PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 



309 



ties and a determination to acquire an education, he 

 succeeded so well as to become a useful citizen, a faithful 

 and successful minister of the Gospel, and a popular Presi- 

 dent of one of the most 

 powerful organizations in 

 the history of the State. 

 He married a Miss Whatley 

 in 1872, and joined the 

 Baptist Church in 1877. 

 He was ordained to the 

 work of the ministry in 

 March, 1881, since which 

 time he has preached al- 

 most every Sunday and 

 baptised a large number of 

 people. After he began to 

 preach he felt the great 

 necessity of a better 

 education, and having 

 neither money nor time to attend school, returned to the 

 habits of his boyhood, and by the light of a pine-knot fire 

 he acquired much useful information. He has a cosy little 

 home in the town of Randolph, embracing ninety acres of 

 land, and his business life beautifully illustrates one of the 

 cardinal principles of the Alliance to "pay as you go," for 

 he. does not owe a dollar. Impressed with the deplorable 

 condition of the farmers, and actuated by laudable desire to 

 improve the surroundings of his fellow-beings, he became 

 a member of the Farmers' Alliance in 1887, when it was 

 first established in the State. In August, 1887, he was 

 elected President of the State Alliance, and re-elected in 

 1888 and 1889. In August, 1888, he was elected a mem- 

 ber of the Legislature from Bibb county by a large majority. 

 Mr. Adams' career has been that of the typical American. 

 ffi is struggles with and triumph over poverty, and the 



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S. M. Adams. 



