The Adams line in the Boone County histories is a railroad family. Nathaniel Adams, a New Englander, served as a private in the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry and was killed in the battle of Petersburg, and his widow Matilda (Curry) Adams, a daughter of Riley Curry of near Perry, brought the children to Iowa and later married Andrew J. Hutson. Their son Theodore A. Adams, born in Monroe County, Wisconsin, in 1858, began braking on the Rock Island in 1878, became an engineer on the Northwestern in 1883, and for twelve years ran the passenger train between Boone and Omaha. His son Frank, born in 1880, became a Northwestern conductor. The 1902 Biographical Record also prints national biographies of John Adams, John Quincy Adams and the educator Charles Kendall Adams, but none of them lived in Boone County, so they are left out here. Every fact below is cited to a public-domain Boone County history.
Where the family starts
Nathaniel Adams and Matilda (Curry) Adamsthe earliest generation in the recordMost recent in our records
Etta May, Ollie and Cleo Adamsborn 1882Tap a name to jump to that person.
Private, Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry
Passenger engineer, Chicago & Northwestern Railway
THEODORE A. ADAMS.
For twenty-two years Theodore A. Adams has been a passenger engineer on the Northwestern railroad, having ever discharged his duties with circumspection and faithfulness. He now resides in a pretty home at No. 229 Cedar street, Boone. He was born January 30, 1858, in Monroe county, Wisconsin, and is a son of Nathaniel and Matilda (Curry) Adams. The father was born in New England. He served in the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry as a private and was killed in the battle of Petersburg. Matilda Curry was a daughter of Riley Curry, who was born in Ireland and upon coming to the United States settled near Perry, Iowa, where he followed agricultural pursuits. Mrs. Adams subsequent to her first husband's death married Andrew J. Hutson. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and died in Perry, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. -Adams had four children: John H., of Valley Junction, Iowa, who married twice; Maria, who married John Cameron of Des Moines, Iowa; Theodore A., of this review; and Frank, of Valley Junction, Iowa.
Theodore A. Adams spent the first years of his life in Wisconsin, attending school in the little village of Ripon, that state. After his father's death the family removed to Iowa, and he completed his education in the schools of Grand Junction. He entered upon the duties of life by assisting his stepfather and the latter's brother, who were engaged in building operations and in moving houses. After leaving home Mr. Adams first worked for a Mr. Hughes on a farm five miles north of Beaver, Iowa, being at that time about eighteen years of age and receiving in remuneration for his services eighteen dollars per month and board. There he remained for a year and then worked for his brother John, who conducted a livery stable at Grand Junction, remaining for about two years. At the end of that time he first took up railroad work, becoming a brakeman on the Rock Island railroad on February 20, 1878. His run was from Grand function to Fort Dodge, and there he continued until October 17, 1879, when he became brakeman on the Northwestern between Boone and Belle Plaine. holding that position until the fall of 1880. He next was fireman for the same company for two years and in January, 1883, was promoted to engineer, his run being in
Iowa between the.Missouri and Mississippi rivers. For the last twelve years Mr. Adams has had the passenger run between Boone and Omaha. He has shown himself capable in the discharge of his duties and stands high in the estimation of his superior officers. Many are those who know him in Boone, and he also has many acquaintances among the passengers who travel regularly on his run and who esteem him as a reliable, trustworthy official.
On May 12, iSjg, Mr. Adams married in Grand Junction. Iowa. Miss Mary Luce, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Luce, the former a carpenter by trade. To this union were born six children. Frank, of Grand Jnuction, Iowa, was born March 15, 1880. He is a graduate of the Boone schools and is now a conductor on the Nortiiwestern railroad, making his home with our subject. He is prominent in Masonry, having become a Shriner at the age of twenty-one and being at that time one of the youngest in the state. Etta May, who was born in Perry Iowa, September 16, 1882, is now Mrs. Edward Painter, of Leadville, Colorado. Ollie, who was born in Boone, February 1, 1885, married R. W. Weaver and they are now living in Des Moines. Cleo. who was born in Boone, April 4. 1893, is clerk to the foreman at the round house of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad and resides at home. Charles is deceased and another died in infancy. Mrs. Adams is a member of the Presbyterian church, the services of which her husband also attends. The latter is politically independent, preferring to follow his own judgment in giving his support to such candidates as he considers best fitted for the position to which they aspire, irrespective of party lines. Fraternally he belongs to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and is popular in that organization. He has many friends in Boone, all of whom speak of him in the highest terms of appreciation.
As printed in the source1. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Conductor, Chicago & Northwestern Railway
Younger children of Theodore A. Adams
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