MR. ADAM BRIDGE

Mr. Adam Bridge, editor of the Franklin News, was born at Hamilton, Ohio, September 9, 1846. His parents were Matthew and Anna Marie Bridge, who were born at Gras Erdu, Prussia, emigrating to Hamilton, Butler County, in 1833. While Mr. Bridge was yet a child, his parents moved to Middletown, where the father obtained employment in the paper mills. He afterward purchased a farm near Middletown, but later, returned again to the paper mills, working in Franklin, in this county, until his death in 1887. The subject of this sketch entered the army of workers at a very early age. He was employed in the mills at Middletown, and has all his life been identified with paper-making - except the time he served in the army during the war. He enlisted when a boy of seventeen in the 13th O. V. C. in February, 1864, and served until mustered out at the close of the war. When the Excello Mills were started, in 1866, by his brother-in-law, A. E. Harding, he was numbered among the original employees of that plant, which was the only writing paper mill, at that time, west of the Alleghany [sic] Mountains. He has held an official position with the Harding Company since the starting of the Excello Mill. While a resident of Butler County, he was prominent in local politics and was at one time a candidate for nomination for Auditor before the Democratic primary election. He was defeated by a very small majority. Coming to Franklin, in 1890, he took charge of the stock department of the Harding Mills, a position he now retains. Being a Democrat on principle, he joined hands with that part in Warren and has rendered it good service. He was honored by the nomination for Representative of Warren County, in 1899, and for Congress in the Sixth District, in 1900. He purchased the News, which was a Republican paper, about three years ago, and since that time it has been a Democratic organ. His son, Percy, is the business manager of the plant. The News, under his guidance is a bright newsy, successful local paper. Mr. Bridge is a vigorous writer, and, notwithstanding the fact that he is a self-educated man, the editorial columns of the News are, from week to week, replete with forceful, pertinent editorials that are not surpassed by any local paper in the Miami Valley.
Adam Bridge, or "Uncle Adam," as he is known to many of his friends, comes of a sturdy race of people. He is a well read man, and has profited by his reading and experiences. He is an uncompromising Democrat and never hesitates to advocate party principles with tongue and pen. He has courage and energy and is quick to defend his friends, of which he has them in large numbers. He is a sturdy worker for the right, and the cause of the common people appeal to him and never in vain. He is loyal to his friends, and he holds his comrades of the Grand Army very near his heart, and is a staunch supporter of the local G. A. R. Post. Big-hearted, open-handed, active and interested in his fellow man, his town, his State and Country - there are none who know him but who wish for him, his newspaper and his household, the best the world can give.