Wallace H. Adams, born 1880; Jefferson Davis, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, 
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), 
pp. 20-21.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by 
Century Historical Association. 
Submitted: January 1998
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Adams, Wallace Holly, attorney-at-law, and member of the well known 
law firm of Modisette & Adams, Jennings, Jefferson Davis parish, 
La., was born at Minden, Webster parish, La., July 2, 1880;  son 
of William Henry and Aurelia (Taylor) Adams, the former a native 
of Edgefield county, S. C., and the latter of the state of Georgia, 
from which commonwealth she removed with her parents to Louisiana.
  
At the beginning of the Civil war, William Henry Adams, the father, 
then seventeen years old, enlisted as a member of the Albany Hussars 
cavalry, C. S. A. His command was promptly ordered to the front, and 
in the course of his experiences he took part in the Maryland and 
Pennsylvania raid and the battle of Gettysburg, and was twice wounded.  
He served to the close of the war.  In 1871 he located in Webster 
parish, La., and there for a time engaged in farming, but later 
became a contractor and builder at Minden.  

The Adams family came originally from Ireland to the United States, 
locating in South Carolina, from which state the Louisiana branch 
of the family removed to Georgia.  William Henry Adams' mother, 
previous to her marriage was a Miss Wallace, and her family came 
from Scotland to South Carolina, from which latter locality the 
paternal grandmother's branch of the family removed to Georgia.  
The maternal grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Taylor, was a great-
granddaughter of a Mr. Duffel, who served as a member of Gen. George 
Washington's personal bodyguard, and in that capacity was present 
at the surrender of Gen. Cornwallis to Gen. Washington, at Yorktown.  

Mr. Duffel personally told Mrs. Sarah Taylor of this, as well as 
imparting much other information regarding his service under 
Washington, and Mrs. Taylor, in turn, furnished Wallace Holly 
Adams with this information.  The subject of this sketch was one 
of three children born to his parents, but the other two, a sister 
and a brother died in infancy.  His half-brother, Dr. M. Herbert 
Adams, a successful dentist, also lives in Jennings.  He attended 
the public schools of the locality in which he was born, and later 
Jeff Davis College, at Minden, La.  In 1899 he entered the 
Louisiana Industrial institute, at Ruston, from which he graduated 
in 1902 with the degree of bachelor of industry.  During the 
succeeding 5 years he engaged in the fire insurance business at 
Jennings, employing his spare time in the study of law under the 
direction of J. H. Heinen and Charles R. Cline.  

In Sept., 1907, he entered the law department of Louisiana State 
university, from which he graduated with the degree of LL.B. in 
the class of 1909.  Immediately following the completion of his 
professional education he began the practice of law at Jennings, 
where he has since remained and devoted his undivided attention 
to legal practice.  In June, 1913, he became associated with J. O. 
Modisette, under the firm name of Modisette & Adams, and this firm 
has remained unchanged to this time and is enjoying a most gratifying 
and rapidly-increasing practice, both members of the firm having the 
fullest confidence of the people of the community and each being 
personally held in high esteem throughout a wide of friends and 
acquaintances.  Mr. Adams has been affiliated with the Democratic 
party since beginning to exercise the elective franchise.  
He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and also the Free 
and Accepted Masons, Order of the Eastern Star and the Kappa 
Sigma fraternity.  
At this time Mr. Adams is unmarried.