Adams

John Alfred Adams and his wife, Amanda, married at age 16 in 1896 and came to Norcross a short time later. They farmed and opened a blacksmith shop on Skin Alley. Their descendants have been residents of the community for well over 100 years. 

Adams was the son of Elijah and Caroline Adams. Elijah died when John Alfred was five, and Caroline later married George Whitley. According to family lore, Caroline killed George with a shotgun before the marriage had lasted very long. (Her third marriage, to George Turner, lasted 10 years. Mr. Turner died of natural causes, as far as is known.) 

John and Amanda Adams had six children. Three sons — Noah, Worley and John — and three daughters — Winnie Mae, Carrie Lou and Gladys — were born in Norcross and grew up there. 

Noah Adams attended Oglethorpe University and married Kate Guthrie, a nurse who was the sister of local physician Dr. Nym Guthrie. Kate Adams worked with her brother, who had an office and hospital and convalescent care facility in the “Rock House” at the corner of Buchannan and 

North Peachtree Streets. Noah and Kate Adams had two children. (“The Rock House,” known for its unusual granite exterior, was built in 1907 by Edward Buchanan, who grew up in Norcross, for his mother. Buchanan, a millionaire at the time, lost his fortune in a Wall Street trading scheme a year later and died a pauper.) 

Worley Adams moved to the Detroit area as a young man and had a variety of jobs there, including working as a glazier in a glass factory. He married a woman from Michigan, and he died there in 198  .Son John joined the United States military during World War II and served as an Air 

Force pilot for 31 years, including in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Daughters Carrie Lou and Winnie Mae married local men and stayed in the Atlanta area; daughter Gladys lived in Atlanta in the Darlington Apartments and worked for Southern Bell for many years.