Thomas-Irwin-Montgomery County GaArchives Biographies.....Adams, Thomas 1860 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 27, 2004, 12:18 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 969-971

   THOMAS ADAMS. A retired merchant of Boston, Georgia, and at present an
extensive farmer of Thomas county, Thomas Adams has acquitted himself throughout
his life in a manner worthy of his ancestors who were among the brave pioneers
who cleared the way for civilization in southern Georgia. The grandfather of the
subject of this history, also named Thomas Adams, was born in North Carolina,
and came among the earliest settlers to that part of Irwin county, now called
Thomas county. At the time of his coming, the Indians had newly ceded the
territory included in southern Georgia to the state, but they did not always act
in good faith, and Thomas Adams, and the other white men who had settled in the
vicinity lived in constant fear of the depredations of the redskins. They united
into a band to protect their homes from the savages, however, and erected a log
stockade in each settlement, for the purpose of affording1 refuge to the women
and children. Thomas Adams cleared a farm from the wilderness with the help of
his slaves, and on this property he lived until his death. He and his wife, who
was a Miss Swilley, reared a large number of children, one of whom was Thomas
Adams, Junior, the father of the man whose name appears at the head of this sketch.

   Thomas Adams, Junior, was born in the year 1818, on his father's plantation
in Thomas county. Reared as he was amid the perilous scenes of frontier life,
and growing up in constant fear of marauding savages, it is no wonder that he
was ready and eager to enlist in the Indian war at the early age of eighteen
years. He fought in three hard-won battles, including the one at Brushy creek,
where the Indians made their last stand against their civilized masters. When he
was ready to start out in life for himself, Mr. Adams bought some land in the
southern part of the county, where he cultivated a large farm, using slave
labor. He employed at this time more than one hundred slaves. After a few years,
he sold this plantation, and bought land north of Thomasville. He only remained
in that locality a few years, however, before he disposed of the property and
purchased a tract situated on the south side of the railroad, and now included
in the town of Boston. He had surveys made of this land, and had it subdivided
into town lots, which he sold, buying a plantation on the Sevilla river in
Thomas county, where he remained for the rest of his life, passing away in the
year 1906, after a long and useful career as public and private citizen. His
services to his community in private capacities were rewarded with the office of
county judge, in which capacity he acquitted himself with great credit.

   The wife of Thomas Adams, Junior, was Georgia Everett, a native of Bulloch
county, Georgia. Her father, Jesse Everett, was one of the pioneer settlers of
Thomas county. Mrs. Adams died at the age of seventy-eight years, having reared
a family of nine children to be honest and industrious citizens of their country.

   One of these children was Thomas Adams, III. He first saw the light of day at
his father's farm, four miles north of Thomasville, January 3, 1860. He attended
school at Boston, and partook of the excellent tutelage of Professor Moody, an
educator well-known in that district. Mr. Adams resided with his parents until
he had reached the age of twenty-four years. At that time, he started out for
himself, embarking in the mercantile business at Boston. He remained in that
town for ten years, and is still remembered there as an enterprising merchant.
At the end of a decade, however, having previously purchased the homestead upon
which his wife was born, located in Lot No. 236, of Thomas county, he entered
upon the pursuit of agriculture, and now has acquired the reputation of being
one of the most substantial and progressive farmers of the locality.

   In the year 1887, Mr. Adams was united in the bonds of holy matrimony with
Alice Ida Mims, a native of Thomas county, and the daughter of Wilke Mims, also
born in Thomas county. Mrs. Adams' grandfather, David Mims, came to Thomas
county from Montgomery county, Georgia. He was one of the first settlers in
southern Georgia, and bought a large tract of six hundred acres, which he
cleared and cultivated. After residing on this property for several years, he
sold out and moved to Colquitt county, where he remained until his death, at the
age of eighty-four years. His wife, Sally Kemp Mims, had died some years before
in Thomas county, having reared eight sons and eight daughters.

   Wilke Mims was raised and educated in Thomas county. At the beginning of the
struggle between the states, he enlisted, with six of his brothers, in the
Confederate army. He was detailed for service in the quartermaster's department.
He contracted some disease during the war, and died in June, 1865, only a month
after his return home. Wilke Mims was married in 1851, to Belle Moore, who was a
native of Leon county, Florida. Mrs. Mims' father, Howell Moore, was born in
Washington county, Georgia, and was one of the pioneers of Leon county. He owned
a farm about eighten miles from Tallahassee, cultivating it by means of slave
labor. He was a carpenter by trade, and at length became a contractor, building
many churches and dwellings in the district in which he spent his life. His
wife, the grandmother of Mrs. Adams, was a Matilda Coleman, the daughter of
Jacob and Betsy Coleman. She also died on the Florida farm, having spent a life
in harmony with the precepts of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the
congregation of which faith both she and her husband were members. Mr. and Mrs.
Moore reared a family of eight children, including Mrs. Adams' mother.

   Left a widow with a family of five children on her hands, Mrs. Mims, like so
many of the brave and noble women whom the Civil war deprived of their natural
protectors, managed to keep her family together until they had all found homes
of their own. She still lives on the farm to which she came as a bride, and
although she is very old, and has seventeen grandchildren, as well as eleven
great-grandchildren, she is quite active, working in the garden, and doing many
of the tasks that have been hers so long. She has an excellent memory, and it is
with undimmed faculties and cheery spirit that she awaits the call of the Master.



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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