The Adams Families of Johnson County, Iowa

E. M. ADAMS, farmer. Cedar township, post-office, Solon; was born in Maine, September 7, 1811, where he lived until he was fifteen years of age; then his father, John E., moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived until 1838, when he came to Iowa and resided in Muscatine county one year, and in 1839 moved to Johnson county, where he has since resided. He owns 425 acres of land, and has his home farm well improved. In 1849 he took the gold fever and went to California, but only remained there one year. He was married, April 9, 1835, to Sally Gleason; she dying in June, 1837, leaving one son, Decatur C, now living near Council Bluffs. He was again married. May 3, 1840, to Henrietta Lyon, daughter of John Lyon, and a native of Pennsylvania, this being the first marriage in Cedar township. By this union there are two children: John L. and Lillie, now Mrs. Herbert S. Fairall.

JAiMES M. ADAMS, farmer, Cedar township, post-ofRce, Solon; was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, October 28, 1828, and is a son of John E. and Sarah Adams, natives of Maine. He lived in Ohio until 1846, and then came to Iowa and settled on the farm he now lives on, where he owns 138 acres of land. In 1852 he went to California and remained there three years, engaged in mining. He was married, July 14, 1855, to Miss Sophia Dudley, a daughter of William Dudley, who came to this county in 1842. They have nine children: Ada P., Lydia E., Eva C, Henrietta, Jennie B., Emery D., Eugene M., Eben W. and Harry P. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are members of the M. E. Church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MOSES ADAMS, farmer and stock-raiser, Cedar township, postoffice, Solon; was born in Oxford county, Maine, November 2, 1815. When eleven years of age his parents, John E. and Sarah Adams, emigrated to Ohio and settled in Cuyahoga county where they lived eleven years, and in the fall of 1838 moved to Illinois, and came to Johnson county in April, 1839, moved into Cedar township the spring of 1841, and has since then lived in the township. He has a fine farm of 366 acres and a comfortable home. He raises considerable stock and some thoroughbred Short-Horns. Mr. Adams was married January 9, 1859, to Sarah J. Keislar, a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, and came to Johnson county in 1851. This union has been blessed with six children: Cora, Mary, J. Quincy, Myron D., Otto M. and Harriet E.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN L. ADAMS

The entire life of John L. Adams, covering a period of sixty-one years, has been lived upon the homestead in Big Grove township, a part of which was taken up by his grandfather, John Lyon, about the year 1834. The farm now aggregates 500 acres and comprises the homestead of the Lyons family, of which the mother of our subject was a member, as well as additional purchases made from time to time during the past fifty years. It is one of the very fine farms of Johnson county, the pride of its owner and the object of admiration by the countryside.

The parents of John L. Adams were E. M. and Henrietta (Lyon) Adams, the former a native of Maine (born in 1811) and the latter a Pennsylvanian. At the age of sixteen Mr. Adams removed with his parents from Maine to Ohio. He lived in the Buckeye state eleven years, and married his first wife there, Miss Sarah Gleason, by whom he had one son, Decatur, now living in southeastern Kansas. His young wife having died, Mr. Adams removed to Johnson county, Iowa, where he settled upon a homestead in Pleasant Valley township in 1838. The trip to Iowa was made by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. On reaching Burlington, he found himself comparatively without means. He was fortunate in securing employment, however, and soon pushed on to the township in which he elected to take up his homestead. There he began immediate and practical work as a farmer, an occupation which he continued until his death at the ripe age of eighty-nine years. Mr. Adams those for his second wife Miss Henrietta Lyon, who came with her parents from Pennsylvania to Iowa in 1839. Soon after their arrival at Muscatine the Lyon family were all taken sick, a calamity which resulted in the death of the father. The remaining members of the household pushed on to Johnson county and located upon the claim in Cedar township, which is now a part of our subject's farm. Mother Lyon spent the remainder of her life on this farm. It passed into the hands of our subject's father by purchase in 1852, and he and his wife moved thereon, our subject being at the time only a few weeks old. There, however, he has resided ever since. Five children were born to E. M.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN E. ADAMS, proprietor Maple Avenue farm. Cedar township post-office, Solon; was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, September 15, 1833, and is a son of Capt. John E. and Belinda Adams, they being natives of Maine and also pioneers of Ohio, where the subject of this sketch spent his early life and followed farming and the dairy business, selling milk in Cleveland for several years. In 1863 he removed to Putnam county, Ohio, and invested in wild lands and buying and selling stock, and remained there nine years, and in 1873 came to Iowa and settled in Johnson county, and now owns 359 acres of fine land, a fine residence and improvements, having a beautiful location. He pays special attention to raising and feeding stock, and also breeds thoroughbred Short-Horns. He was married, December 1, 1859, to Jemima Powell, a native of Portage county, Ohio; she is a daughter of Henry and Cynthia Powell. Mrs. Powell, whose maiden name was Crooks, was the first white child born in Trumbull county, Ohio, and the second on the Western Reserve, being born in 1799. They had six children, three now living: Cora J., Ethie L. and Harrv D. Mr. Adams and wife are members of the Church of God.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.