Alameda County
Biographies
EDSON ADAMS.
In the death of Edson Adams, which occurred December 1, 1888, Oakland lost its founder and first settler and a man who had been a conspicuous figure in the upbuilding and development of the Bay country of California, where for nearly forty years he had made his home. His life had been so varied in its activities, so honorable in its purposes and so far-reaching in its effects that it constituted an integral part of the history of the state, and his death is still deeply and sincerely regretted after a quarter of a century. Mr. Adams was descended from one of the early Colonial families, his paternal ancestor, Edward Adams, having established the name in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1640. Four years later the American progenitor of the branch, Edward Nash, became a resident of Norwalk, Connecticut.
Edson Adams was born in Fairfield county, Connecticut, May 18, 1824, and acquired a public-school education in his native state. Following the completion of his studies he engaged in trade until 1849, when, attracted by the reports of the gold discoveries in California, he took passage on board a steamer bound for the Pacific coast, arriving in San Francisco in July of the same year. In the following September he went to the mines and after a few months returned to San Francisco, whence he conducted a thorough examination of the Bay country with the purpose of establishing a town. On the 16th of May, 1850, he located permanently at a point now known as the foot of Broadway, Oakland, taking up one hundred and sixty acres of what was then public domain. His property lay on either side of the present Broadway and extended from the estuary of San Antonio north to the present location on Fourteenth street. Mr. Adams was the first settler in this locality, which was then a frontier wilderness. But others followed soon afterward, among the first of whom were Andrew Moon and H. W. Carpentier. In the latter part of 1851 Mr. Adams with Mr. Carpentier and Mr. Moon employed Julius Kellersberger and others to survey, lay out, set the stakes and make maps and plats for the present city of Oakland, to be founded upon a tract of land including the properties of the three gentlemen. Mr. Adams took a very active and prominent part in the organization of the community and after it was founded was elected to fill various offices, the duties of which he discharged in an efficient manner and with a public spirit worthy of a pioneer. He and his associates in this enterprise labored under many disadvantages, for as a rule the first settlers in California were single men who preferred to spend their time in the mines rather than assist in the upbuilding of a town in which they would probably not care to reside permanently. The citizens of San Francisco were slow in making Oakland their home because of the poor ferry conditions, the only means of travel at first being an occasional excursion from San Francisco to the new town, then called Contra Costa. Finally a company was induced to establish ferry communications with at least one round trip each day. The fare was one dollar each way but was finally reduced to fifty cents, with the chance of being detained by foggy weather five or six hours on the trip. Gradually all of these conditions changed, immigration became heavier and, with the appearance of new settlers in the town, city conveniences became a matter of course, and Mr. Adams lived to see his dream fulfilled and a city of importance and prosperity grow from his efforts and those of his associates in the early days.
On the 3d of May, 1855, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Hannah J. Jayne and they became the parents of three children, Julia P., Edson F. and John C. Throughout his entire life, which came to a close December 14, 1888, Mr. Adams continued to reside in Oakland and became one of its foremost citizens, active in all work of municipal progress and a leader in the furtherance of any plan for the advancement of the general welfare. His honorable and useful life, which bore the closest investigation and scrutiny, gained for him the unqualified respect and esteem of the people of the city which his enterprise and ambition had founded and his progressive spirit built up and developed.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 579
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler