Jerome Jefferson Adams

Born 7 February 1835 in Ohio to Jane Eastwood and William Jefferson Adams
Married Mary Angeline Frost 29 Jan 1854 in Iowa
J.J.-Mary Frances-Fenly-Clifford
Died in Mexico 5 May 1902
Buried in Colonia Diaz

1860 Census 
1870 Census 
1880 Census

Jerome Jefferson Adams was born in 1835 or 1836 to Jane Eastwood and William Jefferson Adams in Ohio. His father was a trunk and comb maker. When Jerome was a baby his father, William, left home and his mother only heard from him once more. Apparently she thought he drowned and soon left her baby with relatives. Later she married a Adam Gold, but didn't have any more children.

The following is quoted from the Charles William Merrell book:

Jerome Jefferson Adams, son of William J. and Jane Eastwood Adams, was born 7 February 1835 or 1836, in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio. He ran away from his relatives when he was between the ages of twelve and fourteen and started a life of autonomy. He always said his relatives were good to him, but he simply didn't want to be dependent on them.

As a teenager he worked at various jobs to earn his living. In his later years he told his children that he had spent his boyhood in "the lake country." At one time he kept company with a group of boys of dubious character. One night they decided to go into town for beer, and he suddenly realized that he had really been looking forward to that drink. Right then he decided not to go with that gang because he didn' t want to become a drunkard.

Jerome, sometimes referred to as J. J. on the records then kept, found work on the farm of Samuel Buchanan Frost in Fremont County, Iowa. The first time he went into the Frost home to eat, he saw sixteen-year-old Mary Angeline Frost and decided he would one day marry her. At that time he was only about eighteen years of age, and when he finally asked her to marry him the family had been snowed in for a week. Mary later said he just sat by the stove under her feet the whole week and hadn't said a word. When he finally got up courage to propose, she decided she liked him well enough to marry him and was never sorry she told him "Yes."

When they went to get married in January, 1854, the judge questioned his age, and Jerome was not sure of his birth year. His future father-in-law had gone with them to get married and pointed to Jerome's full beard and told the judge that should be proof enough that he was an adult, so they were allowed to marry.

The first four of Jerome and Mary's children were born in Fremont County, Iowa: Rebecca Jane, born on 2 October 1854 and died 1 May 1855; John Quincy, born 22 March 1856; Cora, born 27 December 1857 and died 27 August 1858; and William, born 6 September 1859.

In 1860 the family decided to go to California to get away from the Civil War that was fomenting. Jerome bought a new rope, intending to hang Brigham Young as they went through Utah. He told his family later that he had thought it would be a great service to mankind. When they reached Salt Lake City he heard Mormonism preached, was converted, and spent the rest of his life doing what President Young asked him to do.

Jerome and Mary lived for a while in Draper where they were baptized. Their fifth child Martha was born in Cedar Valley, Utah, on 27 September 1861, and some months later Jerome was called to settle in Cache Valley in the northern part of Utah. Their sixth child Mary Frances was born in Richmond, Cache, Utah, on 27 August 1863, and the seventh child Jerome Jefferson, Jr., was born in Bear River, Box Elder, Utah, on 8 December 1865 In 1867 they were called to go to the Muddy Mission in St. Thomas, Lincoln, Nevada. There Jerome built a one-room adobe house and planted a grape vineyard.

The St. Thomas LDS Branch records listed Jerome's family in the 1868 Church Census, and gave their arrival date as November 1867. The census showed the family consisted of Jerome, his wife, and three sons and three daughters under the age of 14. The same record shows the 25 October 1868 christening of a son Jerome, Jr. A fourth son, Foreman Esaswood Adams, was born in St. Thomas on 10 January. By that time they were practically starving due to poor soil, poor growing conditions, heat, dust, and insects. Other circumstances under which the settlers of that area lived are expanded upon in the story of Charles Wesley Hubbard, pages 325 and 326.

To give the family some financial relief, Jerome loaded a small wagon with grapes and set out to sell them, saying he would not come back empty-handed. That left Mary and the children rather stranded when the settlement broke up later that year and the inhabitants moved away.

After 18 months of absence, Jerome found his family in Spring City, Sanpete, Utah, where they had been moved at the insistence of Jerome's father-in-law. As he had promised, J. J. returned with clothes, furniture, and money which he had accumulated on his trip.

The family remained in Spring City for several years, during which time Hettie Millicent was born on 23 November 1872, and Georgiana "Georgia" was born on 19 March 1874 . Jerome's daughter Mary Frances told her children that her father had been called to go to Washington County, Utah, in 1874 to help with the construction of the St. George Temple (Merrell Family Papers).

Jerome engaged in freighting as well as other activities until 1876 when he was called to take his family to the Arizona Mission on the Little Colorado River. The journey to their new settlement was one of great hardships. They made the trip from Utah to Arizona between February and April during all kinds of weather. As they traveled through Circle Valley Canyon, Jerome walked each day carrying a shovel to dig the wagon wheels out of the mud and chuck-holes. In other locations there was deep snow through which to travel. The Adams family settled in Brigham City, Arizona, sometimes called Ballinger's Camp after the leader of their company. Their last child Wilford Woodruff Adams was born there on 11 December 1879. They lived in a closely-knit society in Arizona for several years.

Before the United Order was organized and their Articles of Agreement drawn up, the colonists worked unitedly to conduct their farming, sheep raising, lumber mill, grist mill, etc., in a cooperative-type operation. During construction of the dining room and large kitchen for the Order, Sunday meetings were sometimes held at the Adams home, as he was a counselor in the bishopric, the governing body of the settlement.

For the next few years Jerome was engaged in raising sheep and cattle as well as his other work assignments in the pioneer settlement. Late in 1881 he cooperated with brothers Charles and Edwin Whiting along with Sullivan Richardson in the purchase of what was called Brigham Fort, for $800. That was the remaining structure of Brigham City, which by that time had been abandoned by virtually all of the inhabitants. There a ranching enterprise was conducted for a few years before the Adams family moved to Wilford, Arizona, where Jerome was the presiding elder of the local church group.

He continued to pursue his livestock enterprise until 1889, when the family moved to Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico. Jerome took an active part in the community and church in his new-found home. Nearly everyone in Colonia Diaz called him "Grandpa Adams," as he was quite a bit older than most of the other residents. They sought him for advice and appreciated his wisdom. He was proud to receive his Mexican citizenship from President Porfirio Diaz on 28 April 1893.

Jerome was fond of music and played the bass drum in a band which took part in the celebration of all Mexican holidays in Colonia Diaz. One author wrote that he never missed a band practice though he had to ride his iron-gray horse one and a half miles to attend. Even in his advanced years he continued this activity.

He cherished his horses and took extremely good care of them, especially while he was freighting. When John W. Young was awarded a contract to construct a railroad from Deming, New Mexico, to Chihuahua City, Mexico, which would run close to all the Mormon colonies in the State of Chihuahua, a procession took place to celebrate the beginning of the venture. J. J. Adams was one of the men who paraded through town driving all the horse-drawn and mule-drawn vehicles to be used in carrying out the many aspects of the ill-fated project.

In 1895 when some additional land became available for purchase, he was one of a group of Diazites who went into the cattle raising business, a return to the occupation he had formerly engaged in while living in Wilford.

He was very clean in his person and with his clothing. He took pride in being a gentleman and was devoted to his family. He died peacefully in his sleep on 5 May 1902, at the age of sixty-seven, in Colonia Diaz.

In the 1970s one of his great-grandsons, Robert Adams of Las Cruces, New Mexico, went to the Mexican Colonies and searched the cemetery in the ruins of the colony of Diaz until he found Jerome J. Adams' tombstone. By that time most of the markers had been destroyed, but in a corner hidden by grass was the stone engraved with his name, death year, and a chiseled hand holding a Book of Mormon, his final testimony of the creed that governed most of his life.
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This is by Sadie Adams Richardson:

My father, Jerome J. Adams, was born 7 February 1835-36, in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, the son of William J. Adams and Jane Eastwood. William J. Adams was a trunk and comb maker by trade. He left home when my father was a baby in arms to look for work and was never heard from but once after he left. Grandmother thought that he was drowned. Some time after he left, she was obliged to leave her baby with
relatives so that she could work and earn a living.

When Father was between 12 and 14 years of age, he ran away from his relatives and started life for himself. He said his people were good to him, but he just didn't want to live with his relative. Later my grandmother married a man named Adam Gold.

Aunt Hettie's story of her father (15 October 1944):

From the time he was eleven he made his own living. He grew up around the lakes and just lived in the water. He said he was just like a duck. He used to tell us some of the feats he could do. He was a very proficient swimmer. He was never afraid of anything in his life. He once tied a man who had been arrested and two men hadn't been able to handle him. Another time, he was in a corn crib, filling it. For some
reason, a man was angry with him and was going to come in after him. He said, "So I just got me a pick handle and waited for him to come through the hole. But he didn't come in".

He was associated with a bunch of boys who got into a habit of going to town and taking a drink of beer. All at once father said that he began to realize that he wanted a drink of beer. "Right there I didn't go to town any more with the gang. I didn't want to be a drunkard."

He worked for my grandfather Frost. The first time he went into the house to eat he saw my mother and said to himself, "There is my wife." He was just 18 at that time. When he finally asked her to marry him, they had been snowed in for a week. Ma said he just sat around there by the stove under her feet the whole time and never said a word, then out of a clear sky, he asked her to marry him. When they went to be married, the
officer questioned his age and he didn't know too much about his dates. Grandfather Frost went with them. He pointed to Father's flaming red beard and said, "See that beard, that should be enough". So they didn't ask any more questions.

They remained in Freemont County, Iowa, until they had four children. When they decided to come west, he had the idea that if he could come out to Utah and kill Brigham Young he'd be doing the most honorable thing that could be done. He bought a good stout rope and said he would hang Brigham Young with it as he went through Utah. They were on their way to California in 1861, but it was so near winter when they arrived in Utah that they decided to remain there through the winter. They went to church, heard Mormonism preached, and were converted and stayed there. Uncle Abe Acord also stayed, but Uncle Felt Acord went on to California.

They were baptized July 3, 1862, at Draper, Utah. After that he was a faithful L.D.S. living strictly up to the requirements of the Gospel. He paid an honest tithing all his life. Always saying that he didn't pay the tenth but the first, and best, and he did; I was a witness to that.

He was a man of very few words. He always thought twice before he spoke once. I never heard him speak a word against anyone. He'd say, "Call her Hettie, that's bad enough." One time he lost confidence in his bishop and quit praying for him. Ma told him to pray him out if he didn't have confidence in him, but he was still bishop when dear old daddy died.

He responded to every call that was made of him in the church. He was a great lover of music and was a member of the band when he died at the age of 67 years. He was very proud of his band, never missing a practice nor was even late to one. He was never known to relate obscene stories nor listen to others tell them. He was very clean with his clothing and in his person, took pride in being a gentleman and a manly
man. He was devoted to his family and said that he had the best wife in the world. (End of Aunt Hettie's notes).

My father was a staunch L.D.S., although he was very poor he obeyed every call that was made of him, going to different places to help to pioneer new country. He taught his children the principles of the Gospel by example. My mother worked right along by his side, gave him her support in all his undertakings. They had a large family and she taught them to honor and respect their father. I grew up with the idea that my
father was perfect and I never heard of them having a cross word between them. He was a quiet man of few words, independent and proud, with a humility and faith in God to temper his pride.

He took an active part in the early days of Arizona, being an older man in a community of younger men. They looked to him for advice and counsel. He was given responsible work to do in the Order and helped in choosing the locations for settlements. When the Order broke up, he was given the records to keep. Hettie turned them over to the church historians office in 1942.

In the early days in Mexico, the people had lots of trouble with horse thieves and cattle rustling. One time some thieves and cattle rustlers came by Diaz and took a bunch of their best horses. A posse followed them, tracking them to their camp where they were found sleeping. The thieves were shot and left lying in their blankets, and all the horses brought back. Some of the younger men of the posse thought they should
take all the responsibility as Pa was an older man with a family and said that the old man didn't take part in the shooting. Pa said, "I guess the old man usually does his part".

When the call came for the people who were persecuted for polygamy to go to Mexico, it broke up our little settlement in Arizona, and Pa, with two others asked the privilege to go along. He died there in Colonia Diaz, Mexico, May 4, 1902. He played in the band on that Mexican holiday, came home, did his chores, ate his supper, said his prayers, went to bed, and died without a struggle. His wife lived seventeen years after his death, always looking forward to he time of reunion.

1835 Jerome 1. Adams born in Columbus, Ohio
1846 (About) He ran away from Columbus, Ohio
1846 to about 1852 He grew up around the lake country.
1853 Samuel B. Frost hired him in Fremont County, Ohio, as farm hand.
1854-1860 He lived in Fremont. Four children born there.
1861 Came to Utah on way to California.
1862 July 3 He and wife were baptized in Draper, Utah
1863 He was called by church to settle Richmond in Cache Valley.
1865 On way from Richmond to Salt Lake a son was born at Bear River.
1866 Still in Cache Valley - a very cold winter.
1867 Church called him to settle St. Thomas (The Muddy), Nevada.
1868-69 Still at Muddy Mission.
1870-72 He spent on the freight road.
1873 He returned to Spring City.
1874-75 He spent in Spring City.
1876-1889 He spent colonizing in Northern Arizona.
1889 He removed to Mexico.
1893 April 28 He received his Mexican citizenship papers from President Diaz.
1899 To end of his life, he helped to establish colonies in Mexico.
1902 He died in his sleep.