WILLIAM H. ADKINS was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky,
November 21, 1835. He is the eldest of a family of ten children, six sons and
four daughters, two of the sons being the offspring of a second marriage. His
father,
Wyatt Adkins, and mother, Mary Adkins, removed to Monroe County,
Indiana, in October, 1840, where, on September 18, 1851, his mother died.
In those days, during the early settlement of the State, the
facilities for even an ordinary education were poor, there being no
public-school system in existence at that time. Consequently, our subject spent
most of his school days under the instruction of private teachers, or, as it
was termed then, “subscription schools,” the terms of tuition being from $1.50
to $2 per pupil for a quarter of thirteen weeks. The larger proportion of the
teachers at that time were poorly educated, and the schools were often taught
in churches or private residences, there being but few school-houses erected
previous to the year 1850, at which time the public-school system was
introduced in that State. The school-houses were usually constructed of round
or hewn logs, with little or no accommodation in the way of light, seats or
heating. Such a thing as school-house
furniture, apparatus and fixtures known to modern schools was even undreamed of
then. But in those days they had singing schools, spelling schools and debating
societies, all of which were attended, and their advantages largely realized by
our then youthful subject. In addition to this, and socially, the young people
had their “chopping,” “corn husking,” “quilting” and “comfortable-tacking”
bees, which all attended and enjoyed to the fullest extent.
On the 21st day of April, 1856, the family started for Iowa,
and May 19, arrived in Clarke County and settled near Hopeville. Here in August
following, of the same year, Mr. Adkins, then twenty years of age, began his
career as teacher in the public schools, and also, shortly after, began to
teach classes in vocal music, to both of which callings he has devoted a
considerable portion of his life. In the spring of 1859 he entered the Osceola
High School, under the principalship of Professor J. H. L. Scott, where he
attended five months.
In September, 1859, he returned to Indiana, where he taught
during the winter, attending the State University at Bloomington during the
intervals elapsing between, until the spring of 1861, when he enlisted in the
service of his country, and was mustered into Company I, Nineteenth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry. Their regiment was commanded by Colonel Sol. Merideth when
it entered the service, and was brigaded with the Second, Sixth and Seventh
Wisconsin regiments during its first year-and-a-half’s service, at the end of
which time the Twenty-fourth Michigan was added to it. It was then called, and
is known in the history of the Rebellion as the “Iron Brigade.” Shortly after
Mr. Adkins entered the service he was promoted to a Corporal; then appointed
company clerk, and in the spring of 1862 was promoted to Third Sergeant, which
rank he held when mustered out, April 23, 1863, by reason of a gunshot wound
received August 28, 1862, in the battle of Gainsville, Virginia.
In July, 1863, he returned to Iowa in very poor health; but
in October following, his health somewhat improving, he took charge of a
general retail store in Hopeville, owned by F. W. Johnson, which he continued
to superintend until the fall of 1867, at which time he turned his attention to
farming, to which he devoted himself mainly until 1875. During the time he was
farming he taught classes in vocal music pretty much every fall and winter, and
occasionally taught in the public schools, both in Hopeville and in the country
districts. From 1875 to April 1, 1878, he continued to teach, at which time he
received the appointment of postmaster in Hopeville, which office he held
(except for a year, when he resigned in favor of David Newton) until September
13, 1886, when he was relieved on account of not being in accord politically
with the party in power. In July, 1879, Mr. Adkins entered again the general
mercantile business, which he has continued to follow ever since; and while he
has not been eminently successful in this pursuit, he says he has “made a fair
living.”
Mr. Adkins was married February 11, 1866, to Miss Elizabeth
A. Williamson, second daughter of Edward E. and Mary Williamson, pioneer
settlers in Clarke County. Since that time they have had ten children born to
them – five sons and five daughters. Two sons – the eldest two – died at the
age of two and a half years. The names of the present living children are Effie
M., Mary Alice, Bertha S., Emma F. and Jesse H. (twins), Albert, Nina L. and a
little boy about a year old, unnamed, which the family call “Bub”, the
vocabulary of names being so nearly exhausted so Mr. Adkins says, that they can
not agree upon a name.
In politics Mr. Adkins is a Republican, casting his first
vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. He has been honored by his township with
offices time and again, having been elected to the assessor’s office six times.
In point of business capacity his qualifications are good. Religiously he is a
member of the disciples, or Christian church, and is an active worker both in
church and Sunday-school. Mr. Adkins is also a member of Wilson Post, G.A.R.
SOURCE: Biographical
and Historical Record of Clarke County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago,
Illinois, 1886 p. 440-1
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