”HON. LOUIS R. ADAMS.
Hon. Louis R. Adams, residing at Rupert, is well known in banking circles and also as one of the prominent sheepmen of Minidoka county. Moreover, he has figured actively in connection with the public life of the community and has represented his district in Idaho’s legislature. Iowa numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Cass county, that state, on the 1st of August, 1871, his parents being Robert D. and Margaret J. (Ware) Adams. His boyhood days were spent in Iowa, where he remained until he reached the age of twenty-eight . He pursued his education in the public schools and assisted in the work of the farm, his father having been one of the early farmers of that section of the state.
In 1900 he went to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where he remained for a year and then returned to Iowa. In June, 1902. he was married there and in the following August he sought the opportunities of the Browing northwest, making his way to Glenns Ferry, Idaho, where he was engaged in the lumber business for a period of six years, though still retaining his interest in the business he removed in 1905 to Rupert, where he took up a homestead of eighty acres, and later he added two eighty-acre tracts, developing and improving a ranch. He also became interested in the lumber trade at Rupert in company with Fred A. Nelson, his wife’s brother, and was thus active until the fall of 1913, when he sold his interests in the lumberyard but continued in the implement business for two years longer. In 1916 he disposed of his interest in the implement business and concentrated his efforts and attention upon sheep raising, in which he is now engaged. In connection with George Flynn of Declo, Idaho, he organized the First National Bank of Rupert, of which he was elected president, his associates in the business being Carl Titus, V. A. Titus and Ed Nelson, who are directors of the institution. The bank has prospered under the direction of Mr. Adams, the business steadily growing. He is a forceful and resourceful business man, ready to meet any emergency with the consciousness and strength that comes from a right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.
On the 27th of June, 1902, Mr. Adams was married to Miss Marie M. Nelson, a native of Griswold, Iowa, and a daughter of Frank and Malina (Hansen) Nelson. The four children of this marriage are Winona. Herbert, Leona and Robert . The parents are members of the Christian church and Mr. Adams is a Chapter Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and twice he has represented his district in the state legislature, serving during the term of 1908 and 1909 and again in 1912. He gave most thoughtful and earnest consideration to the questions which came up for settlement and his support of any measure was proof of his belief in its efficacy as a factor in good government. He has ever stood for those things which make for the welfare of community, commonwealth and country and his life history is illustrative of the opportunities offered in the northwest . Coming to this section with little capital, he has steadily advanced, ranking now with the representative business men of Minidoka county, where he is conducting important banking and sheep raising interests.”
Source: History of Idaho, by James Henry Hawley, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1920, page 216
