James S. Adam has been a prominent factor in business affairs at Dunlap for the past fifteen years, and is regarded as the banker of the village.
He was born in Kirkentelloch, Scotland, March 12, 1870, a son of William and Mary Adam. The father was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1832, and brought his family to America in 1880, settling in White City, Kansas. From there he removed to Parkerville, in 1894, and lived there until his death, in 1896. He was a farmer and stockman. Ten years old when brought to this country, James S. Adam had his early training in the schools of Scotland, and then grew up on his father’s farm in Kansas until he was about eighteen. His first ambition was for railroad work, and becoming an operator he was stationed at various points along the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, both in Oklahoma and Kansas. Since 1902 his home had been at Dunlap, where at first he was active as a merchant and is still largely interested in the leading general store. In 1905 he took the executive post of cashier in the Dunlap Farmers Bank and had since successfully managed the affairs of this institution. Mr. Adam is a democrat and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and belongs to the Kansas State Bankers’ Associations and the American Bankers’ Association. He is a trustee and steward in the Methodist Church.
In 1894, In Council Grove, Kansas, Mr. Adam married Miss Annie Farmer. Mrs. J. S. Adam is a leader in church and social affairs at Dunlap, is a member of the Twentieth Century Club and of the Fraternal Aid, and is active in the Sunday school of the Methodist Church, in which Mr. Adam teaches the Young Men’s Bible Class.
Mrs. Adam was born in White City, Kansas, and attended the grammar and high schools there and prior to her marriage spent one year as a teacher. Her father, R. M. Farmer, was born in Devonshire, England, in 1850, and came to White City, Kansas, in 1870, being one of the early settlers in that community. After farming for a number of years he became a merchant, and now lives retired in White City. He is a prohibitionist and a member of the Congregational Church. R. M. Farmer married Eliza Wallis, who was born in Devonshire in 1851. Their children are: Mary, widow of H. S. Baer who was a druggist, and she now resided at White City; Mrs. J. S. Adam; George, a traveling salesman with home at White City; Samuel, also a traveling salesman at Belleville, Kansas.
Mr. and Mrs. Adam have some extensive farming and ranching interests in Lyon County, owning three farms aggregating about 1,400 acres, besides their residence at Dunlap and their interest in the general store. On their farms they have raised considerable blooded stock.
Their children are six in number: Mary Edna, who had finished the course in the high school at Dunlap and had also taken courses in music and still lives at home; Robert Edward, assistant cashier in the Farmers Bank; James Dale, a sophomore in the Dunlap High School; Marjorie Maude a freshman in the high school; Wallace William, in the seventh grade, and Frank Farmer, in the sixth grade.