Adamson, Abraham

ADAMSON, EVANS, MILLER, ETCHISON, RICKMAN, RICHARDS, BUSHEY, THOMPSON, RENO

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 11/17/2008 at 11:11:59

ADAMSON, A.; Farmer; Sec. 18; P. O. Newton; born in Marion Co., Iowa, in 1846; located in this county when small. Married Hattie EVENS in 1868; she was born in South Wales, Great Britain, in 1843; their children are Everett and Arnott. Members of the M. E. Church. He enlisted in the 48th Regt. of Iowa 100-day men, and re-enlisted into the 7th Iowa V. C. in 1864; mustered out in 1865. Was Road Supervisor. Owns 160 acres of land, valued at $40 per acre. ~ "The History of Jasper County" (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878), 546.
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One of the best known of all the early settlers of Jasper County, as well as one of the most sincerely revered, is the subject of this review. A volume of the keenest interest might well be written of his long and useful life did space permit, and it would indeed be a difficult task for the biographer to say more in praise of Mr. Adamson than is his due.

To begin with, his birth was peculiar, he having been born while his father and mother were enroute by wagon from Missouri to Iowa. When within one day's journey from their destination, the cavalcade of settlers was halted there, at the home of a settler named Ingerman, in Marion County, Iowa, March 31, 1846, the subject of this sketch was ushered into the world.

His father, Evan Adamson, a native of Tennessee, and his mother, Elizabeth Miller, a native of North Carolina, had been married in Madison County, Indiana, August 4, 1835, removing to Plat Purchase, Missouri, where they remained until 1846. With the family came Abraham Adamson, the grandfather of the subject; James Etchison, and Jessie Rickman, who was afterwards elected judge of Jasper County. Trips were usually made in old "prairie schooners" of pioneer days, but Mr. Adamson had a spring wagon for his family. Many and varied were the incidents and adventures the emigrants encountered along the way. Indians were plentiful, as well as bear, deer, wolves and buffalo, and the streams crossed were, many of them, wild and unbridged torrents. The family settled upon a considerable tract of raw timber and prairie land surrounding what has since been known as "Adamson's Grove," which land the father had secured from the government upon a trip made prior to the coming of the family.

Of the hardships and privations endured during those early years much might be said. A small log cabin was built and, with few comforts, the family set to work to carve out a home in the new and wild country. From the first the father was a leader of his time, taking active part in the advancement and development of his County and state. He it was who furnished and hauled the timber from which the first courthouse was built in Newton. He was also either the first or second sheriff of the County, director of schools, justice of the peace, constable and held many other offices and positions which he filled with credit during his long and useful life. Everyone in the County knew "Uncle Evan," as he was endearingly called. He died six miles southeast of Newton, in Buena Vista Township, May 26, 1899, at the advanced age of ninety-one years and four months.

Mr. Adamson, the subject, is one of nine children, six of whom are living: Francis M. died at the age of twenty-eight; Mary Ellen departed this life at the age of fifteen; Sarah Ann, widow of W. W. Richards, resides in Adamson's Grove; Clarinda Bushey, wife of Frank Bushey, resides in Colorado; the next in order of birth is the subject of this sketch; Evan, unmarried, lives with his sister, Mrs. Richards; Joseph died in infancy; Elizabeth Thompson, wife of S. A. Thompson, resides in Manchester, Iowa; Martha Ellen Reno, widow of L J. Reno, resides in Des Moines, Iowa.

At the age of sixteen the subject of this review attempted to enlist in the Northern Army, but was rejected on account of his size and age. However, determined to be a soldier, he went along with the regiment as aid to the captain, a cousin of his father. This was in the spring of 1863. In the fall of that year he returned home and the following spring he enlisted at Newton on May 21, 1864, in Company B, Forty-eighth Iowa Infantry, under Capt. Joseph R. Rodgers. He was mustered out September 29, 1864, for re-enlistment in Company G, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, which company was under command of his father's cousin. Up until re-enlistment, Mr. Adamson was engaged at Davenport, Iowa, guarding rebel prisoners, but upon re-enlistment he was ordered to Omaha, thence to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, a distance of one hundred and ninety miles, which was made on horseback without saddles, from there to Cottonwood Springs, Nebraska, where the winter was spent doing scouting duty in the Indian troubles then raging. When spring came, he and thirty comrades were ordered to Cow Creek, Kansas, by way of Fort Leavenworth, and here it was on the second day out that their wagons and train was attacked by a band of Indians far outnumbering themselves, and a fierce fight ensued in which the soldiers narrowly escaped massacre. Finally, when nearly surrounded, they succeeded in killing the chief and this so demoralized the Indians that they fled. That night Mr. Adamson took sick and was taken to the hospital at Fort Kearney. Eager to join his company, he left the hospital before he should have done so and attempted to overtake his comrades, but the flesh was too weak, although the spirit was strong, for at Fort Leavenworth he was too sick to go further and was mustered out of the service July 31, 1865, receiving an honorable discharge. From that time on Mr. Adamson has been sick more or less and is today a confirmed invalid, the direct cause of which was exposure during his service in the Indian country. At one time on a march from Cottonwood Springs to Fort Kearney, he was forced to sleep on the ground in the middle of January without tent or covering of any kind, and could hear the ice on the Platte river popping with the cold. During his first enlistment, Mr. Adamson was made corporal of his company. He is a member of Garrett Post No. 16, Grand Army of the 1 Republic, of Newton. At present he is leading a retired life in Newton, owning a most elegant arid comfortable home there as well as considerable land in the County. He also draws a pension of seventy-two dollars per month.

On July 5, 1868, Mr. Adamson was married to Hetty Evans, daughter of John and Margaret (Jones) Evans, both natives of Wales, Mrs. Adamson being born there. Her family came to America in 1856 in the good ship "Sam Curling," a cotton ship which carried cotton to Europe and returned with passengers. They were five weeks on the way and two passengers died in crossing. Landing in Boston Harbor, the family started for Utah to join the Mormons, they having accepted that faith in Wales, where it was extensively preached, but upon arriving in Jasper County they learned of the practice of polygamy and some other things which had not been mentioned in Wales by the Mormon teachers so the new religion was discarded and the family settled in Jasper County, Mrs. Adamson being at the time twelve years of age, having been born November 26, 1843. The first year after landing in America, the mother died in Iowa, January 20, 1857, at the age of forty-two, after which Mrs. Adamson kept house for her father until his death, which occurred August 31, 1866, at the age of fifty-two. After the death of her father and mother, Mrs. Adamson made her home with John and Mary Davis until her marriage, they having no children. Mrs. Adamson is one of three children, the eldest of whom died in infancy; John Evans, a brother, resides in Fairmont, Nebraska, being a successful farmer with seven children. He was born August 27, 1849, and was married in 1888 to Clara B. Newton.

To Mr. and Mrs. Adamson have been born three children, all boys, of whom but one is living: John, born October 27, 1869, died November 22, 1869; Everett, born December 12, 1870, died May 29, 1887; Arnott Abraham, born January 7, 1874, is a prominent veterinary surgeon of Newton, being a graduate of McKillip College of Veterinary Surgery of Chicago, of which institution he is an honorary member of the faculty. He married Elizabeth A. Burnsides, a native of Iowa, November 28, 1900.

Mr. Adamson the subject of this sketch is a Mason, being a member of Lodge No. 59, Gebal Chapter No. 12 and Commandery No. 22, of of Newton. Mrs. Adamson is a member of the Woman' Relief Corps No. 3, Auxiliary of Garrett Post and also Newton Chapter No. 100, Order of the Eastern Star. She is also a member of the Christian Church of Newton but was christened in the Episcopal Church of Wales. She is a most charming and interesting woman. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B.F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912Page 800.