MSS 1297 AV Henry and Willa Adams Collection

              MSS 1297
Henry and Willa Adams Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/Audiovisual Collections
MSS 1297
Henry and Willa Adams Collection
1921-1989
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number: MSS 1297 and MSS 1297 AV
Title: Henry and Willa Adams Collection
Creator: Henry and Willa Adams
Dates: 1921-1989
Media: Papers, photographs, slides
Quantity: 7 cubic feet
Location: Ohio Historical Society
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
Henry Alexander Adams was a self-taught podiatrist, real estate broker and landlord. The
collection includes little documentation of his early life. Henry Adams had a son, Henry
Alexander, Jr. and a daughter, Beatrice Anita, who was called Peaches. Henry, Jr. married
Cora Brooks in Detroit, Michigan in 1955. Beatrice graduated high school from Howard
Academy in Ocala, Florida in 1943. She graduated from the Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics in 1947.
Willa Leigh (Floyd) Adams was born on January 2, 1913 in Newton, Georgia to Annette
Johnson and William Floyd. Prior to getting married Willa trained as a beautician, receiving a
certificate from Mme Carter’s Beauty Culture School in Chicago, Illinois in 1921. She also
worked as a third grade teacher in the state of Georgia. She got her teacher’s certificate in
1922 and renewed it in 1926.
The Adams married in Daytona Beach, Florida on September 15, 1937. They settled in Toledo,
Ohio in 1942 and joined the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Henry worked for the Kennedy
Shoe Repair Shop prior to opening his own shoe business. His Toledo based real estate
company, known as West End Development, Inc., was incorporated in 1953. He was also was
invested in real estate in Florida through the Miami based General Development Corporation.
Additionally, he held the position of superintendent with the Mammoth Life Insurance Co.
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