J. F. Adams, born in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1877, moved with his family to Brookings, South Dakota, in 1880. After completing his education, he apprenticed in printing, working in various towns before establishing the White Leader in White, South Dakota, in 1900. As editor and publisher, Adams made the Leader a strong voice for local interests and Republican politics. He was active in the Modern Woodmen of America and the South Dakota Press Association. In 1900, Adams married M. H. Halstead, who assisted in the newspaper business and was involved in local social and church affairs.
J. F. Adams, editor and publisher of the Leader, in the village of White, Brookings County, is a native of Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, where he was born on the 9th of April, 1877, being a son of F. J. and Lena (Kohl) Adams, of whom specific mention is made on another page of this work, so that a recapitulation of the family history is not demanded in this connection. The subject was a child of about two and one-half years at the time of his parents’ removal from Minnesota to Brookings, South Dakota, in 1880, and there he was reared to maturity, having prosecuted his studies in the public schools until he was eighteen years of age, when he entered the office of the Brookings Press, where he served an apprenticeship at the “art preservative of all arts,” gaining an intimate knowledge of the various details of the printing business. Prior to identifying himself with his present enterprise, he worked at his trade in various towns in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and in 1900 established the White Leader, over whose destinies he has since presided, making the paper an effective exponent of local interests and also a local power in political and public affairs, the policy of the paper being uncompromisingly Republican. The Leader is issued on Friday of each week and is an eight-column folio. The office is located in a two-story building, which is owned by Mr. Adams, and its equipment is modern and complete, the job department having the best of facilities for turning out all classes of work customarily handled in a country office.
In politics, Mr. Adams is a stalwart Republican, and both in a personal way and through the columns of his paper does what he can for the promotion of the party cause. He is affiliated with White Lodge, No. 3691, Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the South Dakota Press Association, in which he takes a lively interest. He and his wife are members of the Daughters of Rebekah, auxiliary to the Odd Fellows Lodge, of which he is a member.
On the 25th of July 1900, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss M. H. Halstead, who was born in Mankato, Minnesota, being a daughter of F. A. Halstead, now of Mankato. She is a lady of culture and gracious presence and has won a wide circle of friends in White, being prominent in social and church affairs and being a member of the Congregational Church. She has excellent literary taste and materially assists her husband in his newspaper enterprise.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.