San Francisco County
Biographies
DR.
JOHN SMALLEY ADAMS
DR. JOHN SMALLEY
ADAMS, one of the foremost practitioners of Oakland, was born at Highgate, Franklin county,
Vermont, December 24, 1830, his parents being Lemuel
and Sallie (Smalley) Adams. On his father’s side he descended from one of the
oldest and best known families of New England. Lemuel
Adams, his father, a successful farmer and large landowner, was one of the
substantial men of Franklin county, Vermont. His
wife, whom he married there, also came of an old new
England family. There were the parents of four children, namely: J. S., our
subject; Henry F., who was educated at Fairfax, Vermont, in the New England
Baptist College, and at the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, served for a
time in the civil war as Surgeon of the Tenth Michigan Regiment, resigned on
account of failing health, afterward rejoined the army and had charge of
hospitals in Tennessee and eventually removed to California, dying at Colton,
January 18, 1890, from the effects of sickness contracted in the service of his
country; Francis J., now of Jacksonville, Illinois; and Edward Payson, the
owner of the old Adams homestead, who is now a State Senator of Vermont,
residing at Swanton, Vermont, and engaged in commission and manufacturing
business.
J. S. Adams, the
subject of this sketch, was but three years of age when his parents removed
from Highgate to Sheldon, Vermont, and in the latter
place, on arriving at suitable age, he commenced his education in the common
schools, continuing until fourteen years old, after which he attended
Bakersfield and Franklin Academy, preparatory to a college course. At
Sheldon he began the study of medicine, reading for a time with Dr. S. W.
Landon, after which he attended lectures at Woodstock Medical College. He
next went to Albany, New York, and while attending the medical college of that
city, was a favored student of the late celebrated physician and surgeon, Dr.
John Swinburne, who was afterward quarantine officer
of the port of New York, was a Surgeon in the Union army, and sent to France by
the United States Government as a member of the Ambulance Committee and was,
later on, Mayor of Albany, New York, and a member of Congress. Our subject
enjoyed the especial interest and care of Dr. Swinburne,
and until his graduation, December 24, 1855, was the almost constant companion
and protégé of that famous Doctor.
Leaving college, Dr.
Adams went to Troy, New York, and there entered upon the active practice of his
profession, gaining, during the years of his resident there, substantial
recognition of his merit, as well as adding largely to his professional
knowledge by nearly six years’ hospital experience in Albany and Troy. His
health became shattered, however, by too constant application, and in 1863 he
left there for California with his wife (whom he had married in Troy, June 19,
1856), and his son Frank L. They made the tiresome journey across the
plains, via Council Bluffs, the North Platte, Sweetwater, Fort Bridger, Salt
Lake and Carson City. Arriving in California, he spent four years in the
mountainous county of Alpine. The walking and riding incident to his practice
brought back his former strength and health, and leaving that region he removed
to San Francisco. Finding the climate here unsuited to him, he changed his
location to St. Helena, Napa county, from which point
he practiced extensively in that and adjoining counties. In 1874 he came
to Oakland, and there he soon took a front rank in his profession, being at
first alone in his practice, but afterward in partnership with Dr. A. H. Bogard, with whom he has since for the most part been
closely associated. Shortly after taking up his location here, he went to
Europe on a tour of recreation. While there, he became a constant
attendant on the principal hospitals of London, and his trip was extended to
nearly a year’s duration.
Dr. Adams is a member
of the Alameda County Medical Association, of which he has been president, and
was also one of the first members of the State Medical Society. He is a
member of the American Society for the Advancement of Science. He has kept
thoroughly in pace with the progress of medical science, and his long and
varied experience in practice, together with that fact, has attained for him
his present standing. He is known in the profession as one of the most
practical of its exponents, reasoning quickly from effect to cause,—the most
important element of diagnosis,—and possessing the faculty of being able to
readily and efficiently apply the knowledge obtained by such study and
practice. This is, in fact, the secret of success in every calling of
life, and pre-eminently so in that grandest of all, the profession of medicine.
Dr. Adams was
bereaved in 1885 by the death of his wife, who died September of that
year. She was by birth Ellen Tompkins, a native of Providence, Rhode
Island, and daughter of Clark Tompkins, who, when she was a mere child, removed
to Troy, New York, where he was a leading manufacturer and inventor. Two
children were born to Dr. Adams and wife, viz: Frank
L., hereafter mentioned, and Carrie T., a young lady of promising musical
talent, who commenced her education here in private schools, and has been since
1888 in attendance at Bradford Academy, Massachusetts, where it is her
intention to complete the course.
Dr. Frank L. Adams,
though yet a young man, has progressed with such strides in the medical
profession as to be worthy of special mention among its leading representatives
in the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. He was born in Troy, New York,
July 30, 1858, and was principally reared in Oakland. He received the
advantages afforded by the public schools of the latter city, and then attended
the University of California, where he graduated in the class of 1881. At
the commencement exercises attendant on graduation, he delivered an oration
which commanded marked attention and much favorable comment on account of the
ability displayed, and a successful career was predicted for the
orator. The prediction has so far been more than fulfilled. He at
once entered faithfully and earnestly upon a medical career, reading with his
father and attending Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, where he was
graduated in 1883.
During the year
following he was on the medical staff of the city and county hospital of San
Francisco, and then began what has proven a remarkably successful practice in
Oakland. He is now serving his third term on the Board of Health of the
city.
Transcribed
by 9-29-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 41-42, Lewis
Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.