Robert L. Adams, president of the Fruita Mercantile Company, which is fully described in a sketch of its general manager, W. C. Osborn, on another page of this work, has had a varied and interesting career, trying his hand at a number of occupations and winning a substantial success at each. He is a native of Montgomery county, Missouri, born on September 14, 1865, and the son of William and Nancy (Oden) Adams, the former born in Missouri and the latter in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Adams accompanied her parents to Missouri in her girlhood, and in that state she was reared, educated and married. The father of Robert was engaged in buying mules and shipping them South before the Civil war. When that memorable contest began he joined the fortunes of his section of the country and became a Confederate soldier. He served the cause with fidelity and courage until the close of the struggle, and since then he has been farming in his native state. His wife died in 1882. They were the parents of seven children, six of whom are living. Robert L., the third child, was reared in his native county on the home farm, and owing to the circumstances surrounding him had but limited educational advantages. He remained at home until after the death of his mother, then, in 1882, came to Colorado and followed mining in the San Juan country one season. From there he went to Montana, where he worked on the range, then was in the San Juan country another year. During the four years following this he was employed in the cattle industry in Mesa county, and at the end of that period started in this business for himself. He has continued and enlarged his operations in this line with increasing success until he has become one of the extensive stock breeders and dealers in the western portion of the state, having his headquarters at Fruita during the last seven years. In 1901, when the Fruita Mercantile Company was organized and incorporated he became its president and one of its leading stockholders, and in this capacity he has been connected with the company ever since. On December 1, 1897, he was married to Miss Myrtle Turner, a native of Huerfano county, Colorado, and two children have blessed their union, Mildred and Velma. In politics he is a firm and active Democrat, giving his party councils the benefit of his breadth of view and excellent judgment, and its campaigns his influence and earnest support, although without ambition for public office himself. In business and in private life he is well known and highly esteemed as one of the leading and most representative citizens of his county.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.