CSA Lt. Colonel Warren Adams & Family, Collection of Photographs, Incl. Images of Family Slaves, Plus Personal Papers 

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American History Live Salesroom Auction

By Cowan's Auctions

Jun 12, 2015 - Jun 13, 2015

Set Reminder 2015-06-12 10:00:00 2015-06-13 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History Live Salesroom Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-live-salesroom-auction-663
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• Lot Description
  Lot of 60+ items related to the Adams Family of South Carolina, including over 50 photographs of family members. The collection features 8 cased images, highlights being a ninth plate daguerreotype housed in half case marked Cook/Artist/Charleston, tentatively identified as Warren Adams, a sixth plate ambrotype, housed in an Indian Monument, Cuba Union case, of Nathalie Heward Adams, wife to Warren Adams, and a quarter plate tintype of a woman and two young girls identified by the family as Nathalie and two of her daughters. A companion quarter plate tintype of the same girls is also included, as well as a sixth plate daguerreotype and a cased, hand-colored CDV, with Wearn & Hix, Columbia, SC, backmark, identified as James H. Adams, son to Warren and Nathalie, taken ca 1870. An additional copy of the Wearn & Hix carte, plus 2 Cook, Charleston, CDVs of James while attending the H.C.C. Institute in Charleston at age 14 accompany the lot along with 3 other family CDVs, one identified as Margaret, daughter of Warren & Nathalie. The collection also features loose album pages with approx. 25 mounted snapshots of the Adams Family, ca early 20th century, some with period identifications, including views of Nathalie and her children later in life, as well as 2 candid images of the Adams’ family slaves in the early 20th century. At least 4 large format photographs of James and Margaret Adams as young adults round out the photographic portion of the collection, plus a handful of unidentified cased images and paper photographs of unidentified relatives.  
  
  The lot also includes an 1881 letter written to James Adams by his father, Warren, from Stony Point Plantation; several documents relative to James, mostly regarding a patent; a multi-page typed outline of the Adams' Family lineage; and a published book regarding the Heyward Family, with records compiled by James Barnwell Heyward.
  
  The Adams Family of South Carolina:
  
  A collection of photographs and manuscripts concerning one of South Carolina’s oldest and most prominent families. Lots 31-37, 103
  
  The Adams family came to the area near present day Columbia, SC, in the mid-18th century, acquired major land holdings, and became prosperous plantation owners. They were strongly involved in political and military affairs of their state, region, and country, playing major roles in state government as well as the Mexican American and Civil Wars.
  
  James Adams, son of Henry Coker Adams, emigrated from England to Virginia in the early seventeenth century seeking a new life in colonial America. There, he married Agnes Walker and fathered two children before Agnes’ death in 1755. One of the children died early, the other, Joel, survived into adulthood.
  
  Joel Adams was born February 4, 1750, in Culpepper, VA. He was the first of the family to settle in lower Richland County, SC, at Wavering Place in 1768. He married Grace Weston in 1773 and together they bore seven children. Before the American Revolution, Joel began acquiring land along the Congaree River in lower Richland County, accumulating 25,000 acres of plantations in the area. In the Revolutionary War, he was a leader of South Carolina militia forces and served in the Continental Army. He strongly believed in education, and political and military service to one’s state and country. Two of his children were educated at Yale. He died July 8, 1830, in Richland, SC, where he is buried.
  
  One of Joel’s sons, Henry Walker Adams, had the unfortunate situation of losing his wife (Mary Goodwyn) and then dying himself at the early age of 25, leaving behind a son, James Hopkins Adams. Joel raised his grandson until his own death.
  
  James Hopkins Adams was born March 15, 1812, in the Richland District in South Carolina, and died there July 13, 1861. He graduated from Yale in 1831, married Jane Margaret Scott in April 1832, and they had eleven children. He was Brigadier General of Cavalry for the South Carolina Militia and served several terms as a State Representative and State Senator. In 1854, he was elected to be the 66th Governor of South Carolina, serving through 1856. As a member of the “Convention of the People” in 1860-1861, he was a signatory to the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession. Subsequently, Adams served as a Commissioner of South Carolina to the US government to negotiate the transfer of United States property in South Carolina to the state government. He died at Live Oak, his country residence, and is buried in St. John's Episcopal Churchyard in Congaree, SC.
  
  This collection principally concerns one of J. H. Adams children, Warren Adams, (1838–1884) who was a Lieutenant Colonel in the CSA. He was in command of the First South Carolina Infantry Regiment at Battery Wagner, Charleston, SC (Lots 32-35, 37).
  
  Images and documents related to extended family members, such as 2nd Lieutenant David Adams, KIA in the Mexican American War (Lot 31), and Captain Robert Adams, Charleston Light Dragoons (Lot  36) are also included in the collection, as well as an archive of material regarding the Sinkler & Darby Families, relatives through marriage (Lot 103).
  
  Provenance:Descended in the Family of Confederate Lt. Colonel Warren Adams

  Condition

  Varying levels of wear to the cased images and paper photographs. Some of the cases themselves are not in very good condition. Expected wear to the documents, including folds, wear along edges and corners.
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• Buyer's Premium

  • Hammer Price	Premium (%)
    $0	28.00
    $250,001	23.00
    $3,000,001	15.00