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LEANDER L. ADAMS

Among the highly honored and well remembered citizens of Fayette county of a past generation who are now sleeping the sleep of the just, having left behind them an inheritance of which their descendants and friends might well be proud, was Leander L. Adams, a man whose reputation was above reproach and who always did what he could in furthering the interests of others. He was born in Mansfield, Cattaraugus county, New York, January 18, 1834, and he was the son of Albygence and Diana (Latin) Adams, the father born in Otsego county, New York, in 1801, of English parentage; the mother was born in 1799, in New Haven, Connecticut, of Scotch parentage. They were the parents of four sons and one daughter, Leander L. being the fourth child in order of birth. When a young man he left his native state and went to Wisconsin and from there to California in 1856, returning to Iowa in 1858, and the following year took up his residence in Illinois. On August 15, 1862, he proved his loyalty to his country by enlisting in Company B, Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was assigned to duty in the Army of Tennessee, participating in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, and then went with the regiment to Nashville, Tennessee. He then enlisted under the provisions of general orders from the war department, which authorized recruiting for the marine service for volunteers, and he became a member of the First Mississippi Marine Brigade. He was assigned to duty on the United States steamer "Baldic," on which he served with much credit from March 11, 1863, to January 24, 1865, under command of Commodore Porter, with the squadrons above Vicksburg doing patrol duty. The first engagement in which he participated as a marine was at Duck creek, on the Tennessee river, then at Goodrich Landing, Greensville, Mississippi; Richmond, Arkansas; the siege of Vicksburg and Fort De Russa on the Red River expedition under General Banks. Returning to the Mississippi river they went down to New Orleans and had a fight at Bayou Sara, followed by a full day's engagement at Old River Lake, in Arkansas, and the battles of Grand Gulf and Haines' Bluff. Upon receiving his discharge from the service, Mr. Adams returned to Illinois, and for two seasons following he was employed on the Mississippi river from Stillwater, Minnesota, to St. Louis.

On January 1, 1867, Mr. Adams came to Maynard, Fayette county, Iowa, and here made his home until his death. In June, 1855, he had entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land, and after 1867 devoted his time to its cultivation, becoming well established as a general farmer.

On February 7, 1869, Mr. Adams was married to Rebecca Cline, who was born in Washington county, Ohio. February 22, 1848, and was the daughter of Samuel and Phoebe (Gray) Cline, the former born at Bank's Station, Virginia, April 1, 1815, and the latter in Washington county, Ohio, moved to Delaware county, Iowa, and to Fayette county in 1856.  They became the parents of twelve children, Mrs. Rebecca Adams being the third child in order of birth.  Her mother died April 11, 1888, and the father joined her in the silent land four days later, April 15th.

The mother of Leander L. Adams died in Wisconsin in 1845 and about 1859 the father, Alygence Adams, returned to his old home in Otsego county, New York, where he died in 1867 and was buried in the family burying-ground at Hartwick, New York, where several generations of the Adams family are buried.

Mr. Adams traveled a great deal, seeing much of the world, both as a soldier and as a civilian, and he was a keen observer. He was a well informed man and a good conversationalist. At the presidential election of 1860 Mr. Adams voted the Republican ticket, and then supported the Democratic party until 1872 when he again became a Republican and remained one of the party's staunchest advocates.  In religion he and Mrs. Adams were both liberal in their views; they always lived honest, honorable, upright lives, believed that religion consisted chiefly in one's everyday acts of kindness, etc., to their neighbors. Mr. Adams was a man, by his genial disposition and gentlemanly deportment through life, won the confidence and good will of all with whom he came into contact.  He was an influential member of Reynolds Post No. 47, Grand Army of the Republic. He, like his forefathers, was a very patriotic man. His grandfather was a captain in the patriot army in the Revolutionary war.  The death of Leander L. Adams occurred July 22, 1905. honored and respected by all. Mrs. Adams, who enjoys the esteem of a host of friends, is living at the old home in Maynard. 

Mr. and Mrs. Adams became the parents of four children, namely: Ida A., widow of Irving Miner, of Harlan township, was born January 13, 1870, and now lives in Fayette; she has two children living, Paul and Ruth Miner, aged eleven and eight, respectively.  Nettie L. Adams married F. Kiel, of Smithfield township, whose sketch appears on another page of this work.   Estella C. is the wife of Louis Talcott, and lives at Marcus, Cherokee county, Iowa, where Mr. Talcott has held a position of bookkeeper in a bank for the past six years. Mrs. Talcott was born July 15, 1872.   Henry L. Adams, well known as state senator, was born November 28, 1875.

~transcribed by Cheryl Walker/ Constance