GEORGE EDWARD ADAMS, president, treasurer, and general manager of the H. K Smith Company, of Springfield, engaged in selling the Ford automobiles and tractors and the Lincoln car, also a Ford product, is the head of one of the most successful concerns with regard to sales and equipment, for his offices, show rooms and service station are among the most completely equipped in Western Massachusetts. Mr. Adams was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, December 8, 1880. His father was Le Roy Franklin Adams, and his mother Ella (Crosby) Adams. The branch of the Adams family to which he belongs is one of the oldest in New England.
(I) He traces his ancestry to Robert Adams, who was born in England in 1602, and died October 12, 1682, at the age of eighty years. He came to Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1635, accompanied by his wife, Eleanor (Wilmot) Adams, and their first two children. He was a tailor. The family settled in Salem, where he was a resident in 1638-39. He removed to Newbury in 1640 and became a prominent citizen and acquired a large farm and other property. His wife, Eleanor, died June 12, 1677, and he married, on February 6, 1678, Sarah (Glover) Short, widow of Henry Short. She died in Newbury, October 24, 1697.
(II) Jacob Adams, son of Robert and Eleanor Adams, was born September 13, 1651, and died in Boston, Massachusetts, in November, 1717, while in attendance of his duties as a representative of Suffield at the General Court. He removed to Suffield, now in Connecticut, in 1681, and was one of the most prominent and influential early settlers. He was a member of the General Court in Boston from 1711 to 1714 and again in 1717. He became very prosperous in worldly affairs, and was held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen. His will was recorded in Boston and in Northampton, the county seat of Hampshire County. He married, April 7, 1677, Anna Allen, born January 3, 1658, daughter of Nicholas Allen, of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
(III) John Adams, son of Jacob and Anna (Allen) Adams, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, June 18, 1694, and resided in the city of his birth. He married (first) Abigail Rowe, July 26, 1722, daughter of Sarah (Remington) Rowe or Roe; (second), July i2, 1732, Martha Winchell.
(IV) Captain Simeon or Simon Rowe Adams, son of John and Abigail (Rowe) Adams, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, in November, 1724, and died in Marlboro August i, 1803. In 1783 he bought a farm in Marlboro, Vermont, and removed there soon after the purchase. He was a soldier in the French and Indian wars, during which struggle he was twice captured ‘and taken prisoner to Canada, each time being exchanged and returned. He was known popularly as Captain Simeon Adams, and there is a tradition that his wife, Susanna Adams, drove British officers out of her house in the Revolution. She was Susanna Underwood, born in Westfield, Massachusetts, September 22, 1747, died in Marlboro, Vermont, September 14, 1845, aged ninety-eight They were married in Suffield, Connecticut, in January, 1766.
(V) Captain Simeon Adams, son of Captain Simeon or Simon Rowe and Susanna (Underwood) Adams, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, January 8, 1776, and died in Marlboro, Vermont. He married, in August, 1797, Lucy Mather, born February 26, 1780, died March 31, 1860, daughter of Major Timothy Mather.
(VI) Lucius Franklin Adams, son of Captain Simeon and Lucy (Mather) Adams, was born in Marlboro, Vermont, June 8, 1816, and died May 2, 1881. He married, May 2, 1841, Clarinda Winchester, daughter of Charles P. and Patty (Basset) Winchester.
(VII) Le Roy Franklin Adams, son of Lucius F. and Clarinda (Winchester) Adams, was born in Marlboro, Vermont, April 23, 1846, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts February 4 1910. He attended the schools of the district where he was born, and when school days ended he removed to Brattleboro, Vermont, where he engaged in the grain business for years. Later in life he removed to Springfield and there continued to engage in the grain business for the remainder of his active career. He was widely known and highly esteemed in each of the communities where he lived; and always contributed his full quota of time, energy and means for the advancement of the public welfare. He was a member of Brattleboro Lodge, No. 102, Free and Accepted Masons, and all the Scottish Rite bodies, having received also the thirty-third degree. He is also a member of Lu Lu Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. His religious affiliation was with the Brattleboro (Vermont) Congregational Church, which he served as a member of the board of trustees. Le Roy Franklin Adams married, October 23, 1872, Ella Crosby, of Marlboro, Vermont, who died in January, 1890, daughter of Edward and Betsy L. (Jones) Crosby; they were the parents of six children: Walter Crosby, a banker of Brattleboro, Vermont; George Edward, of further mention; Parker Sumner; Ruth Lovisa; married Guy W. Downer, of Springfield; Ella Crosby; married Dr. George Schadt, of Springfield; Crosby, who after a long residence in Holyoke is now living in New York City.
(VIII) George Edward Adams, son of Le Roy Franklin and Ella (Crosby) Adams, attended the public schools and was graduated from the Brattleboro High School in the class of 1900. His school days ended, he became engaged in the grain business with his father, and the connection was maintained until the death of his father, which occurred in 1910. They did a wholesale business from 1900 until 1907, when its character was changed. He established himself as a Ford dealer at No. 99 Liberty Street, Springfield, August 15, 1908. He sold out the business to the Automobile Sales Company in October, 1918. After a year, in November, ipso, he bought the agency of Harry R. Smith, at No. 830 State Street, Springfield. He thereupon built his own show rooms and service station at No. 648 State Street, and from the beginning has prospered. He does a large business in Ford cars and in tractors, more recently adding the Ford-made Lincoln Car. He has built up a large, growing concern, which he organized under the name of the H. K. Smith Company, and of which he is president, treasurer and general manager. His establishment stands at the head of the automobile selling, repairing and service stations in Western Massachusetts. He employs a force of fifty persons, and is the sole owner. Mr. Adams is a Republican of long standing; a member of the Masonic fraternity, having received the thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite; a member of the Nayasset Club; of the Automobile Dealers’ Association, being treasurer; of the Winthrop Club add the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. His religious affiliation is with the Long Meadow Congregational Church.
Mr. Adams married, October 14, 1903, at Brattleboro, Vermont, Margaret C. Averill, daughter of George C. and Nellie (Chubbuck) Averill, and they are the parents of three children Marion E., born in Brattleboro, August 6, 1904; Rosamond C., born in Springfield, April 29, 1909; Le Roy F., born in Springfield, October 1, 1910.
Mr. Adams stands high in the community as a progressive citizen always ready to give of his time, energy and substance to advance all worthy matters pertaining to the public welfare-a notably successful business man, and a valued friend and associate.
George C. Averill, father of Mrs. Adams, was treasurer and principal stockholder of the Ashuelot Paper Company, and at one time was president of the Vermont National Bank He was born in Thomaston, Connecticut, a son of the Rev. James Averill. At the age of sixteen he became a clerk and bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Greenfield. After eight years he became teller of the First National Bank of Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1885 he went to Brattleboro and was teller of the Vermont National Bank for one year. He succeeded George S. Dowley as cashier in 1886. He was made president of the bank in 1897, and served until 1915, when he resigned. Since r915 he was an active force in the affairs of the Ashuelot Paper Company, near Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and made daily trips to the plant until his death, July 21, 1917. He was treasurer of the county of Windham; of the Brattleboro Home for the Aged; and the Austine Institution for Deaf and Blind Children; a trustee of the Brattleboro Retreat; and a director of the Connecticut Valley Street Railway, and various other corporations. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Odd Fellows. His wife, Nellie (Chubbuck) Averill, of Boston, died July 25, 1915. Besides his daughter, he left a son, Richard C. Averill.