Life History

Other facts

Notes

• Frances Caroline Adams was born on August 12, 1825, the daughter ofAshur Adams and Emilia (Wyllys) Adams of Boston. She was raisedprimarily by her "adoptive" parents, George E. Adams and Sarah(Folsom) Adams of Brunswick, Maine. George E. Adams, who was alsoFAC's cousin, was pastor of the local Congregational church and oftenministered to the students of nearby Bowdoin, where he was a member ofthe Board of Overseers. FAC grew up in this strictly religious home,and received a good education. She did make occasional visits to herfamily in Boston. She often accompanied the church choir, which wassometimes led by JLC, on the organ.
  It was during JLC's junior and senior years that the romanceflourished, but even after he graduated marriage was out of thequestion--there was no money and the seminary years lay ahead. Earlyin 1852, FAC went to New York to study music; at the end of the yearshe took a position as a music teacher at a school for girls inMilledgeville, Georgia. They were engaged before she left but did notsee each other for the next two and a half years. The wedding finallytook place in December 1855, and, after a trip to visit theChamberlain family in Brewer, FAC and JLC settled in Brunswick, as JLCwas teaching at Bowdoin. In October 1856 their first child, Grace("Daisy") Dupee, was born, and in the fall of 1858 their second child,Harold Wyllys.
  FAC often traveled to Boston and New York, leaving the children in thecare of others. During the Civil War FAC visited JLC in Washington,D.C., toured the Gettysburg battlefield, and when he was badly woundedat Petersburg went to Annapolis to help take care of him. When JLCbecame governor of Maine, FAC continued to live in Brunswick, going toAugusta for special events. The separations due to war and politicsput a strain on the marriage and in 1868 FAC considered filing fordivorce.
  Grace Dupee ("Daisy") married Horace Gwynne Allen in 1881 and they hadthree daughters (see #43). GCA remained close to both parents,especially JLC, and the elder Chamberlains spent time with theirgrandchildren in Boston and Maine. Harold Wyllys, called Wyllys,graduated from Bowdoin in 1881 and studied law at Boston University.He participated in his father's business ventures and later in lifemade his living as an inventor.
  In the years between 1883, when JLC retired as president of Bowdoin,and 1900, when he was appointed surveyor of the port of Portland, JLCand FAC traveled frequently. He was involved in business ventures inFlorida and New York; she joined him in both places before bad healthintervened. All her life FAC suffered from eye trouble and was oftenin pain. In her late sixties she became blind in one eye and not longafterwards lost her sight completely. She died in Brunswick on October18, 1905.