Placer
County
Biographies
JOHN ADAMS
Among the representative citizens
and city officials of Auburn, Placer County, California, is John Adams, who was
born in Delaware County, Ohio, June 28, 1841.
The Adams family, of which the subject of this sketch is a member, is of
German origin and has long been identified with this country. Abraham Adams, the grandfather of John, was
born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and was reared and married there. In 1812, with his wife and children, he moved
to what was then called the Western Reserve, and in Delaware County, Ohio, took
claim to a tract of land and established his home on the frontier. He became one of the prominent early farmers
of Delaware County. John Adams, his son,
the father of our subject, was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1800,
and was twelve years old when he went with his father’s family to Ohio. In the latter state he grew to manhood and
married Miss Desire Cook, who was born in 1803, a
daughter of Benajah Cook, one of the pioneer settlers
of Delaware County. This union was
blessed with the birth of eight children, five sons and three daughters, and
four of the family is still living. The
parents were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in their
hospitable home was entertained many a traveling minister of the gospel. Mr. Adams donated the ground on which their
church building was erected, helped to build it, and during his life aided
substantially in the support of the church.
Indeed, he was one of its most liberal and active members. He and his wife continued their residence in
Delaware County while they lived. Both
reached a ripe old age, he being in his seventy-second year and she in her
seventy-sixth year at the time of death.
John Adams was the seventh born in
his father’s family. He was educated in
the public schools, and in Central College, Franklin County, Ohio, and was
still in school at the time the Civil War was inaugurated. He had just reached
his twenty-first year when President Lincoln made his second call for
volunteers, and on the 7th of August, 1862, in answer to that call,
young Adams volunteered for service in the Union army and became a member of
Company G, Forty-fifth Ohio Infantry.
The fortunes of this command he shared in Kentucky and Tennessee for
five months. Then typhoid fever visited
the regiment, resulting in the death of no less than two hundred of its
members. Mr. Adams was one of its
victims, was confined to hospital eight months, and barely escaped with his
life. This long sickness unfitted him
for further service at the time, and he was honorably discharged and returned
to his home. It was two years before he
fully recovered his health.
After this he farmed for a
time. Then he became the owner of a
portable sawmill, and was engaged in the manufacture of lumber for four
years. In 1870 he came to California,
locating in Sierra Valley, Plumas County, where he remained three years, after
which, on account of the sickness of his son, he returned east. In 1880 he again came to California, this
time locating in Placer County and purchasing a farm near New Castle, where he
engaged in fruit farming, making a specialty of peaches. He still retains this farm, but has for some
time owned and occupied a pleasant home in Auburn.
Mr. Adams was happily married in
1867, on the 6th of February, to Miss Josephine Tyler, a native of
Delaware County, Ohio, and a daughter of Lyman Tyler, of old Revolutionary
stock. Her grandfather, George Tyler,
was a colonel in the seven-year struggle for independence, and the family has
spared its full quota of soldiers, having been represented in every war in
which this country has been engaged.
Joseph Tyler, the original progenitor of the Tyler family to which Mrs.
Adams belongs, settled in Massachusetts in 1640. His progeny have scattered over various
portions of this country and many of them have occupied prominent and
influential positions. Mr. and Mrs.
Adams have had four children, two of whom are living, both natives of
California. Eugene is engaged in farming
and resides with his parents in Auburn.
Mr. Adams has been a lifelong
Republican. In 1886 he was elected
recorder of Placer County, and it was at this time that he moved to Auburn,
where he has since resided. He was again
elected to the office of recorder, to succeed himself, and served two terms of
two years each. He was also elected and
served four years as the assessor of Placer County, and he is at present in
incumbent of a city office, having been elected one of the trustees of Auburn
in the spring of 1900. By his uniform
courtesy and the fidelity to trust reposed in him, Mr. Adams has made a most
acceptable official and given general satisfaction to all concerned. As a businessman he has proved himself a
success, having accumulated a competency.
Besides his farm and his property in Auburn, already alluded
to, he has valuable mining interests.
Mrs. Adams is a member of the
Methodist Church, of which the family are attendants and to which Mr. Adams is
a liberal contributor. Fraternally he is
identified with the A. O. W. U. and the G. A. R., being a charter member of
Baker Post at New Castle, in which he has always taken much interest. He has filled nearly every office in his G.
A. R. Post and is now a past commander.
Such is a brief sketch of the life
of one of Auburn’s leading citizens.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 363-364. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.