Robert Ferguson Adams
Robert Ferguson Adams is a native of Lawrence County, Ohio, having been born at Ironton, June 2, 1874. He comes of distinguished old stock, his father, Hamlin Miller Adams, being a direct descendant of the famous old Adams family of Massachusetts, and also of General Tupper, renowned Indian fighter of pioneer days. The paternal grandfather of Hamlin M. Adams was a cousin of John Quincy Adams, and his grandmother, Luvica Tupper, was a niece of General Tupper. Volney Adams, the paternal grandfather of Robert F. Adams, came to the Muskingum Valley from Massachusetts and settled at Marietta, Ohio, where Hamlin M. Adams, the father of Robert F. Adams, was born. Later the family removed to a point near Beverley, Ohio, where Volney Adams engaged in farming. He died in the evening of life, in the State of Washington.
Hamlin Miller Adams was born in 1840 and died in March, 1905, at the age of sixty-five years. He spent his boyhood days upon the farm. He received his education at Marietta College, from which institution he was graduated in 1866. In the winter of 1863 he left college to enter the Union Army, remaining therein until the close of the war. In the fall of 1864 he was severely wounded in a skirmish at City Point, now Petersburg, Virginia. He returned to college in 1865 and graduated therefrom in 1866, having received a good classical education. Several years later his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In 1867 he entered Lane Seminary at Cincinnati for the study of theology, but being without funds and too proud-spirited to accept aid he left the seminary and engaged in teaching at Ironton, Ohio, being connected with the public schools at that point. Later he left the schools and became editor of the Ironton Journal. Still later, in 1877, he became president of Augusta College, Augusta, Kentucky, removing from thence to Huntington, West Virginia, in 1879. Here he established a private school, but later disposed of it to enter the grocery business in Huntington with his brother Gus M. Adams, under the firm name of Adams & Brother. He took a prominent part in the political affairs of the state, being a staunch republican in politics, and in 1889 was appointed postmaster of Huntington by President Harrison. It was under his administration that free delivery service of mail matter was begun in Huntington. He was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church and a member of the Odd Fellows and the Masonic fraternity. In 1873, at Ironton, Ohio, he was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Ferguson, daughter of James M. and Elizabeth J. (Wood) Ferguson, the latter of whom survives and is a resident of Los Angeles, California. Miss Jennie Ferguson was born in 1852. Four children resulted from this union: Robert Ferguson, of this review; Augustus Hamlin, of Huntington, a merchandise broker specializing in mining machinery; Frances, a sister, who is unmarried and resides with her widowed mother; and Norton Meredith, who is engaged in the newspaper business at New Orleans, Louisiana.
Robert Ferguson Adams received a high school education in the public schools of Huntington, but was obliged to leave school on account of his health shortly before the completion of his senior year. In the fall of 1892, at the age. of eighteen, he became a letter carrier at Huntington, having worked his way up to this position, starting as errand boy, then working as special delivery messenger and night clerk at the Post Office. He occupied the position of a letter carrier for eighteen years, during which time he rose from the lowest paid to the highest salaried position attainable in this branch of the postal service. In 1904 he became interested in a small weekly newspaper established in Huntington, with which he acted as advertising manager, giving to this work such of his time not required for his postal duties. Later he disposed of his interest in this publication and devoted such spare time as was available to the study and practice of the work of an advertising agent. In 1910 he resigned his position with the Post Office department to engage in a mercantile business, with which he was identified for about one year, having carried on simultaneously his advertising business. In 1911 he severed his connection with all other business ventures to devote his time exclusively to his chosen profession of advertising. In 1911 he founded the Adams Advertising Agency, the pioneer enterprise of its kind at Huntington, which under his management and direction has attained the position of leadership in its field, he having been engaged in the study and practice of advertising since 1907. His plant and offices are located in the Miller-Ritter Building, Huntington, where he plans and executes advertising campaigns, places accounts in newspapers and magazines, does commercial multigraphing and direct-by-mail advertising, and handles theatre and screen advertising.
Mr. Adams is a republican. With his family he belongs to the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, in which he is an elder. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., and to West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of Wheeling, and being secretary of the Scottish Eite bodies of Huntington. He is also a member of Beni Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Charleston, of Marshall Lodge No. 121, I. O. O. F.. of Huntington, of the Guyan Country Club, and of the Rotary Club of Huntington, in which he has held the post of secretary since 1916. During the great World war Mr. Adams took an active part in all local war movements. Liberty Loan drives, etc. He was chairman of the U. S. Navy Local Advisory Committee, and chairman of the War Savings Advertising Committee of Cabell County, a capacity in which he handled and produced the advertising for the sale of War Savings Stamps throughout the county. For his work in this capacity Mr. Adams received letters of the highest commendation from the National War Savings Advertising Bureau and the bureau drafted for reproduction nationally and for the assistance of other War Savings advertising committees, a numerous portion of the advertising matter having been prepared by Mr. Adams.
In 1895 Mr. Adams entered Marshall College for additional study, arranging his daily occupation so as to be able to engage in the classes in the branches of study desired. It was during this year that he met Miss Mamie Baker, a daughter of Dr. Morgan and Annie (Marcum) Baker, the latter of whom resides at Huntington, where Doctor Baker, now deceased, was a well-known physician and surgeon. Miss Baker graduated from Marshall College in 1895 and was united in matrimony to Mr. Adams in April, 1898, shortly after the recovery of Mr. Adams from a sickness of nearly a year, which resulted from injuries received in the letter carrier service. Two daughters have blessed this union: Mary Elisabeth and Virginia, the former of whom graduated from Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio, in 1922, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and the latter of whom is a student at the same college.
From The History of West Virginia, Old and New, Vol. III, Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York