James N. Adam

Adam was born in Peebles, Scotland on March 1, 1842, a son of Reverend Thomas Adam, a Presbyterian minister.{{cite web|last1=LaChiusa|first1=Chuck|title=AM&A's|url=http://buffaloah.com/a/main/377/source/5.html|website=buffaloah.com|publisher=Buffalo Architecture and History|accessdate=27 September 2016}}

He began his business career in Scotland, where he lived until about 1872, when he moved to the United States upon the advice of his brother, Robert B. Adam, co-founder of Adam, Meldrum & Anderson. He initially settled at New Haven, Connecticut, where he began a successful retail operation. In 1881, he moved back to Buffalo and started a full-scale department store at Main and Eagle Streets, the J. N. Adam & Co. In 1905, he retired from the company.{{cite web|url=http://www.buffalonian.com/history/industry/mayors/Adam.htm|title=James N. Adam|date=2009-05-27|work= Through The Mayor's Eyes, The Only Complete History of the Mayor's of Buffalo, New York, Compiled by Michael Rizzo|publisher=The Buffalonian is produced by The Peoples History Union}}

He served as President of the Idlewood Association, a summer resort colony in Lake View, NY, during the 1880s and 1890s.{{Cite book|last=Devoy|first=John|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924098820701|title=A history of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, including a concise account of the aboriginal inhabitants of this region; the first white explorers and missionaries; the pioneers and their successors ... Biographical sketches|date=1896|publisher=Buffalo, N.Y. : The Times|others=Cornell University Library}}{{Cite book|last=Larkin|first=Daniel Irving|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41265733|title=John D. Larkin, a business pioneer|date=1998|publisher=D.I. Larkin|isbn=978-0-9619697-1-4|location=Amherst, N.Y.|language=English|oclc=41265733}}

In 1901, he was elected alderman of the 24th ward. He was elected mayor on November 7, 1905, as the Democratic candidate, serving from 1906 until 1909. He did not run for another term.

On January 9, 1872, he married Margaret Linton Paterson of Edinburgh, she died in 1894. They did not have children.

He died at Buffalo on February 9, 1912, and was buried in St. Cuthbert's Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland, next to his wife.

Some time between 1910 and 1915, he purchased almost {{convert|300|acre|km2}} of land adjacent to the village of Perrysburg, New York using proceeds from his own personal fortune to establish a tuberculosis asylum.[http://jnadam.org/historic/beahan.html Buffalo's Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Perrysburg], Larry Behan, July, 2005 A hospital was opened known as the J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital for Tuberculosis; it later became the J. N. Adam State School for Severely Mentally Retarded.

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{{succession box | title=Mayor of Buffalo, NY | before=Erastus C. Knight | after=Louis P. Fuhrmann | years=1906–1909}}

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Category:1842 births

Category:1912 deaths

Category:19th-century American businesspeople

Category:20th-century mayors of places in New York (state)

Category:Mayors of Buffalo, New York

Category:People from Peebles

Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States

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