NELSON ADAMS, NEW HAVEN
Merchant and Manufacturer
Mr. Adams is a direct descendant of the colonial Adamses of Massachusetts, and was born in Hubbardston, Worcester county, July 6, 1831. As a scholar in the public school of the place, he had few equals. At seventeen years of age the chair factories of Gardner, Mass., were the first attraction, but more purely mercantile pursuits were his desire; and, with no introduction or assistance, he found employment first in the Bacon works, near Boston, and next held a responsible place in the stock yards of Brighton, which led to the business of dressing and curing Provisions for the markets of Fitchburg and vicinity. Then going to New Haven in 1856, and adding Bone and Fertilizer business, followed that line of trade and manufacture to the present time, having been thirty-eight consecutive years in business, depending only upon his own resources. During that time he has been honorably connected in his line of the manufacturing business in several cities, including New York, Hartford, Bridgeport, and Springfield.
An active, busy life must of necessity attend these various interests, requiring a fair degree of judgment to keep the several mercantile trusts entirely solvent during so long a period. Mr. Adams might be classed as an expert in his lines of trade and manufacture, no one in the state - probably few in New England - having been for longer time or in a more familiar way connected with that industry. That he has been a busy man may be inferred from the fact that never since he was twenty-two years old has he been a day without business of some kind. When he was twenty-four he built and owned a house free and clear, without financial assistance from anybody. He has always relied upon himself financially, and has never had a just debt that he was not ready to pay when asked to, or before.
In character Mr. Adams is of a pronounced type, as were his ancestors; and in habits, more natural than acquired, has an inherent disfavor for narcotics and their like. He has owned and driven horses from youth, and has a good word for them, and for their more considerate treatment; also a kind act and word for the helpless among all creatures. He takes an interest in the work of the Humane Society, having been a member of the Connecticut society since it was chartered.
In 1868 he married Jennie E., daughter of Thomas P. Dickerman of New Haven. They have had three children, one son and two daughters, but one of whom, a daughter, is living. Mr. Adams is one of the directors of the New Haven Co-operative Savings Bank and Loan Association, and one of its incorporators, it being the pioneer association of its kind in the state. He has always held republican principles, and voted that ticket, but has never favored receiving political or local office, yet taking a lively interest in the affairs of the country and in local enterprises. He has had considerable coast-wise traffic by water, and his library contains quite a large volume of canceled bills of lading. In all Mr. Adams’ transactions it has never been said the dollar was the all-absorbing thought of life, and it may be added that he is more than willing to refer all inquiry as to his past or present dealings to his partners in business in each of the above-named cities who may be living at the present time.
Source: Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut - 1891, Compiled and Published by J. A. Spalding, Hartford Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1891
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