Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Adams, Seth

ADAMS, Seth, inventor, b. in Rochester, N. H., 13 April, 1807 ; d. in Newton, Mass., 7 Dec, 1873. He was apprenticed to a cabinet maker, and after he had attained his majority he removed to Boston, where he worked in a machine shop. In 1831 he established a business for the manufacture of machinery, and two years later he became interested in the printing-press invented by his brother Isaac, and subsequently obtained the exclusive right of making it. In 1836 he enlarged his shops in order to produce the famous power presses lately invented by his brother, the interests of the two brothers were united, and the firm of I. & S. Adams was established, which continued until 1856. In 1849 he took charge of the Adams sugar refinery, which for many years was the largest but one of its kind in the United States. He accumulated a very large fortune, a portion of which he left for the establishment of the Adams nervine asylum in West Roxbury, Mass., for hypochondriacs. He also gave a considerable sum of money to Bowdoin college. For some time he was a member of the city council and of the board of public works. A massive monument has been erected to his memory in his native town.