Papers of the Chamberlain-Adams family, 1827-1931

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, soldier, educator, and politician, was born on September 8, 1828, in Brewer, Maine, the first child of Sarah Dupee (Brastow) Chamberlain and Joshua Chamberlain, Jr. His brothers Horace, John and Thomas were born in 1834, 1838, and 1841, and his sister Sarah in 1836. Ancestors on both the Chamberlain and the Brastow sides of the family had emigrated to America in the 17th century. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was educated at the local school, briefly attended a military academy, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1852, and from Bangor Theological Seminary in 1855. That same year Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain married Frances (Fannie) Caroline Adams, a distant relative of the presidential Adamses.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain taught natural theology, logic, rhetoric, and modern languages at Bowdoin from 1856 to 1862. During the Civil War he served in the army (1862 to 1866), rising to the rank of major general and winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg. From 1866 to 1870 Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was governor of Maine. He served as president of Bowdoin from 1871 to 1883. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's actions as commander of the Maine militia in 1880 kept peace in the state while a hotly disputed election was decided by the Maine Supreme Court. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain wrote several military histories; lectured widely, mostly on the Civil War; and served as a United States commissioner at the 1878 Paris Exposition. He was the president of the Artist-Artisan Institute of New York, developed Florida railroads and industry, and, from 1900 to his death on February 24, 1914, served as surveyor of the port of Portland, Maine.

Frances Caroline Adams was born on August 12, 1825, the daughter of Ashur Adams and Emilia (Wyllys) Adams of Boston. She was raised primarily by her "adoptive" parents, George E. Adams and Sarah (Folsom) Adams of Brunswick, Maine. George E. Adams, who was also Frances Adams Chamberlain's cousin, was pastor of the local Congregational church and often ministered to the students of nearby Bowdoin, where he was a member of the Board of Overseers. Frances Adams Chamberlain grew up in this strictly religious home, and received a good education. She did make occasional visits to her family in Boston. She often accompanied the church choir, which was sometimes led by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, on the organ.

It was during Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's junior and senior years that the romance flourished, but even after he graduated marriage was out of the question--there was no money and the seminary years lay ahead. Early in 1852, Frances Adams Chamberlain went to New York to study music; at the end of the year she took a position as a music teacher at a school for girls in Milledgeville, Georgia. They were engaged before she left but did not see each other for the next two and a half years. The wedding finally took place in December 1855, and, after a trip to visit the Chamberlain family in Brewer, Frances Adams Chamberlain and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain settled in Brunswick, as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was 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.

Frances Adams Chamberlain often traveled to Boston and New York, leaving the children in the care of others. During the Civil War Frances Adams Chamberlain visited Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in Washington, D.C., toured the Gettysburg battlefield, and when he was badly wounded at Petersburg went to Annapolis to help take care of him. When Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain became governor of Maine, Frances Adams Chamberlain continued to live in Brunswick, going to Augusta for special events. The separations due to war and politics put a strain on the marriage and in 1868 Frances Adams Chamberlain considered filing for divorce.

Grace Dupee ("Daisy") married Horace Gwynne Allen in 1881 and they had three daughters. Grace Chamberlain Allen remained close to both parents, especially Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and the elder Chamberlains spent time with their grandchildren 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 life made his living as an inventor.

In the years between 1883, when Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain retired as president of Bowdoin, and 1900, when he was appointed surveyor of the port of Portland, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Frances Adams Chamberlain traveled frequently. He was involved in business ventures in Florida and New York; she joined him in both places before bad health intervened. All her life Frances Adams Chamberlain suffered from eye trouble and was often in pain. In her late sixties she became blind in one eye and not long afterwards lost her sight completely. She died in Brunswick on October 18, 1905.