Juniata Adams, one of the successful educators of Kansas and now connected with the El Dorado schools, is a native Kansan and represents a pioneer family in that section of the state.
Benjamin Franklin Adams, her father, was a widely known Kansan and for years was distinguished by his enterprises and success in the field of general farming and stock raising. He was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, December 2, 1834, and represented a family that came out of England to Pennsylvania in colonial times. His father, John Adams, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, and spent his life there. He owned a furnace and an extensive iron foundry, and also owned large amounts of land. John Adams married Nancy Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, where she died.
Benjamin F. Adams grew up in his native Pennsylvania County and was a young man when he came out to Kansas in 1866. He identified himself with the little community of Emporia, and in that vicinity developed a large farm and stock ranch. For a number of years he was also interested in real estate as a dealer. In 1870 Benjamin F. Adams removed to El Dorado and continued his business here of stock raising. He had a national reputation for the breeding of fine horses, and he was also one of the pioneers in the introduction of fine Jersey cattle into this section of the state. He formerly owned the Wilson tract and other lands that have since become valuable as oil properties. Benjamin F. Adams died at El Dorado May 2, 1914, at the age of eighty years. He was a republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and from early manhood was actively interested in the Masonic fraternity. He also had a record of service as a soldier in the Civil war. He enlisted in 1861 in Company H of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment of Infantry and was in service two years, until his discharge.
He married Adaline Spencer, who was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1836, and died at El Dorado June 18, 1915. They were the parents of four children: Juniata; Spencer, who is an electrician, now employed in South America at Lima, Peru; Charles S., a resident of Winfield, Kansas; and Louisa, wife of Clarence E. Scott, a stockman and farmer at Steward, Illinois.
Miss Juniata Adams was born while her parents resided at Emporia, Kansas. She grew up at El Dorado, attended the public schools there, and after graduating from high school entered the State Normal School at Emporia. Miss Adams remained a student there until near the close of her senior year. Since then she had been actively identified with educational work in Butler County, with the exception of three years spent at Oklahoma City. In 1914 she returned to her home town and is primary teacher of the first grade in the Central School building. Miss Adams is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.