Ancestors

Rufus Flaherty Adams

Rufus Flaherty Adams was born on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1865, in Roanoke County, Virginia, the son of James and Mary Adams. He was among the youngest of a large family; his brothers and sisters included Joseph Henry, Elizabeth Wilmouth, Rebecca, John Wesley and Charley Lacey Adams.

In the week before 27 November 1891 the Roanoke County clerk issued a marriage license to "Rufus Flaherty Adams and Amanda Parrish, of this county," and the Salem Times-Register printed it among the week's licenses. They married on 26 November 1891. He was 25 and she 30.

Rufus worked as a laborer at Roanoke, then a new railroad city growing fast around the shops of the Norfolk and Western. A photograph from the mid 1890s shows him seated outdoors on a hillside, in a dark suit, holding his small son George on his knee, beside Amanda with their baby daughter Mary in a lace bonnet. George was born in 1893, Mary Agnes in 1894 and Emma Frances in 1896.

Rufus died on 18 January 1899, at 33. The Salem Sentinel reported it in one sentence on 24 January: "R. F. Adams, a Roanoke laborer, committed suicide last week by taking laudanum, being under the influence of liquor at the time. He leaves a wife and four children, who are said to be in destitute circumstances." Laudanum was opium dissolved in alcohol, sold over the counter as a painkiller and sleeping draught. He was buried in Martin Memorial Cemetery. His stone, set up long afterward, reads RUFUS ADAMS, DEC. 24, 1865, JAN. 18, 1899, GRANDPARENT OF HOWARD L. ST CLAIR.

If Rufus Flaherty Adams is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Rufus Flaherty Adams (1865-1899)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/rufus-flaherty-adams-1865-1899-97bc58.