Page 96 - KBHA BULLETIN 3

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Conclusion

My father ran the shop until the mid-40s when domestic and other problems intervened and

led to the collapse of the once-flourishing little business. All the buildings, however, remain

intact today.

The Adams Family and the Garage on Belmont Road Kalk Bay

John Adams

Introduction

John Samson Adams was born on 26 July 1873 in Paarl, and his mother died at childbirth. He
was the youngest in his family. Mr and Mrs Samson (hence his second name) were very close

friends of JS’s parents and they adopted him under his own name. JS became an organist in

the D. R. Mission Church in Paarl and met his future wife Sophia Paulina van Kesteren in the
same congregation, and they later married there in 1893-94.

Kimberley

With domestic problems on his home front he decided to trek to the Kimberley diamond

mining area as a farrier, and was helped by other members of his family in the Beaconsfield
area. His business was doing well and he made many friends, inter alia the La Vitas and the

Joshuas (who had their own garage). On 27 December 1896 their first child Maria was born

and on 27 February 1897 their first son Edward Abraham was born. Then came the
Rinderpest epidemic in 1896 and with the animals dying at a rapid rate his farrier business

started flagging. So he decided to go to Lakeside to set up a blacksmith business with his
cousin Christian Adams in May 1900. After a few years, and probably at the instigation of Mr

Ladan, he decided to move to Kalk Bay.