Adams, N. H. 1844 -

ADAMS, WEAVER, RINGEON

Posted By: Bill Waters (email)
Date: 4/13/2014 at 21:49:04

N. H. Adams, well known in business circles as a wholesale seed merchant of Decorah, has conducted this enterprise successfully for the past thirty-eight years. His birth occurred in Ohio on the 8th of October, 1844, his parents being Cyrus and Mary A. (Weaver) Adams, who were natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. The father, an agriculturist by occupation, came to Decorah in 1865 and here embarked in the shoe business in association with our subject under the firm style of C. Adams & Son. He sold out at the time of his wife's death in 1881 and two years later removed to Michigan, where he spent the remainder of his life, passing away in 1903.

N. H. Adams was reared and educated in his native state, attending the public schools and afterward a military school at Cleveland. After putting aside his text-books he worked in a wholesale boot and shoe concern of Cleveland and in 1865, when a young man of twenty-one years, came to Decorah. Here, as above stated, he embarked in the shoe business in partnership with his father. In 1875 he established a wholesale seed house and has since conducted the same continuously with gratifying success. On October 23, 1906, Air. Adams' two sons, Burton H. and Walter E., with the assistance of their father, started in business independent of him, naming their concern ''The Adams Seed Company," and have since carried on business under that name successfully, and while closely associated, N. H. Adams' and his sons' businesses are kept separate. He has acquired extensive property interests and is widely recognized as one of the prosperous and enterprising business men of Decorah.

On the 8th of October, 1869, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Carrie E. Adams, her parents being Henry and Deborah Adams, natives of New Hampshire. The father followed farming in that state for a number of years but eventually put aside the active work of the fields and came to Decorah, living retired at the home of N. H. Adams until called to his final rest on the 21st of October, 1892. The mother passed away on the 18th of June, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have three children, namely: Burton H., who is associated with his brother, Walter C, in the conduct of the Adams Seed Company; and Grace D., who is the wife of S. R. Ringeon and resides at Ridgeway, Iowa. The family residence is at No. 400 Broadway.

Mr. Adams has joined the progressive wing of the Republican Party and is an enthusiastic "bull mooser." He served as a member of the city council for eleven years and was also elected county treasurer but resigned the latter position on account of the heavy demands of his business. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Masons, while his religious faith is that of the Congregational church. The period of his residence in Decorah covers almost a half century and he has won and maintained an enviable reputation in both business and social circles.

Source: History of Winneshiek County, Iowa Vol. II Chicago the S. J. Clark publishing Company 1913