Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Sebastian C. Adams ~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
Sebastian C. Adams
LAST NAME: Adams FIRST NAME: Sebastian MIDDLE NAME: C. NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME:  AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
TITLE:  GENDER: M MILITARY: 
BORN: 28 July 1825 DIED: 5 Jan 1898 BURIED: 7 Jan 1898
ETHNICITY:   OCCUPATION:  Minister; Teacher; State Senator
BIRTH PLACE:  Sandusky, Ohio
DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
IOOF Register of Burials: S. C. Adams (male) buried in Lot #712 d. 177 Court street in Salem, Jan. 7, 1898, age 72 of Lagrippe.
Mr. Adams was pioneer of Oregon who was well and favorably known throughout the Willamette valley. 
MARRIAGE - Sebastion C. Adams md Martha E. McBride on 6 Feb 1851 in Yamhill Co., Oregon.
1860 OR CENSUS - S. C. Adams, age 35, occupation merchant, b. Ohio, is enumerated with Martha, age 30, b. Missouri, along with Emma, age 8, b. Oregon, and Lucy, age 6, b. Oregon.
1870 OR CENSUS - S. C. Adams, age 45, occupation minister, b. Ohio, is enumerated with M. E. (female), age 39, b. Missouri, along with Em, age 18, b. Oregon, and L. K., (male) age 9, b. Oregon. Also enumerated with the family is E. Goodell (female), age 72, b. Vermont.
1880 City Directory lists him as publisher, corner Chemeketa and Liberty
1880 OR CENSUS - S.C. Adams, age 55, occupation minister, b. Ohio, is enumerated with wife M.E., age 49, b. Missouri, along with son Loring K., age 19, b. Oregon. 
PROBATE: Marion County Probate: File No. 1778 - Testate. Will written 15 Jun 1897. Sarah A. Adams named Exec. 29 Jan 1898. Heirs: Sarah A. Adams, wife, 58, Salem; Loring K. Adams, only son, 37, Skagway, Alaska; Emma A. Adams, daughter, 47, Salem. Reference to house property being owned only by wife & is not part of his estate.


BIOGRAPHICAL:
1850 immigrant; taught classes at what later became Linfield College; state senator 1868; Salem minister; involved with publishing and sale of "Illustrated Map of History" (23 foot long scroll) in 1871. [Oregon State Library Special Collection]. Was a teacher in Salem First Christian Church for many years. Married first to Martha McBride (1851). She died in 1882, their two children had died in the 1860's. He remarried to Sarah A. Babcock and drifted toward her Unitarian views. Renounced Christianity and became an agnostic in older age.

BIOGRAPHICAL (Source - Oregon Historic Photograph Collection, the following description accompanies Photo #HRE80 , which is the same illustration as is shown here below, the illustrator and the photographer are listed as unknown):
This photograph was displayed as a part of the Cemeteries exhibit from January through March, 1995 in the Heritage Room at the Salem Public Library. Sebastian Adams, born near Sandusky, Ohio, July 28, 1825, was the youngest of the eight children of Captain Sebastian and Eunice Harmon Adams. The family moved to Galesburg, Illinois in 1837 where Sebastian was educated at Knox College. In 1850 Sebastian came overland to California where he spent 40 days recovering from near starvation. After that time, he sailed to Portland on the brig Ann Smith arriving on September 13, 1850. He lived for a while with his brother W.L. [William Lysander] in Yamhill County before filing on a donation land claim of his own where he lived with other brothers, sisters, and his mother. Sebastian taught school near the land claim for several years before moving to the site of McMinnville where he opened a day school. During this time he also served as Yamhill County clerk and state senator. In 1869, he moved to Salem and served as pastor at the Christian Church for 13 years. For several years after this time he wrote widely in the area of history and the origins of religions and in the 1880's organized a Unitarian church in Salem. In 1851, he married Martha E. McBride with whom he had four children. She died in 1882 and in 1884 he married Martha F. Rhael who died in 1886. Then in 1890 he married Sarah Babcock who survived him. Sebastian died in Salem on Janaury 5, 1898.
NOTE for picture shown below - Photograph of illustration of S. C. Adam courtesy of Al Jones (photograph taken by Al Jones) original source not known.

BIOGRAPHICAL (source - Salem-News.com 11 Apr 2007):
State Library Exhibits its Most Unusual Holding 
Throughout his life, Adams was a scholar and lecturer on the subject of world history and religion.
(SALEM) - Among the hundreds of thousands of items in the collections of the Oregon State Library, perhaps the most unusual is the work of an Oregon pioneer and resident of Salem, Sebastian C. Adams.
His twenty-one foot scroll: A Chronological Chart of Ancient, Modern, and Biblical History, a "best seller" of the 1870s, is today a treasure to antiquarians but little known to the public.
An exact photo-replica of the first edition of the entire scroll will be on display at the Oregon State Library, beginning on April 18, 2007. A second framed copy of a later edition of the original scroll will also be exhibited. Local historian Virginia Green researched what little has been written about Sebastian Adams, with assistance from Adams' great-great-great granddaughter Margo Cash who resides in Salem and who has worked to preserve her family's history. Silas Cook of Portland is the designer and curator of the exhibit. 
The Chronological Chart presents the entire history of the world from its Biblical beginnings until the mid-19th century when the chart was produced. Adams drew upon his extensive knowledge of world history and Biblical history, "synchronizing" the events in a richly illustrated timeline. He worked with Strowbridge & Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, who illustrated and produced the scroll in 1871. Adams traveled throughout the country for six years to sell copies of the scroll to libraries, schools, museums and individuals. It appeared in several editions and today can be found in many library collections. It was widely praised for its scholarship. The English scholar and politician, Sir Charles Reed, was quoted as saying about the Chart, "The author of this work does not need a monument over his grave."
Sebastian Adams was born in 1825 and survived an arduous journey over the Oregon Trail in 1850 to settle near his brother in Yamhill County. He married and made his living as a teacher. He later became a county clerk and a State Senator and was the pastor of the First Christian Church in McMinnville. In the 1860's he moved with his family to Salem and helped to found the Salem Christian Church. At the end of his life he became a successful businessman. His listing in the 1896 Salem City Directory, two years before his death, listed his profession as "capitalist" and president of the State Insurance Company.
Throughout his life, Adams was a scholar and lecturer on the subject of world history and religion. His knowledge is well illustrated in this outstanding example of 19th century chromolithography which taught colorful and dramatic lessons in history.
The Chronological Chart is in the tradition of historical timelines that were very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. A Frenchman, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, an associate of Benjamin Franklin, is given credit for creating the first such timeline in 1753, a fifty-four foot scroll which he called the Carte Chronologique. Similar to Adams' scroll, it resided in an iron case that enabled one to scroll the timeline forward and back. Another famous 18th century timeline was the English scientist Joseph Priestley's Chart of Biography, with the lifespans of 2,000 celebrated men from 1200 BC to 1750 AD. Around the same time that Adams was selling his celebrated timeline, the French philosopher Charles Renouvier created his Uchronia, which depicted both the actual course of history and various alternative paths that history might have taken had certain events had not happened as they did.
The success of the Chronological Chart is evidenced by the fact that it can still be found in many library collections in the U.S. and overseas. In the WorldCat library catalog, which lists the holdings of major libraries worldwide, there are 73 libraries that have copies of the Chart, including the libraries at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, the New York Public Library (four copies) and the University of Johannesburg. After it was first printed in 1871, the Chart was updated and reprinted twice, in 1876 and 1878. There was also another version printed in London in 1871 called Adams Illustrated Panorama of Universal History.
The exhibit of Sebastian Adams' Chronological Chart will be on view on the second floor State Library through the end of the year.
The State Library is located at 250 Winter Street, across from the State Capitol in Salem and is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

BIOGRAPHICAL (source - Statesman Journal 16 Apr 2007):
There are amazing things squirreled away in the vast collections of the Oregon State Library. Chief among them may be the work of one Sebastian Adams, Oregon pioneer, preacher, teacher, businessman, historian, biblical scholar and more.
His 21-foot scroll, "A Chronological Chart of Ancient, Modern, and Biblical History" was a best seller of the 1870s but is little-known today.
The Chronological Chart presents the entire history of the world from its biblical beginnings to the mid-19th century.
A photo-replica of the first edition of the entire scroll will be on display at the Oregon State Library beginning Wednesday, along with a copy of a later edition.
Historian Virginia Green researched what little has been written about Adams, with assistance from Adams' great-great-great-granddaughter Margo Cash of Salem.
Adams used his extensive knowledge of world and biblical history, "synchronizing" the events in a richly illustrated timeline.
He worked with Strowbridge & Co. of Cincinnati, who illustrated and produced the scroll in 1871.
Adams traveled the country for six years selling copies, and it remains in many library collections. He moved to Salem in the 1860s.
His listing in the 1896 Salem City Directory, two years before his death, listed him as "capitalist" and insurance executive.
The chart is in the tradition of timelines popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. A Frenchman, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, an associate of Benjamin Franklin, is given credit for creating the first one in 1753.
After it was first printed in 1871, the chart was updated and reprinted twice, in 1876 and 1878.
Adams' chart will be on view on the second floor State Library through the year.
OBITUARY: 
SEBASTIAN C. ADAMS DEAD. 
Pioneer Scholar and Honored Citizen of Oregon. Succumbed to La Grippe, Last Night, after a Brief Illness
Interesting Biographical Sketch. 
Sebastian C. Adams is dead. This sad announcement will be received with profound sorrow in this and other Oregon communities where thes venerable and honored citizen is known. On New Year's eve Mr. Adams retired to his bed in submission to an increasing indosposition, from which he had been suffering for a week or ten days previous. This ailment rapidly developed into an aggravated form of la grippe, which seemed to attack him at every vulnerable point in a system charged with the weaknesses incident to his advanced age of 72 years, and in spite of the skill and assiduity of his physicians, Dr.s J. N. Smith and W. H. Byrd, and the faithful ministration of his devoted wife (herself an invalid, for the time being) and of friends, he sank under the inroads of the malady and closed his eyes in death at five minutes past 10 o'clock last night. 
It is needless to speak of the decedent's history, as it related to his residence in the Capital City; 
It is a household work of honor and civic credit to this upright citizen, and forms a conspicuous integer in the pioneer narrative of his life in the Northwest. He was a brother-in-law of United States Senator George W. McBride and of Mrs. B. F. Gilner, of this city, his first wife having been their sister. The children surviving him are Mrs. George Williams, now a citizen of Skagway, Alaska. 
Mr. Adams was a profound student of antiquities, and especially as they related to the origins of religions, and was a frequent and deeply interesting contributor to the magazines and newspapers of the country on these and other philosophical themes. The last eight years of his life were devoted to observance and propagation of the doctrines advanced by the Unitarian society and in this, as in all the walks of life he was earnest, consistant and an abiding example for good among men. 
No arrangements have, as yet, been made for the funeral, but they will probably be concluded to day and due notice will be given in these columns tomorrow. 
Weekly Oregon Statesman 7 Jan 1898 8:1
INSCRIPTION: 
S.C. Adams 
Born
July 28 1825
Died
Jan. 5 1898
SOURCES: 
LR 
LD 
IOOF Register of Burials 
S&H pg 72 
DAR pg 68 
Saucy/Norman Survey & Photographs
Yamhill County Marriages, 1844-1862, pg 9
1860 OR CENSUS (Yamhill Co., McMinnville, FA #3736) 
1870 OR CENSUS (Marion Co., Salem, FA #115)
1880 OR CENSUS (Marion Co., Salem, ED 78, pg 2) 
Marion County Probate: File No. 1778 
Hines pg 358-359 Republican pg 172 
WOS 7 Jan 1898 8:1
Salem-News.com 11 Apr 2007
SJ 16 Apr 2007
CONTACTS: 
LOT: 712 SPACE: Center 4 NW LONGITUDE:  LATITUDE: 
IMAGES: