Bureau County Biographies
ADAMS, James Wyman
James Wyman Adams, a representative of the farming interests of Bureau county, was born near Augusta, Maine, on the 28th of August, 1840, his parents being Rodney M. and Liddie (Stover) Adams. The father was a farmer by occupation and on removing to the middle west in 1842 settled in Chicago, but soon afterward made his way to the Fox river and established his home in Oswego. There he lived for three years, when he removed with his family to Concord township in 1847. He made the journey with wagon and a team of oxen and purchased two hundred and forty acres of land. With characteristic energy he began its cultivation and improvement and throughout his entire life he continued farming, making his home in the same neighborhood until he passed away on the 20th of January, 1860. His widow survived until August, 1862, when she was also called to her final rest.
James W. Adams was only two years of age when brought by his parents to Illinois. His education was acquired in the country schools and he received practical training at farm labor through the assistance which be rendered in the improvement and cultivation of the home farm. He was only twenty years of age when his father's death occurred, after which he purchased the interest of the other heirs in the old home property, upon which he has since lived. He has here erected a good residence and substantial outbuildings and in fact has added all modern equipments and accessories, making the place a model farm property.
On the 25th of December, 1866, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Louisa White, of Webster, Iowa, a sister of Fred E. White, who is a congressman and a member of one of the old and influential families of Iowa. The father, Godfred White, came from Germany to America when Mrs. Adams was only six months old. Unto our subject and his wife have been born six children, who are still living: Frederick E., a resident farmer of Plymouth county, Iowa; Charles E., who follows farming in Concord township, Bureau county; Elmer E., a bridge builder for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, living at Buda; Percy E., a farmer of Kewanee, Illinois; Ida L., the wife of Alfred Hartsell, of Princeton; and Louis E., living at home.
Mr. Adams gives his political allegiance to the republican party, and is one of the active workers in its local ranks. He is a member of the Wesley Methodist Episcopal church, and his interest centers in those lines of thought and activity which work for honorable manhood and for substantial improvement in the county. Almost his entire life has here been passed, and m an active business career he has at all times been found thoroughly reliable and trustworthy.