JAMES ADAMS, who is the proprietor of a meat market in Centralia, began business along this line in 1888, and has worked up a good trade, which he well deserves. He has the honor of being a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Washington County January 4, 1837.
His parents were David and Catherine (McCrossen) Adams. The father was a native of Ireland, and on emigrating to America located in Philadelphia, where he married Miss McCrossen, a native of that city. In 1835 he removed to Washington County, ILL., becoming one of its pioneers, and entered land from the Government six miles north of Nashville. Not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made upon the place, but he at once began transforming the wild prairie into rich and fertile fields. In 1848 he went to New Orleans, where he died of yellow fever, but his widow is still living in Nashville, ILL. She is a member of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Adams was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
The grandfather, James Adams, and an uncle of our subject, Hugh Adams, also took up land from the government in Washington County, and were numbered among its early settlers.
Our subject was reared on the old home farm, and was educated in the district schools and in the seminary of Nashville. In that place in 1858 was celebrated his marriage with Miss Mary Hill, daughter of Ephraim Hill, an early settler of St. Clair County, who afterward removed to Washington County. After his marriage Mr. Adams embarked in merchandising, but later bought a farm of eighty acres four miles west of Nashville, and there carried on agricultural pursuits for two years.
On the 25th of August, 1862, we find our subject among the boys in blue of Company I, Eightieth Illinois Infantry, and he was mustered in with the rank of First Lieutenant. With his regiment he went south to Nashville and Murfreesboro, and during a raid, on the 3d of May, 1863, he was captured at Rome, Ga. For one year he was incarcerated in Libby Prison, and was then taken to Macon, Ga., where he was kept in a stockade for two months. Later they were taken to Charleston, S. C., and put under the fire of the Union guns. For about five months he was held a prisoner at Columbus, S. C., and the night before Sherman entered that city was taken to the outskirts of the town and given his liberty, being thence sent to Annapolis, and on to St. Louis. In June, 1865, Mr. Adams was mustered out. For twenty-two months he was held a prisoner and suffered all the hardships and rigors of southern prison life. He now draws a pension of $12 per month.
When the country no longer needed his services, our subject returned to Nashville and embarked in the butchering business, which he carried on until 1886. He then spent two years in traveling in the west in the stock business, and in July, 1888, came to Centralia, where he has since made his home.
To him and his wife were born three children:
In politics Mr. Adams is a stalwart Republican, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Knights of Honor.
Both he and his wife belong to the Presbyterian Church, and are numbered among the highly respected people of this community.
Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois"
Chapman Publishing Co, Chicago, 1894
Pages 211-212
Submitted by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer