Biography of Milton Adams, Haines City, Polk County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923.

ADAMS, MILTON A. came to Haines City, Polk County, in the year 1821 and here became associated 
with J. R. WADSWORTH and T. G. BOWEN in purchasing from ROBERT REIDDLE, of Kissimmee, the 
business which they have since conducted under the title of the Haines City Lumber & Novelty 
Works.  Under the control of these progressive business men the enterprise has been expanded 
in scope and now includes the handling of all kinds of building supplies, contracting for 
the erection of buildings, besides the manufacturing of various novelties, the concern being 
one of major importance in connection with the industrial and general business activities 
and also the material advancement of the community.

Mr. ADAMS was born in Sumter County, Florida, on the 24th of June, 1869, and is a son of 
JAMES M. and ELMINA E. (GRANT) ADAMS, both natives of Alabama and both young at the time of 
the removal of the respective families to Lafayette County, Florida.  Of the eight children 
of JAMES M. and ELMINA ADAMS five are living at the time of this writing, in the fall of 
1922.  JOEL ADAMS, grandfather of the subject of this review, was of Scotch ancestry and was 
a sterling pioneer who did much to aid in the early development and progress of Florida.  
WILLIAM GRANT, the maternal grandfather, likewise was a scion of Scotch ancestry and a pioneer 
in civic and industrial development in Florida.

MILTON A. ADAMS was but six months old at the time of the family removal from Sumter to 
Suwanee County, in the latter of which he was reared to maturity on the home farm, the while
he attended the district schools during the winter terms of three months, his broader 
education having been gained through self-discipline and through the associations of a signally 
active and successful business career.  As a young man he was for six years engaged in the 
general merchandise business in Lafayette County, and later he was identified with lumbering 
operations in Clay County, with headquarters at Green Cove Springs, where he also conducted
a general store for several years.  In lumbering enterprise he was for six years associated
with the great E.I. DuPont Company of Maryland, in the vicinity of Green Cove Springs, and 
in January, 1921, he removed to Haines City, where he has since continued as one of the 
principals in the Haines City Lumber & Novelty Works.  He is a member of the Haines City 
Chamber of Commerce and a vigorous supporter of its progressive policies and work, is a 
Royal Arch Mason, is a past grand in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he holds 
membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

December 23, 1890, recorded the marriage of Mr. ADAMS and Mrs. INA SKINNER, and she passed 
to the life eternal in 1914, her surviving children being GUY W., LOIS A., EWART G., HARRIS 
H., and LONDY M..  For his second wife Mr. ADAMS wedded Miss SARAH BEERY, of Green Cove 
Springs, and she is the popular mistress of their attractive home at Haines City.