Bruce Campbell Adamson PO Box 1003 Aptos, CA 95001-1003

POSTAL LIFE NOVEMBER 1988

SEARCHING THE PAST -- by Sharon Greene Patton

THIS CLERK FOUND SOME FAMOUS BRANCHES IN HIS FAMILY TREE

When Bruce Campbell Adamson went in search of his past, he opened a page of American and postal history. A distribution clerk....Adamson traced his family tree back several hundred years and found some surprises.
Adamson's fourth great grandfather Rufus Easton, was appointed as the first postmaster of St. Louis and U.S. Attorney General and judge of the Louisiana Territory by Thomas Jefferson. Adamson has letters written by Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, Gideon Granger (Postmaster General from 1801 to 1814), DeWitt Clinton, James Madison, James Monroe and Abraham Lincoln regarding Easton and his family. One of the letters from Gideon Granger to Rufus Easton implores Easton not to participate in a duel with Aaron Burr. Considering that Burr had shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a previous duel, Easton was probably wise to take Granger's advice.

Adamson adds footnote that he would not have been alive to learn of his interesting family tree had Easton entered a duel and had been shot and killed.

Adamson has written a history of Easton and is currently lobbying the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee for a Rufus Easton stamp. According to Adamson, "Next to Benjamin Franklin, Rufus Easton is probably the most colorful character in the early history of the post office."

Other branches of his family tree he has uncovered on his mother's side, George W. Ely, secretary of the New York Stock Exchange from 1874-1900 and 1905-1919 and Abner Bartlett, his third great grandfather who was in charge of the building the Waldorf-Astoria in New York (Note Henry Bidwell Ely, Adamson's great grandfather buildt the Astoria half of the hotel for John Jacob Astor IV, who died on the Titantic). An 11th great grandfather was the First Lord Baltimore, George Calvert, who wrote the state's constitution, and a 10th great grandfather Leonard Calvert was the first governor of Maryland.

In his research, Adamson also uncovered information about his father, Douglas Adamson, who sailed around the world when he was 19 and was a famous disjockey in Hollywood during the 1940s. Among his family papers, Adamson found a letter to his father from Franklin D. Roosevelt, so he wrote to the FDR Library, and they supplied him with a copy of the letter his father had written to Roosevelt. (Adamson points out that, FD, Douglas Adamson and his uncle Harold all had polio). Adamson's uncle, Harold Adamson, wrote music for the movies, including "Around the World in 80 Days," and was nominated for an Oscar five times.

Adamson gathered much of he information about his famous ancestors from old family letters, records and scrapbooks. He also wrote to newspapers, consulted genealogical societies and historical societies of several states, and did research at the library of the Mormon Church in Los Angeles, CA.

It has been very exciting tracing my family tree," he says. "I found out many things nobody in the family knew about. I'm very proud of my heritage."