1862 he was admitted to the bar. His career as a member of the legal
fraternity was somewhat unlike that of lawyers in the east, for the unsettled
condition of the sate made continuous practice impossible. He was a volunteer in the Rogue River Indian
war and was elected the captain of his company.
After his admission to the bar he volunteered for service in the Union
army with the California troops and was sent on detached service to Idaho,
being stationed for a time at Bannock City, where he served as provost marshal.
After the war Judge Adams took up
his abode in Grant County, Oregon, and was soon regarded as one of the most
prominent citizens of the place. He
served as county treasurer and county judge and was elected to the Oregon
assembly, but his seat was contested and before the close of the session he lost
it. He practiced law in Oregon until
1868, after which he practiced at different times in Santa Cruz and San Luis
Obispo counties and in San Francisco and Oakland. In 1898, on account of his wife’s health, he
removed to Placerville, where he soon acquired a large and distinctively
representative clientage. He occupies an
eminent position in the ranks of his profession in this county. He has been interested in business ventures
and has met with several financial reverses, losing heavily in going security
for a friend. He also last a large
number of cattle in one of the severe droughts that visited Arizona.
In 1860 Judge Adams was united in
marriage to Miss Eliza Miller, a daughter of Henry Miller, who came to
California in 1854. She was born in North
Carolina, and their union has been blessed with two daughters: Mrs. E. R. Tutt, of
Oakland; and Mrs. H. A. Barklew, of Fresno. Mrs. Adams is a member of the Methodist
church and a lady of Christian culture who enjoys the high esteem of many
friends.
Judge Adams has been an Odd Fellow
since 1857, a Mason since 1868, and in the latter has attained the Knight
Templar degree, and also belongs to the Mystic Shrine, and to the Ancient Order
of United Workmen, of which in 1890 he was the grand master workman of the
state of California. He is also an
esteemed member of the Society of California Pioneers and the Society of
Veterans of the Mexican War.
In politics he is an unswerving
Republican, and four times has canvassed the state in behalf of his party, being
one of the leading political speakers at the time of the election of General
Grant. Although a veteran of three wars
and familiar with the hardships and trials of pioneer life, he is still a well
preserved man. His record has ever been
honorable and straightforward, commending him to the confidence and regard of
all with whom he has been associated.
Socially he is held in the highest regard by many friends who delight in
doing him honor.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 184-187. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies