Charles Follen Adams (April 21, 1842 – March 8, 1918) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

1878 CharlesFAdams Leedle Boston illus byBoz

Adams was born at

Dorchester, Massachusetts Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...

, April 21, 1842. He came from revolutionary ancestors, being a descendant of

Samuel Adams Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, Political philosophy, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts, a le ...

, as well as of

Hannah Dustin Hannah Duston (also spelled Dustin, Dustan, Durstan, Dustun, Dunstun, or Durstun) (born Hannah Emerson, December 23, 1657 – March 6, 1736,Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States census. Located o ...

. He was the son of Ira and Mary Elizabeth Adams, née Senter. He had 9 siblings, and was the youngest of all of them. He received a common school education, and at the age of fifteen entered into mercantile pursuits. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, at age 22, Adams enlisted in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry. He was wounded in action at Gettysburg, and taken as a prisoner of war. On his release from prison, he was detailed for hospital duty. In 1864 he returned to Boston and once more engaged in mercantile business. He was married to Hattie Louise on October 11, 1870 in Boston. The couple had two children, Charles Mills and Ella Paige Adams. In 1872, he began writing humorous verses for periodicals and newspapers in a burlesque broken-English imitation of Pennsylvania German dialect. His first published work was "The Puzzled Dutchman" which appeared in ''

Our Young Folks ''Our Young Folks: An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' was a monthly United States children’s magazine, published between January 1865 and December 1873. It was printed in Boston by Ticknor and Fields from 1865 to 1868, and then by Jame ...

''. Adams died at his home in Roxbury on March 8, 1918.

Works

1878 Events January * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: ...

: ''Leedle Yawcob Strauss, and Other Poems'' *

1885 Events January * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 17 – Mahdist ...

: ''Mother's Doughnuts'' *

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

: ''"Cut, Cut Behind!"'' *

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

: ''Dialect Ballads'' *

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

: ''Yawcob Strauss, and Other Poems''

References

External links

Guide to Charles Follen Adams's works
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University * *
Charles Follen Adams Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Charles Follen 1842 births 1918 deaths American Civil War prisoners of war People from Dorchester, Boston Writers from Boston Poets from Massachusetts Union army soldiers American male poets