Jeremiah Bewley Adams and Eliza Grace Butler
Jeremiah Bewley Adams was a small boy when he arrived in Canada West in the 1850s with his father Samuel Adams and mother Martha Hill.
In 1882, he married Eliza Grace Butler. Eliza Grace was the daughter of William James Butler, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) Church and his wife, Mary Isabella Moore. Eliza Grace was born at Bronte in 1857. Her father was instrumental in establishing the AME Church in Oakville.
Adams Butler marriage certificate
Jeremiah Bewley Adams and Eliza Grace Butler were married 25 December 1882
Jeremiah and Eliza Grace Adams had eight children - William Samuel Adams, Isabella Duncan, Martha Wayner, Ella Crowley, and Nina Adams. Children Mary Olive, Stanley Edgar and Gladys Azalia did not survive into adulthood.
Adams Family with four daughters
Jeremiah and Eliza Grace Adams pose for a photograph on a lovely summer day with their daughters Isabella Duncan, Ella Crowley, Nina Adams and Martha Wayner.
Stanley Edgar Adams funeral card
The funeral card for Stanley Edgar Adams, 1911
Stanley Edgar Adams was the youngest son of Jeremiah and Eliza Grace Adams. He died tragically at age 16 of tuberculosis.
Nina Adams signed this temperance pledge card ca. 1915
Daughter Nina Adams signed this temperance pledge card, likely distributed to area churches by the Canadian Women's Temperance Union.
Jeremiah Adams owned a significant amount of land in the Bronte area of Oakville. Adams did not continue the blacksmithing trade like his father Samuel, but chose to take advantage of the regions fertile soil to grow fruits and vegetables. He was one of a number of successful farmers operating market gardens in the Burlington and Oakville areas.
