HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ADAMS Alvin Adams, founder of the Adams Express Company, was born in Vermont in 1802, being a fine specimen of the physical productions of the "Green Mountain State." When a young man he went to Boston, being engaged there for about twenty years in various pursuits. He watched with interest the opening of Harnden's express venture, and he had the foresight to perceive that the business instituted by Harnden, in time, would become a public necessity. No one can look upon the intelligent countenance and ample forehead of Alvin Adams without the conviction that he had the sagacity to look forward to the realization of far greater results from the enterprise than any other man. That he had this foresight was probably the reason why he stuck to the business through three or four years of the hardest kind of work and the poorest sort of remuneration. In the year 1840, he, together with P. B. Burke, started an humble opposition express to Wm. F. Harnden, under the style of Burke & Co. The first year brought little result, but disappointment; after about six months' experience, Burke, disheartened, withdrew from the business. Alvin Adams, notwithstanding the discouraging aspect of the situation, with characteristic energy and courage, kept bravely at his work. An idea of his up-hill work may be gathered from the fact that for the first week or two he could have carried all his business in his hat, and for several months a valise served to accommodate his business. For a long time he found it the hardest kind of work to obtain a share of the public patronage sufficient to pay his expenses, so strong a hold had Harnden obtained upon the confidence and good will of the community. Many people regarded Adams as an interloper upon the field of operations fairly won by Harnden. The public thought there would never be business for more than one expressman, not foreseeing that the business was destined to become one of the largest enterprises in the country. Adams occupied a room at No. 9 Court street, Boston, together with S. S. Leonard, proprietor of Leonard's Worcester Express. For some time Adams acted as his own messenger, clerk, and errand boy. Early in 1841 Mr. Hall, a brother-inlaw, entered the Boston office as clerk, and W. B. Dinsmore, a Boston boy, took charge of the New York city agency. Mr. Dinsmore, being of an active, energetic nature, and endowed with a most pleasing personality, was eminently fitted for his position, and made many friends and customers. The first three years for Adams & Co.'s Express were years of trials and discouragements. About 1843 Harnden & Company, their most formidable rival, became so absorbed in their foreign operations that their express business at home suffered greatly for want of attention. Adams, ever wide awake to improve his opportunities, took advantage of this state of affairs, and worked with redoubled energy. His efforts were rewarded, and Adams & Co.'s Express began to prosper. The history of the growth of the Adams Express Company from 1849, when the California Express was established, is remarkable. The immense business transacted during the civil war laid the foundation for one of the greatest enterprises in the country. Alvin Adams lived to see his dream realized, namely, that the express business was to become a public necessity. His death occurred at his home in Watertown, Mass., on September 2, 1877, at the age of 75 years. |