ADAM SCHUMAN, one of the enterprising and successful young farmers of section 13, range 12, owning a farm of 120 acres which he has occupied since the death of his father, John A. Schuman, in October, 1886, has been the proprietor of the farm where he was born, reared and educated. The date of his birth is February 13, 1851. Since he came into possession of the farm, he has greatly improved it and made it very successful, having it well stocked and employing good farm hands. Although only a young man, he is ambitious and is bound to succeed.

Adam is the only son of John Adam and Katie (Loab) Schuman, both natives of Germany, of good ancestry. They were born, reared and educated in Germany, and while yet young came in the early forties to America, sailing from Hesse Darmstadt, arriving after several weeks' voyage in New Orleans, coming from there to St. Louis, Missouri. Here he stopped for a short time and unfortunately was taken sick and was taken to the hospital. As soon as he was able to leave he came to Beardstown, with the help of an old friend, Valentine Thron. After his arrival in Beardstown, he worked for six months for Mr. Thron to repay him for his kindness; later John A. Schuman was engaged as a butcher for a time, but later purchased land on section 13, township 17, range 12, at which place he spent the remainder of his life as a farmer, dying at the age of sixty-six. He was a good and worthy citizen, straightforward and upright in all his dealings with his fellow men. He was a prominent member and a good worker in the German Methodist Church, to which he was a generous supporter, being always ready to help everything that tended toward the advancement of good principles. The Sunday school received much of his attention. He was a sound Democrat in politics. His wife died some years before in 1865, when she was forty years of age. She was a good, Christian woman, a faithful wife and devoted mother, a kind neighbor and a worthy member of the Emanuel Methodist Episcopal Church, near Arenzville.

Adam was the only son in the family, but there were four daughters, Lizzie, wife of George Hauffman, farmer of this township; Mary, wife of Joseph Pierce, of Bluff Springs precinct; Lydia, wife of William Schute, also of Bluff Springs; and Amelia, wife of Charles Johnson, a farmer of Beardstown.

Mr. Schuman was married, at Arenzville, to Miss Lizzie Thron, a native of this country, being born, reared and educated here. She is the daughter o f Valentine and Margaret (Bier) Thron, natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. They were young, single people when they came to the United States, settling in Illinois, where they were married, in the city of Beardstown, where Mr. Thron engaged in wagon making, and was thus engaged for some years, when he purchased land in the early fifties in township 17, range 12, and there lived for some years. Later he removed to Arenzville, and there his wife died, in January, 1884. She was then quite an old woman and a worthy member of the Lutheran Church, to which she had belonged all her life. She was a good, kind wife and mother, and was highly respected by all her neighbors. Mr. Thron now makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Schuman, and passed his eighty-second birthday in June, 1892. He has been a good, hard working man all his life and a consistent member of the Lutheran Church. He is a Democrat in politics.

Mr. and Mrs. Thron were the parents of nine children, six yet living and all are married, being successful in life. Mr. and Mrs. Schuman are active workers in the Emanuel Lutheran Church, an Mr. Schuman takes especial interest in the Sunday school. He is a good and worthy man.

Mr. Schuman and his wife are the parents of six children: John W., Mary L., Fred G., Liddy E., Elmer and Myrtle.