**************************************************************************** File contributed to the McLean County ILGenWeb Project Copyright 2008, all rights reserved. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format without the written consent of the author, ilmcleanvcc@gmail.com. **************************************************************************** Source: The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois Dr. E. Duis, The Leader Publishing and Printing House - 1874 Contributed by: Carol Genung **************************************************************************** JAMES ADAMS Biography James Adams was born February 3, 1826, in Boone County, Kentucky. His father's name was Matthew Adams, and his mother's maiden name was Jane Black. His father's descent was Irish, and his mother's was English. Matthew Adams was raised in Pennsylvania, and was a soldier in the war of 1812, just after Hull's surrender at Detroit. He was a man somewhat peculiar in his ideas. If he had money he would sometimes lend it, but would never charge a cent of interest. He raised corn, but would never sell it for less than twenty-five cents per bushel, as he thought that a fair price, and if he could not get this price immediately, he kept his corn until it rose in the market. On the other hand, he never charge more than twenty-five cents per bushel, no matter how high it rose in the market, as he thought the acceptance of a larger price would be extortion. During the year 1844, the year of the great flood, when all the crops failed, Matthew Adams had on hand about a thousand bushels of old corn. He could have sold it for a very large price, but would accept only twenty-five cents per bushel, and would never sell to anyone more than that person needed for his family. No speculator was allowed to buy his corn. People came from Old Town, Cheney's Grove, Buckles' Grove, and from all over the country, to get some of Adams' corn. James Adams lived in Kentucky until October 1834, when the family came to Illinois. The journey was pleasant until they came to the black swamps of Indiana. There it rained four days, and they traveled over the corduroy roads slowly, going fifteen miles in two days. After twenty-six days of travel they arrived at the house of John B. Thompson, who then lived in what is now Lexington township, on the north of the Mackinaw. There Matthew Adams bought a claim of Harrison Foster, entered it two years afterwards, and it still belongs to the family. When James Adams arrived at the age of fifteen, he took great interest in hunting, and made a specialty of shooting turkeys. At one time he killed fifteen in a single day. He also hunted deer. The first he killed was a little spike-horn buck, which he creased on the neck, so that it was stunned and fell, and he killed it with his knife before it could recover. He was a tireless hunter, and once chased a deer all day after breaking into the Mackinaw and having his wet clothes frozen. He experienced some of the dangers as well as the excitements of the chase. At one time while chasing a deer his horse stepped into a badger's hole, turned a somersault, and sent the rider rolling. At one time James Adams and his brother Thomas were chasing deer on horseback. The horse which the former rode was shod as to its fore feet, but the horse ridden by the latter had no shoes at all. Unexpectedly they came to a slough overflowed and covered with ice. The horses were on the keen run and could not be reined up, and they crossed the slough of ice without slipping. James Adams speaks of a strange circumstance which happened while one of his neighbors, John Spawr, was chasing a wolf. The horse which Mr. Spawr rode had been accustomed to step on the wolves, when it overtook them, but was once bitten and refused to step on them afterwards. While Spawr was chasing the wolf, he became so anxious that he shouted, and at last eagerly pitched headlong from his horse on the wolf, crushed it to the ground, tied its mouth with a suspender and brought the wild creature home. The early settlers were toughened and made hardy by their exposures. Mr. Adams speaks of the Foster family particularly. During the winter of the deep snow the family of Harrison Foster had their cabin nearly covered with snow on the outside, and nearly filled on the inside, and they were obliged to leave it and go to the cabin of William Foster, a mile and a half distant, and were all more or less frost-bitten. But the Fosters became very tough and could endure much cold. Mr. Adams has seen the children sliding barefooted on the ice. Little Aaron Foster often ran about in the snow, with no garment to protect him but a shirt. He was once lost and was found curled up in a snow-drift fast asleep, with nothing but his shirt and the snow to keep him warm. Mackinaw Creek, where Mr. Adams lives, is nearly always difficult and dangerous to cross in the spring of the year or during a thaw in the winter. The following incident shows what risks young men will sometimes take under peculiar circumstances. In January, 1846, Mr. Adams had an engagement with a young lady, who afterwards became Mrs. Adams. The Mackinaw was full of water and ice from bank to bank; nevertheless, he crossed it by stepping on a cake of ice, then pushing it over to another and stepping upon that. On his return, at four o'clock in the morning, he re-crossed it in the same way. Mr. Adams says that the Mackinaw was never so high as to prevent him from crossing, though he was once stopped for a short time. He attempted to cross it on horseback, and his horse begun plunging and kept it up for half an hour. He was obliged at last to build a raft. He sometimes took passengers over on it, and at one time ferried over a certain Mr. Samuel Shurtleff. The logs rolled a little and Mr. Shurtleff was much frightened, and sat in the middle, calling out, "Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" but was safely landed. About six years ago, while the Mackinaw was high, in February, Mr. Adams had a raft with which he ferried people over. He made several successful trips, but once came very near being carried under the ice, for it was piled up six feet high along the banks. If the West has been troubled with wet seasons, so it has also been troubled with dry. Mr. Adams speaks of a dry fall when he went to Chicago, and his oxen gave out on the prairie on account of thirst and refused to travel for some time. At last went forward to the Mazon River, but found it dry, with the exception of a puddle of water, in which about two hundred of Isaac Funk's cattle had been wallowing. Church-going was, in early days, quite a journey. The Adams family went to church to Indian Grove, twelve miles distant, and to Money Creek, nine miles distant. They were obliged to be at church by nine o'clock in the morning for love-feast, and found the congregation more punctual than at the present time. Mr. Adams married, February 9, 1847, Margaret Foster, a woman who bore the trials of a pioneer life bravely. She died in 1855. Three children were born of this marriage. They are: Lee Adams, who lives just east of his father's. Thomas B. and William W. Adams live at home. Mr. Adams married, February 28, 1856, Miss Annie Ransom, one of the most agreeable and accomplished of women. She is a lady who commands the respect and admiration of all who are so fortunate as to be numbered among her acquaintances. James Adams is five feet and ten or eleven inches in height, is somewhat slim, has clear, blue eyes, and a rather prominent nose. He is a very companionable gentleman, and loves to talk of the good old days. He is very courteous to all with whom he converses, and is widely known and respected.