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Continued: Ben was born 16 Oct 1876 in Beaver Township of Taney County, Missouri. He Ben was the first child of Samuel & Margaret. Ben first appears in the 1880 Census of that County, as the four-year-old son living with his parents (Samuel & Margaret). Also living with them was Ben's two-year-old brother Reubin, his older stepbrother, David Harris, and a 20-year-old servant named John Kinner. They lived on a farm in Beaver near Ben's maternal Grandparents, William and Becky Selvidge who were Margaret's mother and father. They cared for Ben's oldest step brother William Harris who was 8 at the time. They also lived by many other farms owned by the Selvidge children. Ben has not been located in the 1900 Census, however he was still probably living in Missouri, because the Adams probably came to Olympia late in 1901. The 1902-03 Olympia City Directory lists Ben as a logger, boarding with his parents, Samuel & Margaret, at Lincoln 2 e Eastside. In 1905, Ben's father, Samuel, died in the hospital at Steilacoom and Ben took over as the head of household as a 29-year-old bachelor. The 1907 Olympia City Director lists Joseph B. Adams as a Lineman for Olympia Light & Power Co. It shows him still living at Lincoln, Eastside. Living there with him, was his mother, Margaret (widow of Samuel), his younger sister Julia Belle Adams (ironer), and his younger sister Leota. Sometime between 1907 and 1910 Ben married, Ada C. Murray. The Thurston County 1910 census lists Ben (33) and Ada (29) living together in Olympia. Ben and Ada had only one child: Pearl Mildred Adams, born in Olympia in 1910. Later, Ben moved his family to Roundup Montana. It was there that Ada died at a fairly young age in 1925, when Pearl was only 15. Ben and Pearl returned to Olympia and Ben remarried in about 1926 to Alma. She was known as Grandma "Bill", she and Ben did not have children. Ben, Alma, and 16-year-old Pearl are listed in the 1930 Census living in Olympia. Ben is shown at age 52 as a helper at a veneer plant. After Ben's death in 1940 Alma married a relative of Margaret Selvidge Adams named Pony Selvidge. Ben is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Olympia, WA. Ben's daughter, Pearl, married Homer Hedgpeth who was the son of Ed Hedgpeth who married Ona Adams after the death of Condia Adams. Homer and Pearl had one daughter, Shirley Jean Hedgpeth. So Shirley is related in two different ways to the Adams family. Our family has always been close to Shirley Jean and she helped a great deal in remembering facts about the Adams family and supplied us with many old pictures saved by her mother Pearl. Ted Adams recollection of his Uncle Ben: "Uncle Ben was a good electrician and in 1938, he showed me how to wire our house on the Dram Road. He was a stout, robust, cheerful man."
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