Mabel Rae Adams and James William Tod

With this post, I will begin providing a little information about Mabel Rae Adams, the second child of Horace Greeley and Mabel Gertrude (Warren) Adams.

During the 1970s, I had the opportunity to visit with Antoinette Rae (Tod) Hawks, daughter of Mable Rae and James Tod, by phone and correspondence exchange when she lived in Phoenix, Arizona. She and my maternal Grandmother, Mabel (Jones) Clark, had been great friends. As readers may recall, my grandmother was the Central Office Operator for Maple Hill, Kansas from 1914 until 1958. I was interested in the history of Maple Hill and its people and contacted Mrs. Hawks asking if she had information about the Tod and Adams Families. She told me that she had several scrapbooks that had been kept by her husbands mother, Margaret (Saunders) Tod and that shed be happy to have me visit her and copy any information I wished. I was in graduate school in Idaho at the time and just never got to copy the materials. I hope those scrapbooks are now in some family or museum hands for safe keeping.

Mabel Rae Adams was born June 26, 1889 at the Adams Ranch Headquarters, 1.5 miles northeast of Maple Hill, Kansas. The attending physician was Dr. J. M. Kemper, who came to Maple Hill as a young medical student in 1888, having graduated from Morgantown University in West Virginia and Miami Medical School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Miss Adams was named for her mother, Mabel Gertrude (Warren) Adams. To avoid confusion, she was known as Rae Adams to family and friends through her life.

She attended elementary school at the new Maple Hill Grade School, and then studied several years at the Washburn Academy, where she took a college preparatory course as well as piano. The following news item was found in the Topeka Daily Capitol on February 16, 1907: The piano students of Mrs. Florence Fox Thatcher, faculty member at the Washburn Academy and Washburn College of Topeka, presented a recital in MacVicar Chapel on Sunday afternoon. Among those participating was Miss Mabel Rae Adams, daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. H. G. Adams, Maple Hill, who played By The Mountain Spring, by Bohm. Rae Adams went on to complete the college preparatory course at Washburn Academy and then attended Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Here are a few items concerning Mabel Rae Adams taken from Maple Hill News Items in Alma and Topeka newspapers:

August 5, 1904 Misses Bessie and Rae Adams entertained with a beautiful party on Monday evening for a large circle of friends. Time was enjoyably spent in the playing of various games after which delicious refreshments were served. The young people bade their hostesses good night at a late hour, all having enjoyed the evening.

October 18, 1907 Miss Rae Adams is a student at the Washburn Academy in Topeka, and spent the weekend with home folks in Maple Hill.

October 25, 1907 Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Adams, and Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Tod and their families all spent several days in Kansas City this past week where they attended the American Royal Livestock Show. H. G., Franklin and W. J. all had cattle on exhibition.

May 6, 1908 John and Fred Robert of the XI Ranch in Meade County, Kansas have been house guests of Misses Bessie and Rae Adams on the H. G. Adams Ranch.

August 14, 1908 Miss Rae Adams is the pianist for the Maple Hill Congregational Church Sunday School. Miss Adams and Mrs. and Mrs. Harry R. Williams all traveled by auto to Eskridge for the County Sunday school Convention this past Saturday.

June 2, 1909 Washburn Academy, Topeka, graduated seniors this past Sunday. Among them was Miss Rae Adams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Horace G. Adams, Maple Hill. All graduates are now fully qualified to take up the burdens and dignity of full college work. Miss Adams plans to attend Smith College in Massachusetts.

February 24, 1911 Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Adams and daughter Rae Adams left by train for a few weeks in California, where they will take residence in the Raymond Hotel, Pasadena. Miss Hilda Bedford accompanied Miss Rae Adams.

June 13, 1913 Misses Rae and Mary Adams escaped serious injury when their buggy ran away and turned over. The horse was frightened by an auto backfiring.

June 20, 1913 A terrible accident occurred on the Tod Ranch this past week. W. J. Tod was showing friends the new lift in his elevator. The device takes up to three people 55 feet from bottom to top of the building. Mr. Tod had just finished taking Miss Rae Adams and his son James Tod to the top of the elevator to photograph the Mill Creek Valley. They returned to the first floor and ranch hand Richard Crawshaw then rode the elevator to the top to retrieve some rope. The gears failed and the elevator came crashing down, falling the entire 55. Unfortunately, both of Richards legs were broken. He had them set at Stormont Hospital in Topeka and is reported to be doing as well as can be expected. Mr. Tod says, never again will he set foot in the elevator.

June 23, 1913 From The Society Page of the Topeka Daily Capital:

A beautiful wedding of special interest to Topeka and area folks is that of Miss Mabel Rae Adams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Horace G. Adams and Mr. James W. Tod, son of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Tod all of Maple Hill. The event took place at the Adams Ranch yesterday. The wedding was a very quiet affair and was solemnized at noon in the exquisite parlors of the Adams country estate. The Rev. Henry McDowell, pastor of the Maple Hill Congregational Church officiated at the ceremony.

The brides only attendant was Miss Hilda S. Bedford of Argyllshire, Scotland who performed the duties of bridesmaid. Mr. Charles Kelley of Duluth, Massachusetts, a Yale classmate of Mr. Tods, acted as best man. The brides sister, Miss Mary Adams, played Mendelssohns Wedding March and many other beautiful selections to entertain guests.

The brides dress was of white crepe meteor, made with a court length train and trimmed in fine old lace which had been passed down through the Tod family. She wore a floor-length tulle veil caught in her hair with pearls and lily of the valley. She carried a large shower arrangement of red roses and lily of the valley.

Miss Bedfords gown was of apricot silk with touches of blue and trimmed with old lace. She carried a bouquet of white roses with lily of the valley tied up with gold silk.

Miss Mary Adams wore a gown of pale pink crepe meteor with a tunic of chiffon embroidered in gold. The mother of the bride, Mrs. Mabel Adams, wore peacock blue satin with a tunic of black and gold lace. The mother of the groom, Mrs. Margaret Tod, wore pale gray silk embroidered crepe and carried a bouquet of lavender sweet peas and babys breath.

The living room was decorated in cascades of roses and green fern while the dining room was filled with arrangements of fragrant pink flowers and fern. A luncheon for about 100 was served after the ceremony.

Out-of-town guests included the brides sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. John E. Robert, Plains, Kansas; Mr. and Mrs. William Dennison and Will Dennison, Jr. of New Jersey, Mr. Edwin Kistler and Miss Reita Updegraff of Topeka.

Both the Adams and Tod families have lived in Maple Hill for several decades where they own and operate large ranches. The new Mrs. Tod is very attractive, charming and talented. She is a graduate of Washburn Academy of Topeka and has attended Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. Mr. Tod was recently graduated from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

After the wedding, Mr. Tod and his bride left on an extended wedding trip in Colorado. They will be gone several weeks. On their return home, they will move into a lovely manor house on the Tod Ranch, a gift from the grooms parents. In addition to other furnishings, the brides parents have given the couple a new Chickering Grand Piano as a wedding present. We extend hardy best wishes to the new couple.

I will end this post but will continue with more interesting clippings from Maple Hill News Items in subsequent years through about 1925. It is so interesting to me to read about this family during the World War I years and after.

Photo One: Mabel Rae Adams, daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. Horace Greeley Adams, Sr.

Photo Two: The Horace G. Adams Home on the Adams Ranch Headquarters 1.5 miles northeast of Maple Hill, Kansas. The post card is dated 1910 so this is what the house would have looked like when much of the history in this article was written.

Photo Three: The W. J. Tod Home in 1910. This house was a rambling one and a half story home that had several additions between 1885 and 1913 when it burned to the ground owing to a kitchen fire. W.J. and Margaret Tod built a new house for James and Rae (Adams) Tod which was a two-story home north of this house. They also built a new two-story home for themselves after the fire, which is today occupied by the Brethour family.

I’m sorry I do not have a photograph of Mable Rae and James Tod to share with you.