Timothy G. Adams
Biographical Information
Submitted by Scott Adams

Eliza, the first child of Lewis and Maria Laughlin was born March 14, 1849 at De Peyster, New York.  She died in her home in Colorado Springs, Colorado,  December 22, 1930 at the age of 81 years  At the close of the Civil War she went with her parents and younger brothers on the long trip to Iowa where they lived in a log cabin near Little Cedar, Iowa.  There she attended school and we find her name listed with a group of other pupils.  It was while she lived there that she married Timothy Adams on February 21, 1867.

Timothy Goodwin Adams was born December 12, 1843 at Ware, Pennsylvania and died December 26, 1935 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He was a mason by trade.  In the early days in Colorado he prospected for gold in the mountains.  He was an active member of the G. A. R.  After he was 87 years old he had to have his right hand amputated but he did not let that handicap him and kept as busy as ever and learned to write real well with his left hand  Later, he fell and broke his hip and was confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

For a few years after they were married Eliza and Timothy lived near Little Cedar, Iowa.  We find that four of their children were born there.  They moved to Lucas in Dunn County, near Menomonie, Wisconsin, where three more of the children were born.

In 1886 Timothy's sister and family who had lived near Menomonie went to Colorado and liked it so well they encouraged Eliza and Timothy to make the move also.

The children thought their grandmother Lidia Angelina Cleveland Adams who went with them, kept a diary but no one has been able to find it.

The following account of the trip was written by Harry and Cora Adams Bowser from information given by the older children, Jennie, Arthur and Ernest who were old enough to remember the trip.

MR. AND MRS. T. G. ADAMS TRIP FROM WISCONSIN TO COLORADO
WITH THEIR SIX CHILDREN
AND HIS MOTHER (LIDIA ANGELINE CLEVELAND ADAMS)

It was about noon on August 18, 1887 that the Adams family left their four room log home (two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs).  The house was located  ten miles west of Menomonie on the north side of the old Hudson road but the stable and hayshed were on the south side.  The children were Nathan, Arthur, Jennie, Elmer, Ernest, and Cora, who not yet a year old. 

They had two wagons;  the lead wagon, a new one drawn by two yoke of oxen, and driven by Arthur.  Nathan drove the second wagon with a yoke of oxen given to him by his grandfather Adams.

In all, they had eleven head of cattle including two milk cows.  They went about seven miles that first afternoon.  Several friends and relatives camped with them the first night.  These included Mr. and Mrs. Judd Adams (T. G. Adams brother), his sister Mrs. Cordelia S. Smith and  two children Willie and Etta.  Mrs. Bennett, a sister of Mrs. Judd Adams, her little boy, and a friend Bill Thumb.

Mrs. Lidia Adams put a feather bed in the wagon where she slept.  On the average they made ten or twelve miles a day.

They ferried across the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers west through Blooming Prairie to Austin,  Minnesota. where they stopped for about a week.  From there Mrs. T. G. Adams took Cora and and Ernest by train to Osage, Iowa to visit her family.  Her brother Jim, came back with her and stayed for a few days with the family. 

From there they went on west into the Pipestone county and into Dakota.  (It wasn't divided at that time).  Eliza had two brothers - Willard and Frank, also an uncle and some cousins living near Egan in Moody County.  They must have been there two weeks or more.  Merdith, the daughter of Willard was only a few days old at that time.  Nathan and Arthur worked at threshing grain and plowing.  From there they went to Yankton, where they ferried the Missouri River into Nebraska and on south to Columbus where a very happy experience awaited them.  There was a large corn field, so they inquired if they might clean the field and have the stalks for their cattle.  To their surprise the owner was grandmother Adams' brother, whom she had not seen since they were children.  His name was Gilbert Cleveland.  They put up there for the winter with George Cleveland, a cousin of T. G. Adams.  Timothy did plastering and the boys did whatever they could get to do.  Jennie worked for her board in Columbus and went to school. 

Sometime in June,  they started west along the Platt River. About a mile out of Arapahoe, they met By Allen.  Timothy knew him first.  He was a chaplain and comrade of his in the Civil War, so they camped there for ten day or more and Mr. Allen spent some time visiting with them.  They all worked where they could get anything to do.  They were still there on the Fourth of July so Nathan and Arthur walked back about two miles to attend the celebration in Arapahoe. 

There were lots of fish, wild geese and prairie chicken near Columbus.  Eliza made a trap to catch the chickens and caught quite a few which they found very good eating.

They had a little dog with them named Sober.  One day they missed him so Nathan went back to where they had camped the night before and found the dog waiting there for the family to return.

In Minnesota where they camped there was a lake and a boat so they did some fishing and caught a very large pickerel.  Ernest was barely seven years old but he vividly remembered one fishing experience.  He went alone and no one knew that he had gone.  He took some bacon from the lunch box and baited a hook and got in a small boat and took off and threw in his line.  Pretty soon he had a bite.  He could hardly hold on but he had been told that if you loosen your hold the fish would bite the line in two and get away so he hung on for dear life, with the fish taking him farther and farther out on the lake.  When his folks heard his screams for help his older brothers Nathan and Arthur took another boat and went to his rescue.  They landed the fish, about three feet in length.  Ernest's hands and fingers were bleeding from the fish line.  He never tried that again, his experience was punishment enough.

Ernest also remembers grating potatoes to make starch for his grandmother's white apron and bonnet.

During the first few years of their life in Colorado the Adams family lived in the eastern part of the state where Lewis was born in Kit Carson County and Harry at Cheyenne Wells.  Later they lived on farms near Calhan and Payton.  In 1920 they moved to Colorado Springs where they spent the rest of their lives.  Eliza or Lide as she was always called, had what in this day we would call a hard life but she was always cheerful and patient and doing things for other people.  She was a wonderful mother to her children. 

The following is an excerpt from her obituary printed in the local paper.  "Mrs. Eliza Adams, 81, wife of Timothy G. Adams, well known G.A.R. veteran, died last night at her home 21 North Twenty-fourth St. following an illness of only a few hours.  She was a pioneer resident of the region having resided in El Paso county for the past 36 years, 12 of which were spent in Colorado Springs and the others in the eastern part of the county in the vicinity of Calhan and Payton.

Last February Mr. and Mrs. Adams celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary.  The married life of this couple was longer than any other couple in the region.  Mrs. Adams was a member of the Ladies of the G.A.R. and of the First Methodist Church.

Surviving besides the husband are 3 sons, Arthur Adams of Portland, Oregon, Ernest Adams, this city and Harry Adams of Ellicot, Colorado; two daughters Mrs. J. N Hollenbaugh of Cheyenne Wells, Mrs. John Nass, Peyton Colorado; 15 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Records in the family Bible show that nine children were born to Timothy and Eliza Adams.  They were as follows:

1. Nathan Parker Adams, the first child of Eliza and Timothy Adams was born June 29, 1868 at Little Cedar, Iowa.  As a lad he worked on the farm with his father.  When he was about eighteen he went with the family on the long trip to Colorado and drove one of the ox team.  He was killed by lightning while working in the field while they lived at Calhan, Colorado on July 13, 1903.  He was never married.
    

2. Arthur Eugene Adams was born February 22, 1870 at Little Cedar, Iowa and died in Oregon March 28, 1961.  He married Olive Morrow Adams, the widow of his brother Elmer on January 30, 1907.  They lived on a farm near Calhan, Colorado until they moved to Portland, Oregon.  They had one son, Elmer Morrow Adams.
    

3. Jennie Effie Adams was born near Little Cedar, Iowa, November 16, 1872.  She went to Colorado with her parents and lived with them on a farm near Cheyenne Wells, Colorado.  She married Jake Hollenbaugh August 8, 1891.  They lived near Cheyenne Wells for several years until the death of Jake, then Jennie went to Denver to live with her daughter where she passed away March 1, 1962.  She remained alert all this time and helped with the early part of this record of the family.  Jennie and Jake had five children:  Bessie, William T., Lewis John, Cora Ellen and Jennie Bell.
    

4. Elmer William Adams was born June 19, 1874 at Little Cedar, Iowa and died January 7, 1905 near Calhan, Colorado.  Elmer was about fourteen years of age when the family made the long trip from Wisconsin to Colorado so was probably of a great help to the family.  In Colorado he taught school and helped with the farm work.  He married Ruth Morrow August 22, 1899.  He died of T.B. when he was 32 years of age.
    

5. Ernest John Adams was born October 19, 1879 at the home near Menomonie, Wisconsin.  He died April 8, 1962 from a stroke after recovering from three major operations during the previous year.  While he was at home, Ernest helped with the farm work and also taught school.  He remembered several of the incidents of the trip to Colorado which are given earlier in the story.  Ernest married Bertha Ruth Senneff, May 17, 1911.  She was born February 1, 1889.  After they were married they lived on a farm near Calhan, Colorado until 1916 when they moved to Colorado Springs where he established his own business of making syrups.  He was an active member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  In an earlier report were are told that grandfather Samuel Laughlin went to church on Saturday, but the main office of the church has no record of his membership.  However, it was probably a very small church in New York.  Ernest and Bertha had three children:  Glenna Ruth, Norman Ernest, and George Goodwin.
    

6. Mattie L. Adams, born January 2, 1882.  died September 2, 1884
    

7. Cora Marie Adams was born September 10, 1886.  She was only about a year old when the family made the long trip to Colorado.  She lived on the farm near Calhan, Colorado with her parents.  She married John Nass in 1907.   After his death in 1944 she lived in Colorado Springs near her two daughters.  On December 12, 1948, she married Harry Bowser.  After their marriage they spent the summers living on his farm near Brookville, Ohio, but in the winter they went back to her home in Colorado Springs.  Cora Adams Nass Bowser is buried in the Peyton Cemetery at Peyton, Colorado.  She was laid to rest in their family plot beside her first husband, John Nass.  Cora and John Nass had four children:  Harold, Bernice G, Thelma Leota and Vera.
    

8. Lewis J. Adams was born January 13, 1889  Died March 25, 1891.
    

9. Harry Newton Adams was born while the family lived in the eastern part of Colorado.  While working with his father on the farm, he married Iva Arnold.  Some time later they moved to Colorado Springs.  They had two boys and two girls:  Arlo, Mildred Mae, Delpha, and Kenneth.

Note:  additional information regarding the families of the children of Timothy and Eliza Adams, are available upon request.

Additional information about Eliza Jerusia Laughlin Adams parents and siblings are available upon request.      Scott Adams