Alameda County
Biographies
EDSON ADAMS
The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this history, was born in Fairfield County, in the State of Connecticut, on the 18th day of May, 1824. He is a descendant, on the paternal side, of Edward Adams, who settled in Hew Haven, Connecticut, in 1640, and on the maternal side, of Edward Nash, who settled in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1654, these ancestors being among the pioneers of New England. At an early age Mr. Adams engaged in trade, and continued therein until he sailed for California in January, 1849, arriving at San Francisco in July of the same year. In the following September he went to the mines, returned to San Francisco in March, 1850, and proceeded to examine the country around the bay of San Francisco for a suitable point at which to lay out and establish a town; and finally, on the 16th of May, 1850, he located permanently at a point now known as the foot of Broadway, Oakland. The place was a wilderness, no inhabitants being then on the Encinal of Temescal, afterwards known as the town of Oakland. Here he located one hundred and sixty acres, then supposed to be public domain. His location lay on either side of the present Broadway, and extended from the Estuary of San Antonio northerly to about where Fourteenth Street now runs. Afterwards Andrew Moon located one hundred and sixty acres on the west, and later came H. W. Carpentier, who located one hundred and sixty acres on the east of Mr. Adams. Others soon followed and located, until the whole country around was occupied by settlers, and so remained in their exclusive possession for years, with a few isolated exceptions. These early settlers of Oakland and vicinity, as a class, were young, intelligent, and energetic. In the latter part of 1851, Mr. Adams, with Carpentier and Moon, employed Julius Kellersberger and others to survey, lay out, and set the stakes, and make maps and plats (which included the three locations above named) of the town of Oakland. Mr. Adams was elected to fill various offices, and served to the satisfaction of the then residents of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. A few of these enterprising young men determined on founding a town, possibly a city, and time has proved the wisdom of their foresight, notwithstanding the disadvantages experienced by them during the first few years, on account of the few families then in California, as most of those who came here were either single, or had left their families behind them. The inducements at that time to follow trade and mining, also prevented many who otherwise would have located in Oakland from doing so. They want of proper ferry communications between Oakland and San Francisco was a great drawback to the building up of the town. By great exertions, steamboat owners were induced to make occasional excursions from San Francisco to the proposed town, then called Contra Costa. At last a company was induced to establish ferry communication, at least a round trip a day. The fare at first was a dollar each way, but it was soon reduced to fifty cents each way, with the chances of being detained, by foggy weather, five or six hours on a trip. Mr. Adams has been, and now is, engaged in various enterprises on the Pacific Coast. On May 3, 1855, he was married to Miss Hannah J. Jayne, their issue being Julia P., Edson F., and John C. Adams. Mr. Adams still resides in Oakland, surrounded by his family.
History of Alameda County, California…, Oakland, M.W. Wood Publ., 1883
p. 1000
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler