John H. Addams

John Huy Addams (July 12, 1822 – August 17, 1881) was a politician and businessman from the U.S. state of Illinois. Addams was born in Pennsylvania in 1822, where he married Sarah Weber (1817–1863). In 1844 the couple moved to Cedarville, Illinois, and he purchased the Cedar Creek Mill. Addams quickly became a successful businessman working as a director for two railroad companies and a bank president. He constructed a prominent Federal style home in 1854 which still stands today. He and his wife Sarah (Weber) Addams had nine children, including Alice Haldeman and social activist Jane Addams.

Addams became active in state politics and eventually served as an eight-term Illinois State Senator, from 1854 to 1870. In 1863, his wife, Sarah, died and he was remarried in 1868 to Anna Haldeman, herself a widow. He was a key influence on his daughter Jane and part of the reason she focused so much attention on social causes. He died in Green Bay, Wisconsin, while on a family vacation in 1881.

Early life Social activist Jane Addams was born in the house at John Addams' Homestead in 1860. John Huy Addams was born in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, in on July 12, 1822. In 1844 Addams, then 22, and his new bride arrived in Cedarville, Illinois, near the Illinois-Wisconsin state border in Stephenson County.

Addams established himself quickly as a successful mill operator when he purchased the Cedar Creek Mill in 1844. born at the Addams House in Cedarville on September 6, 1860.

Illinois State Senate and American Civil War Addams served for sixteen years in the Illinois Senate, where he acquired a reputation for integrity; as one historian phrased it, "he became famous as a man who not only had never taken a bribe, but had never been offered one. He participated in the founding of the Republican Party and was a friend of Abraham Lincoln's. It was Addams' deep civic involvement that had such a profound influence on his daughter, Jane. His death came as a shock to his daughter Jane, and she spent eight years in a state of (or in depression) depression after his death.