John H. Addams - Early Life

Early Life

John Huy Addams was born in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania in on July 12, 1822. He married Sarah Weber, five years his elder, while still living in Kreidersville, Pennsylvania. Both families, Addams and Weber, were from old Pennsylvanian lineage; Addams' ancestors had been granted by land by William Penn in the 17th century. In 1844 Addams, then 22, and his new bride arrived in Cedarville, Illinois, near the Illinois-Wisconsin state border in Stephenson County. Addams established himself quickly as a successful mill operator when he purchased the Cedar Creek Mill in 1844. When the couple first arrived in Stephenson County they lived in a small two-room home with a loft. In 1854 Addams completed construction on an addition which made the Addams' home a much larger, prominent Federal style house. Though the couple had nine children, only four survived to adulthood; their eighth child was Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jane Addams. Jane Addams was born at the Addams House in Cedarville on September 6, 1860.

In January 1863 Sarah Addams, then pregnant with her ninth child, went to assist in the delivery of a baby for the wagon-maker's wife. During the birth, she collapsed and was carried home. Sarah's own baby was delivered prematurely and as a result, stillborn. Sarah Addams died a week later, Jane Addams was just 2 years 4 months old at the time of her mother's death. Jane Addams was cared for mostly by her older sisters after 1863.