Quarter-length oval studio portrait of Henry Cullen Adams. View the original photo here: WHI 93178

Early Life

Henry Cullen Adams was a politician, Congressman, dairy and food expert. Born in Verona, N.Y., he came to Fort Atkinson with his family in July of 1851. After attending the University of Wisconsin, he assisted his father on the family fruit and dairy farm near Madison.

Career

He was a member of the Republican state assembly from 1883 to 1885. Adams was appointed state superintendent of public property from 1889-1891 by Governor Hoard, and was appointed state dairy and food commissioner in 1895. While he served as head of the latter commission from 1895 to 1902, he earned a national reputation among agricultural leaders.Adams was active in the movement for more effective regulation of pure foods and helped to enact a Wisconsin law providing for strict food standards in 1898. He was elected to Congress in 1902 because of this work and served from 1903 until his death.

Achievements

Ordinarily a staunch supporter of President Theodore Roosevelt, he nevertheless bitterly criticized the administration's request for a larger Navy. He was influential in the enactment of federal agricultural and pure-food legislation and thus obtained increased appropriations for agricultural experiment stations in 1906, facilitated passage of the Roosevelt "meat inspection bill" and the pure foods act. He was recording secretary of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society from 1886 to 1888 and president of the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association from 1887 to 1889. 

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Henry Cullen Adams

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]