Biography - Silas M. Adams
SILAS M. ADAMS is the proprietor of a well-appointed hardware store at
Moweaqua, Shelby County, and occupies an honorable position among the
enterprising business men of the county. He is a native of Cape Girardeau
County, Mo., July 9, 1837 the date of his birth. His father, Elam L. Adams,
was born in North Carolina, and was a son of Jacob Adams, who is thought to
have been a native of Germany, who came to this country and settled in North
Carolina some time during the last century. He was a farmer and carried on
his occupation in Rowan County, that State, spending his last years there.
The father of our subject grew to manhood in his native State and was there
married to Jane C. McNeely, a native of North Carolina, and a descendant of
Scotch ancestry. In his youth Mr. Adams learned the trade of wagon-maker,
and was engaged at it in the State of his nativity until his removal to
Missouri in 1826, when he became a pioneer of Cape Girardeau County. He
bought a tract of timber land and carried on farming in connection with the
manufacture of wagons, and helped build up those industries in that county,
of which he continued a useful citizen until death closed his career in
1862. His wife survived him until 1865, when she too passed away. They
reared a family of five children, of whom these are the names: Mary A.,
Sarah L., George W., John C. and Silas M.
The latter who forms the subject of this brief biography lived amid the
scenes of his birth during his boyhood and youth, and was educated in the
local public schools. He worked with his father four or five years, and
continued an inmate of the parental household until he attained his
majority, when he engaged in the mercantile business in Bollinger County for
a year. His next venture was as a farmer in Montgomery County for a period
of one year. He then resumed the mercantile business, but a year later went
back to farming, at which he was engaged five years in Bond County. At the
end of that time he went to Macon County, in this State and bought an
improved farm, which he operated successfully eleven years. He then
established himself in the hardware business at Maroa, Ill., and conducted
it until 1884, when he sold his store there and bought his present
establishment. He carries a full line of hardware, stoves, cutlery, glass,
china, paints and furniture, and commands a large trade, as he understands
well what his customers demand, uses tact in his dealings, and all are sure
of fair treatment at his hands. Mr. Adams is further closely identified with
the business interests of his adopted city as President of the Moweaqua
Building and Loan Association, which is an important factor in the growth of
this municipality, and its affairs are in a flourishing condition with him
at the head. He is known in political circles as a sound Republican, and a
firm advocate of the principles of his party.
Mr. Adams was happily married in 1861 to Miss Susan A., daughter of Thomas
and Nancy (Sims) McLain, and a native of Bond County, Ill. Four children
complete their home circle — Ella, Emma, Albert and Alma. The family are
members of the Presbyterian Church, and are of high social position.
Extracted 13 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 431-432.
