Thomas H. Adams, Schoolteacher to Banker

After teaching school for five years in Franklin and Huntingdon counties, Thomas H. Adams was ready to enter business. His savings were modest but sufficient: by April 1861, he had opened a mercantile partnership with Peter M. Bare in Mount Union. A storekeeper first, Adams proved a judicious businessman. He returned to Mount Union in July 1867 to settle permanently. By 1873, he founded something larger: "The Central Banking Co., was organized on March 13, 1873, with T. H. Adams as President and Edmund S. Doty as Cashier."

Adams was born near Orbisonia on February 16, 1836, the son of Irish immigrants. His father John had been born in Ireland and came to America in 1825, eventually settling in Germany Valley. Thomas H.'s journey was the classic one: farm boy, scholar, teacher, tradesman, then founder. By the time the 1909 history was published, the Central Banking Company had weathered the panics of 1873 and 1893 and the slump of 1907. This building was the bank's second home, erected in 1902 and occupied in March 1903.

From the record

Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.

He attended the Juniata Valley Academy three terms, after which he spent a short time in the Commercial College in Pittsburgh, from which he graduated in 1858. From 1855 to 1861 he spent his time in school or in teaching in the schools of Franklin and Huntingdon Counties. In April of the last-named year, with the money saved from his wages as a teacher, he entered into partnership with P. Bare in the mercantile business at Mount Union, Pa. Bare one year, then went to Three Springs and went into business on his own account, keeping a general "stock, such as would be needed in a small country town. Bare had built the store now owned by Mr. Adams, which in the year 1847 he sold to Thomas H., who closed out his stock in Three Springs the following year, since when he has resided in Mount Union, and has devoted his time and energies to a general mercantile business in that town. In 1873 the Central Banking Company was organized and a bank opened in Mount Union. Adams was one of its first members, and in 1875. became its president, a position he has ever since held. Adams has always'been a Democrat, and has been for nine years president of the school board, also a member of the Common Council, burgess, etc.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,319,042 of the scanned text

The marble business was established at Mount Union in September, 1880, by C. His works are located on Jefferson Street, opposite the Broad Top Hotel. Doty was succeeded by his brother, S. Doty, who served five years, when he was succeeded in 1880 by W. The banking-house is located on corner of Water and Division Streets, Its president, the Hon. Adams, of whom a fine steel portrait appears in this work, is of Irish extraction, and was born near Orbisonia, in said county and State, on the 16th day of February, A.p. 1830. His father, John Adams, was born in Ireland, where he resided until some years after his marriage to Miss Mary Quirk, who was born in County Limerick, Ireland. In 1825, lured by the promise of better times and in the time to come a home of his own in the New World beyond the sea, he emigrated with his wife and children to America, landing in New York, where he remained a few years, then moved to Newton Hamilton, in Mifflin County, Pa. Here he remained for a time, then moved to Orbisonia, where he remained until 1838, when he again changed his abiding-place, this time going to Germany Valley, in the south part where he made his permanent home.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,316,140 of the scanned text

Baker, and known for many years as " Baker's Mills." Among the pioneers of Hill Valley were Thomas Pollock, Peter Shaver, Joseph Booher, William Brown, Peter Snyder, Hezekiah Rickets, and Henry Rhodes. John Shaver settled ‘first in Germany Valley, and in 1802 moved to near what is now Mount Union. Nicholas Shaver, son of John, was born in Germany Valley, -April 27, 1801, and came to where he now lives or on the same farm when he was eleven months old. Shaver is still in the enjoyment of good health, and does his day's work with the rest of the boys, though in his eighty-second year. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, a Revolutionary soldier, died at the residence of his son, Randal Alexander, on Sunday afternoon, March 4, 1838, at an advanced age. He served as a lieutenant in the war of the Revolution, and entered the service in the war of 1812 as a captain, and advanced to the rank of colonel. He was elected sheriff of Franklin County, and subsequently represented the citizens thereof in the Legislature. His remains were interred at Shirleysburg on the following Tuesday, in the presence of a large assemblage of his neighbors and friends, and with military honors. Industries, Mills, and Manufactories of Shirleysburg., EARTHENWARE- WORKS, located on west side of Main Street, in the borough of Shirleysburg, was established in 1866 by George W. Hawker, who, with his son, D.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,212,910 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-10-14 · Historic Mount Union collection

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