Wentworth Adams family papers

Four generations of the Wentworth Adams family are represented in the collection, beginning with Robert Wentworth, who occupied a family homestead in Buxton Center, Maine, through his great grandchildren, Edith and Edwin Wentworth Adams, both graduates of Bates College in the 1910s.

Robert Wentworth was born in Buxton, Maine on September 3, 1786 to Jane Merrill and Ebenezer Wentworth, a farmer, blacksmith, shoemaker, and manufacturer of potash. In 1816, Wentworth built a home next to a tavern owned and operated by his father to house his bride, Sally Hardin, whom he married on October 10, 1816. Early in life, he distinguished himself as a maker of fine clocks, producing a handful of tall clocks of iron and brass before 1820. His clockmaking was cut short when he suffered a severe accident while digging a well. The gunpowder he was using to excavate the well discharged prematurely, severing his left hand and possibly his arm. He later operated a foundry. Following the death of his first wife, Wentworth married Eunice Hardin on June 27, 1832. The couple had four children, including Edwin Oberlin Wentowrth. Following Eunice's death, he married for a third time, to Hannah D. Knight on October 21, 1862. Wentworth died on September 30, 1866.

Edwin Oberlin Wentworth was born on September 5, 1833, the oldest child of Eunice Hardin and Robert Wentworth. He worked as an itinerant printer, traveling as far West as Wisconsin to set type for various newspapers. In 1858, he married Caroline Warren. Caroline resided primarily in Turner, Maine, while Edwin continued to travel the Northeast in search of employment, stopping in Worchester, Cambridge, and Springfield, Massachusetts, among many other towns. Facing dire economic conditions, and with concern for the welfare of his wife and infant child, Anna Louise, who was born June 29, 1861, Wentworth decided to join the Union Army. With his wife's blessing, he enlisted on August 5, 1862 while in Springfield, a town which offered a sizable bounty in addition to what the Federal government provided. He served in the 37th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment from September 1862 until May 12, 1864 when he was killed in the battle at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. His widow received a small government pension and worked as a housekeeper until her death in 1880.

Anna Wentworth worked in a shoe shop in Turner, Maine following her mother's death. She married John Quincy Adams, and together they had two children: Edith Adams, born August 12, 1891, and Edwin Wentworth Adams, born August 13, 1895. Shortly before the birth of her son, Anna left her husband, who did not approve of the second pregnancy. She relocated from Turner to Jackson, Maine, where her son was born. She reared her children on her own, eventually relocating the family to the Lewiston/Auburn area. Anna died on September 11, 1953.

Edith Adams attended Bates College largely on a scholarship, graduating with honors in 1914. She went on to earn a master's degree and moved to Connecticut where she worked as a teacher. She produced an anthology of poetry entitled Yesterday and Today and a bibliography of Lincoln's addresses. She never married, and passed away in February 1990. Her brother Edwin began college at the University of Maine, but transferred to Bates, from where he graduated in 1919. He worked as a chemist at the Lewiston Bleachery and Dye Works, eventually heading the department. He amassed a small fortune through investing well in the stock market, and used his wealth to support scholarships at the University of Maine and to fund the building of a new men's dormitory at Bates, known as Wentworth Adams Hall. He also served as a trustee of Bates from 1937-1984, and received an honorary degree from the college in 1970. He died in January 1985.