John Adams

John Adams (June 1, 1819 – October 18, 1908) was an American businessman, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served three years each in the Wisconsin Senate and State Assembly, representing western Dane County. Adams founded the unincorporated settlement Adamsville, Wisconsin, now a ghost town.

Two of his sons, Alva Adams and William Herbert Adams, went on to become governors of Colorado. His grandson, Alva B. Adams, became a United States senator.

Biography John Adams was born on his family's homestead in Pulaski County, Kentucky, on June 1, 1819. At age 13, in 1832, he and a half-brother ventured to Rush County, Indiana, where they remained with family for two years before moving to Illinois. The brother squatted on land in Winnebago County, Illinois, eventually becoming the legal owner. John Adams moved into the Wisconsin Territory in 1840, settling in Dodgeville, where he went to work in the booming lead mining industry. While serving in the Assembly, Adams was also a member of the town board of supervisors, and in 1870 he was elected chairman of the town board. He served a one-year term, and was an ex officio member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors.

Adams did not run for re-election to the Assembly in 1870. In 1871, his successor, Matthew Anderson, ran for Wisconsin Senate, and Adams ran again for Assembly. Adams was elected again, and served in the Assembly for the 1872 term.

In the Fall of 1872, the Dane County Democratic Party convention nominated Adams for sheriff of Dane County. Adams won the election in November, and served a two-year term as sheriff.

After serving as sheriff, Adams spent several years out of public office, but remained active with civic affairs and with the state and local Democratic Party. He discontinued his general merchant business and instead focused on his real estate dealings. His 1902 biography states that he was one of the largest landowners in Dane and Iowa counties during this era. Adams election coincided with the ratification of an amendment to the state constitution which doubled the length of legislative terms. For Adams this just had the effect of extending what would have been a two-year term to a three-year term (to January 1885), though no additional sessions of the legislature took place in the year 1884. A redistricting also occurred in 1882, which combined all of Dane County into a single state Senate district; Adams did not run for re-election in the new district in 1884.

In December 1890, Adams moved to Pasadena, California, with his wife and adult daughter, where they remained for the rest of their lives. In Pasadena, Adams owned a small estate where he grew fruit on two acres of land.

Alva's son, Alva Blanchard Adams, became a United States senator from Colorado. Another of John Adams' grandsons, Harry W. Adams, remained in Wisconsin and became mayor of Beloit, Wisconsin, in the 1910s.

John Adams died at his home in Pasadena on October 18, 1908, after a long illness. His body was cremated and interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, in Black Earth, Wisconsin.

Electoral history Wisconsin Assembly (1868, 1869) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1868 General Democratic Rep. 1869 General Democratic 1,012 63.05% Rep. 593 36.95% 1,605 419

Wisconsin Assembly (1871) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1871 General Democratic 1,076 56.78% Rep. 819 43.22% 1,895 257

Dane County Sheriff (1872)

Wisconsin Senate (1881)