Piatt County IL Archives Biographies.....Adams, Madison  
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Kaylynn Loveland gram2five@gmail.com February 29, 2008, 5:38 pm

Author: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeWitt and Piatt Countie

ADAMS, Madison A; page 345
	None are more worthy of mention in a biogaphical album than the men who have
begun the battle of life at an early period, unarmed for the contest but by
their native wit, deternimed spirit and bodily vigor.  One of this class is
Madison A. Adams, who now owns one of the best regulated farms in Piatt County.
 It consists of one hundred and ninety acres on sections 10 and 14, Willow
Branch Township, which is made remunerative by careful and intelligent
cultivation; and has been supplied with all needful structures and many
improvements both useful and beautiful.
	The parents of Mr. Adams were natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively, and
bore the names of Jacob and Sidney (Eaches) Adams.  The paternal ancestors were
Scotch and the mother's family was of German extraction.  The good couple were
living in Madison County, Ohio, when the son of whom we write, was born February
25, 1843.  He was but three years old when the parents removed to this State and
after a short residence in Piatt County, settled in Macon County, one and a half
miles west of the village of Cerro Gordo.  There the father died in 1853 and the
mother in 1856.  They were the parents of seven children, of whom five are now
living.  Our subject is the second in point of age of these, the others being
Hamilton E., who lives in Cerro Gordo Township, Piatt County; Eli C., a resident
of Moultrie County; Calvin W., whose home is in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Sarah J.,
wife of Daniel Butler, of Cerro Gordo Township.
	After his father's death young Adams was thrown entirely upon his own
resources, he being at that time about twelve years old.  He came to Piatt
County and for a number of years was employed as a farm hand, receiving on an
average about $12.50 per month.  He attended school during the winter, working
hard during the other seasons in order that he might obtain such an education as
the public schools offered advantages for, and with the energy that has
charactrized him through life, pursuring an undeviationg course.  He has
continued to give his attention to farming and as early as 1866 began to improve
his present farm.  It was at that time practically a swamp, but by wise drainage
and proper cultivation is now one of the best and most productive tracts in the
neigborhood.  The fine residence was built in 1884, replacing a much less
convenient and attractive dwelling, which had been the seat of happy home life,
notwithstanding its deficiences [sic]. 
	At the bride's home February 14, 1876, Mr. Ames [sic] was married to Miss Mary
Zellers, who was born in Piatt County May 16, 1854, and is a daughter of the
late John and Mary Zellers.  Her parents, who are natives of Germany, are
numbered among the early settlers of Cerro Gordo Township.  The widowed mother
is now living in Kansas.  Mrs. Adams has a brother, Michael, living in Missouri,
but the other child in the parental family is deceased.  The record of the
children born to our subject and his good wife is as follows:  Eli O., born
November 12, 1876; Calvin W., October 23, 1879; Olive E., September 24, 1881;
Mary S., November 25, 1885.
	Although we cannot give the details of the experience of Mr. Adams, anyone
having a knowledge of the world will readily see that he must have endured some
hardships in his struggle for existence and that he must have been accustomed to
self denial in his youth.  That he has been successful as an agriculturist his
handsome rural home attests and that he is deserving of the grateful remembrance
of all who rejoice in the improved condition of Piatt County, goes without
saying.  He has endeavored to act the part of a good citizen, not only in his
law-abiding conduct, but in his sympathy with and aid in the various movements
promulgated for the public good.  He has served as School Director, and gives
his political influence to Republican principles.
	We would do but scant justice to Mr. Adams did we not speak of his war record,
which is an honorable one, creditable alike to his patriotism and his gallantry.
 He enlisted in July, 1862, in Company E, Seventy-second Illinois Infantry, and
during his army life was under the command at various times of Gens. Smith,
McPherson and Grant.  He took part in some of the most noted battles of the war,
among them; Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Franklin, Mobile, Nashville and Spanish
Fort.  He also participated in minor engagements and bore his share of the more
monotonous but equally hazardous duties of camp and campaign life.  He was
honorabley discharged August 5, 1865, and in remembrance of the years spent at
the front is now a member of the Grand Army Post at Cerro Gordo. 

Additional Comments:
Published by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, IL, 1891

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