John H. Addams | |
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| Member of theIllinois Senate | |
| In office 1854–1870 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Huy Addams July 12, 1822 |
| Died | August 17, 1881(aged 59) Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Resting place | Cedarville Cemetery,Cedarville, Illinois, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Weber Anna H. Haldeman |
| Children | 9, includingAlice andJane |
| Residence(s) | John H. Addams Homestead, Cedarville, Illinois |
| Occupation | Mill owner |
| Profession | Businessman |
John Huy Addams (July 12, 1822 – August 17, 1881) was a politician and businessman from theU.S. state ofIllinois. Addams was born inPennsylvania in 1822, where he married Sarah Weber (1817–1863). In 1844 the couple moved toCedarville, Illinois, and he purchased the Cedar Creek Mill. Addams quickly became a successful businessman working as a director for two railroad companies and a bank president. He constructed a prominentFederal style home in 1854 which still stands today. He and his wife Sarah (Weber) Addams had nine children, includingAlice Haldeman and social activistJane Addams.
Addams became active in state politics and eventually served as an eight-termIllinois State Senator, from 1854 to 1870. In 1863, his wife, Sarah, died and he was remarried in 1868 to Anna Haldeman, herself a widow.[1] He was a key influence on his daughter Jane and part of the reason she focused so much attention on social causes. He died inGreen Bay, Wisconsin, while on a family vacation in 1881.
John Huy Addams was born inSinking Spring, Pennsylvania, in on July 12, 1822.[2] He married Sarah Weber, five years his elder, while still living inKreidersville, Pennsylvania.[2] Both families, Addams and Weber, were from old Pennsylvanian lineage; Addams' ancestors had been granted land byWilliam Penn in the 17th century.[3] In 1844 Addams, then 22, and his new bride arrived inCedarville, Illinois, near theIllinois-Wisconsin state border inStephenson County.[2][3][4]
Addams established himself quickly as a successful mill operator when he purchased the Cedar Creek Mill in 1844.[3][4] When the couple first arrived in Stephenson County they lived in a small two-room home with a loft. In 1854 Addams completed construction on an addition which made the Addams' home a much larger, prominentFederal style house.[3][4] Though the couple had nine children, only four survived to adulthood; their eighth child wasNobel Peace Prize recipientJane Addams,[5] born at the Addams House in Cedarville on September 6, 1860.[4]
In January 1863 Sarah Addams, then pregnant with her ninth child, went to assist in the delivery of a baby for the wagon-maker's wife.[2] During the birth, she collapsed and was carried home. Sarah's own baby was deliveredprematurely and as a result,stillborn.[2] Sarah died a week later; Jane was just 2 years and 4 months old at the time of her mother's death.[2] Jane Addams was cared for mostly by her older sisters after 1863.[5]
Addams' milling business became one of the largest operations in northernIllinois, comprising asaw mill,linseed mill, andgrist mill along Cedar Creek on the Addams' property.[4] The mill also represented the start of Addams' successful business career. From 1864 until 1881 he was the president of the Second National Bank inFreeport, Illinois. Addams also served in directorships with theGalena and Chicago Union Railroad and theIllinois Central Railroad, he was also a founder of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1867.[4] Addams achieved a level of local fame due to his many successful business ventures and was regarded as Stephenson County's most successful entrepreneur.[6]
Addams served for sixteen years in theIllinois Senate, where he acquired a reputation for integrity; as one historian phrased it, "he became famous as a man who not only had never taken a bribe, but had never been offered one.[7] He participated in the founding of theRepublican Party and was a friend ofAbraham Lincoln's.[7]
During theCivil War, Addams helped to raise and equip a regiment that became known as "the Addams Guard."[7]
Jane Addams stated that her father, John, was a primary influence in her life.[5] In her 1910 autobiography she described various ways in which she attempted to imitate her father, as well as establishing him as her primary influencer. She stated that her father was her reason for civic involvement and interest in the "moral concerns of life."[8]It was Addams' deep civic involvement that had such a profound influence on his daughter, Jane.[6] John Addams was active in the Cedarville School Board and a trustee of the Rockford Young Ladies' Seminary, later known asRockford College, where Jane would earn her undergraduate degree.[6] Besides his role in founding the state's Republican Party he was also one of the key individuals who helped bring the secondLincoln-Douglas Debate to Freeport.[6]
In 1867, four years after Sarah Addams' death, John H. Addams was remarried to Anna H. Haldeman. Haldeman was herself awidow who brought two additional children of her own into the family. One of her sons, George, would also have a strong influence on Jane Addams.[5]
In early August 1881, Addams decided to take his family on a vacation in northwesternMichigan, where he planned to inspect some of theiron andcopper ore mines as potential investments; they left on August 4.[9] A week later John Addams became ill while climbing in an ore mine and the family decided to return home by train. They made it toGreen Bay, Wisconsin, before Addams was too sick to travel any further and the family booked a hotel room.[9] John H. Addams died suddenly of acuteappendicitis on August 17, 1881, in the hotel in Green Bay at the age of 59.[5][9] His death came as a shock to his daughter Jane, and she spent eight years in a state of (or in depression) depression after his death.[5]
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