Family Photo – James Moore Adams (1849-1932) and Rachel McKeown (1853-1934)

One of my favorite family photos is of my 2x great grandparents James Moore Adams and Rachel McKeown and all of their children. Photos on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family have been pretty scarce as my mother, grandmother and great grandmother were all youngest daughters. But my mom was able to find this one in my grandparent’s house on her last visit.

James Moore Adams was born in Oakdale Illinois soon after his parents emigrated from Ireland. Rachel McKeown was raised in Iowa where her father had come with his brother to claim land. Both were raised in farming families. How they met is not known, but on 30 Sep 1880 they were married in Iowa and soon after moved west to Nuckolls, Nebraska in covered wagons. Once there they lived in dugouts until houses could be built. They were Reformed Presbyterians and the first service of the Nuckolls Reformed Presbyterian Church was held in their home. They had nine children in Nebraska where they lived and farmed for many years. However, they moved to Sterling Kansas around 1905.

The below picture must have been taken around 1910 in Sterling. Three of their children were foreign missionaries to Sudan, China, and Japan so it is impressive that they had all nine of them together for this picture to be taken. It’s interesting to see some of the genetic traits that run in families. The whole family had quite impressive looking ears…

James and Rachel lived to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary in 1930 before James passed away in 1932 and Rachel followed him in 1934.