Topic: Solved -PJ274- Adams Eight 35-40HP Touring 1906 & Mercer Raceabout 1915

[Paul Jaray]

I'm finding a lot of strange coincidences, but it seems the solution is still out there...
Find the Adams founder and the solution will be revealed...

[Allemano]

not A.H. Adams?

[Paul Jaray]

Why not?

[Allemano]

Why not?

he wasn't mentioned so far..

He was on board of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, that date the ship sunk after it had been hit by a German torpedo.

come second on the passenger list:
http://ancestorsatrest.com/ships_passenger_lists/lusitania_passengers_3.shtml

[Ray B.]

And he survived I think. I just found it too.

[Paul Jaray]

OK, here's what I have:
In the Beaulieu is reported that Mr. Arthur Henry Adams died on the Titanic.
In the passenger's list therearen't any Adams.
An Arthur Henry Adams was indeed on the Lusitania and was one of the casualties. (http://rmslusitania.info/pages/saloon_class/adams_wm.html)
Many sources report that this A.H. Adams was from Massachusetts and was the chief of the United States Rubber Company.
One source reports that A.H. Adams, the founder of the Adams Manufacturing was from Massachusetts.
Nowere is reported that these two A.H. Adams are the same person.

My opinion is that A.H. Adams was the founder of the Adams Manufacturing and died on a ship, but not the Titanic.
The original connection was that both died on the same shipwrech, but I think that they shared the same fate on different ships.
Now I have to determine who got closer....

[Paul Jaray]

Sarah Cooper Hewitt and her sister, Eleanor Cooper Hewitt were abord the Lusitania in 1907. Sarah Cooper Hewitt (a very well-known and wealthy family of socialites) was I believe the mother of Edward L. Hewitt, father of the Adams car but more well known for his books about fish and fishing. But the Lhe Lusitania wasn't sunk before 1915, so I think the connection is very weak.

The is another: after the Titanic survivors landed in America, they were nursed by many "women of prominence" as said the New York Times in the following excerpt. One of them was Mrs Edward Hewitt, which we can guess is logically our Edward L. Hewitt's spouse.

"...Women of prominence could be seen moving about from task to task. Miss Anne Morgan was always busy, Mrs. August Belmont and Mrs. Eugene Kelly were helping with this case and that, Mrs. Edward Hewitt was a tower of strength, and Mrs. Henry Dimock was tireless as her bundles of clothing arrived, stack on stack, and her motor car carried her from one errand to another..."

That is w e i r d ! 

[Ray B.]

Allemano got closer. I don't know how he got the idea of the ship and the blow of destiny, but I would have got nowhere without this.

Now about the "weird" connections I found. They're not so weird. In those days I guess it was quite common for that kind of socialites to travel on those big liners. And quite nrmazl too that the ladies compete to go and take care of the victims. And in addition they had their names in the newspapar, who devoted whole articles to that kind of facts.

[Paul Jaray]

I still think that the Adams-Hewitt make had a bad relationship with travelling...
I think Allemano knew about the Mercer-Titanic from the beginning, but Ray wrote it down.
Allemano got that an Adams was involved in another shipwreck and that he was A.H. Adams, but the Lusitania name came from Ray's reply.
You know what I'm going to do, don't you? 

[Ray B.]

What I don't quite get is that, if Hewitt and Adams were Americans, how come the Adams car was British?

[Allan L]

The Adams Manufacturing Co, Bedford was a British company, so Mr. Adams was British, I assume.
The Adams Co. produced (or sold) cars designed by the Hewitt Motor Co. of New York as the Adams-Hewitt until January 1907, thereafter as Adams.
BUT
the V8 was a licence-built Antoinette design from France, so I'd say no American connection there

[Paul Jaray]

I was waiting for Allan's reply, since He's the most informed...
I know that Adams Manufacturing comes from Bedford, but there are some sources that report Mr Adams as a man from Massachussets (it's on the web), who build .
About this car, it was here only as an exemplar of the Adams make.
Is there a chance to know if A.H. Adams was a britishman or was the same man from Massachussets in many other sources?
Incidentally I found out that there is a Bedford in Massachussets!!

"The Adams Car

Arthur Henry Adams, from Massachusetts, set up the Adams Manufacturing Company in Elstow Road, Bedford, in 1905, to make Adams motorcars and ‘Igranic’ electrical control gear. He hoped to produce 500 cars per year. His pedal-operated gearbox and self-starting mechanism were revolutionary, but despite much favourable publicity in the trade press, the Adams Company collapsed through shortage of funds in 1913. It was making too many different models, mostly aimed at the luxury market. A rare example of an Adams mail phaeton of 1907 is in Bedford Museum."

[Allan L]

I was waiting for Allan's reply, since He's the most informed...

But not necessarily correct!

His pedal-operated gearbox and self-starting mechanism were revolutionary, but despite much favourable publicity in the trade press, the Adams Company collapsed through shortage of funds in 1913. It was making too many different models, mostly aimed at the luxury market. A rare example of an Adams mail phaeton of 1907 is in Bedford Museum."

Their slogan was
"Adams - pedals to push!"
A friend has researched and written about Adams, so I'll see if he knows whether Mr Adams was from Massachusetts