Source: PORTRAIT & BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF WHITESIDE COUNTY, IL
Originally published 1885
Chapman Bros.
Chicago, IL
Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com
Page(s): 328
ADONIRAM JUDSON BOOTH
Adoniram Judson Booth, publisher of the Sterling Blade, is a son of Gifford John and Mary A. Booth, and was born in Dundee, Yates Co., N.Y., Feb. 3, 1846. When three years old he removed with his parents to Elmira, N.Y., and resided there till 1855, when his father’s family removed to Illinois, residing Rock Island, and then in Fulton, Whiteside County. Here he completed his sstudies at theFulton High School. In 1859 his father leased (and subsequently bought) the material of the Fulton Advertiser and commenced the publication of the Fulton Courier; he entered the office to learn the printing trade, and remained therein till 1866, when he took a joint interest in the paper, which had in 1863 been changed in name to “Fulton Journal.” Mr. Booth and his father continued the business till March, 1872, when the establishment was purchased by George Terwilliger, of Sterling. For one year prior to the above sale Mr. Booth had been pursuing a special course of medical instruction, under the supervision of Dr. John Eddy, a thoroughly educated regular physician of Fulton; he subsequently gave his entire attention to his medical studies till the summer of 1873, when he went to Chicago and attended a regular course of medical lectures at the Hahnemann Medical College in 1873-4.
While home from collage in 1874 he joined his father in purchasing the Investigator printing-office at Morrison, this county; the name of the paper was changed to Morrison Times, and conducted as a Greenback organ. In 1876 this office was removed to Rock Falls, and the name of the paper was changed to Whiteside Times; it was Democratic-Greenback in politics, and had a very extensive circulation in every township in Whiteside County. In the fall of 1877, Mr. Booth successfully issued a creditable history and directory of the two cities, - Sterling and Rock Falls, - bound in cloth and gold leaf. In May, 1878, A. J. Booth & Co. leased the Whiteside Times to Messrs. Hyde & Searle.
In June, 1881, Mr. Booth decided to commence the publication of the Daily Blade, a morning daily paper, in the city of Sterling, notwithstanding four failures in that line by former parties. This enterprise was a success, and was continued for nearly three years, - until Dec. 1, 1883, when impaired health necessitated a change of business. In November, 1884, having recovered health, Mr. Booth returned to Sterling and resumed the publication of the Blade as a weekly paper, Democratic in politics, six-column quarto in size.
Feb. 3, 1869, Mr. Booth married Miss Alma C. Sperry, of Lee Center, Ill., to whom were born five children, to wit: Gifford M., Harry Judson, Ida May, Charles Edwin and Anna Maude. Mr. and Mrs. Booth are both members of the Sterling Baptist Church.
