The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-08-15

OF years, nave contributed several In
dividuals of distinction. Two of these
which come readiest to mind are the
Lees, who during the Revolution pro-
duced statesman and soldier, both
OF more than ordinary ability, and dur
ing the Civil war a really great mil
itary leader; and. the Harrisons. who
produced Revolutionary war states
man and two Presidents.
But if it is necessary to find an ex-
ceptfon to prove the rule it may be
found, perhaps, in the statement made
by some one that american history is
all cluttered up with Adamses." For
sin America there Is one family, and
only one, that generation after genera
ton has consistently and without in
terruption, made contributions of the
highest order to our history and civil
lization." Those are the words of
James Truslow Adams (who, by the
way, is Virginia Adams and not re-
lated to the Massachusetts family of
whom he writes) in the prologue to
his book, "The Adams Family" pub
lished recently by Little, Brown and
company of Boston.
The Adams family was established in
America about 1886 when certain
Henry Adams, probably because of Il
combination of religious and economic
reasons, decided to leave England and
try his luck in the New world. BY
chance he settled at a place called
Braintree in Massachusetts. He mar
ried and had children. who in turn
married and handed down the family
name This went on for four gener-
Ations without producing any man of
distinction until we come to John
Adams, farmer and shoemaker in
Braintree married Susanna Boylston,
daughter of family prominent in the
medical history of the colony.
''With the fifth generation, in the
person of John Adams, historian, pub
1icist, diplomat, President of the Unit
ed States, the family not only sudden
Nv achieves national and international
position, but maintains it in successive
generations for two centuries. Was it
due to, some mysterious result from
the combination of Adams and Boyls-
tom blood far beyond the ken of sci
ence even TO-DAY; or to some unfathom-
able synchronism between the peculiar
qualities of the Adamses and the
whole social atmosphere of the next
few generations, a subtle interplay of
unknown forces; or to mere chance in
a universe i'm which atoms rush and
collide. chaotically? Fascinating as is
the problem, it is insoluble. All we
shall see is that without warning, like
a fault in the geologic record, there
is q sudden and immense rise recorded
in the psychical energy Of the family"
The stage was set for the first great
Adams, John, to play his part in
American history when the dispute be-
tween England and her rebellious col
onies sent him to the Continental con-
crosses, where clear heads were head
ed to see that independence was in
: evitable and union of the colonies es-
sential. While most Americans think
of the Revolution mainly in terms Of
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson.
Benjamin Franklin and few others
of spectacular deeds, the true history
4 of those times could not be written
without the name of John Adams. 1t
YVES he who had much TO, do with
bringing congress to the point of de-
claring independence; his was the
master stroke which caused the adop-
tion of the New England troops around
Boston as a Continental army and
which checkmated intercolonial jeal-
ousies by placing George Washington,
a Virginian, in command; he deserves
the principal credit for establishing
the American navy, and he furnished
many of the political ideas on which
the new nation based its government.
The international career OF the