Published in History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains Vol. 3 by James H. Hawley 1920.

Joseph S. Adams, one of the most prominent and progressive citizens of Shelley, and owner and editor of the Shelley Pioneer, which he acquired in 1913, was born in London, England, in August, 1863, a son of Joseph and Eliza (Woodward) Adams, the former a native also of London and the latter of Cardiff, Wales. The father was an optician in his native country and followed the same business all through his life. He emigrated to America in 1893, where his son had preceded him ten years before, and located in Ogden, Utah, where he resided until his death which occurred in August, 1915. His wife died in London some thirty-eight years before, her death taking place in 1877.

Joseph S. Adams was reared and educated in London, and later became an apprentice to the printing trade in that city. In 1883, he decided to try his fortune in the new world and emigrated to the United States, locating on arrival in Ogden, Utah, where he found employment on the old Ogden Herald and some time later going to the Ogden Standard. Later he became connected with the Salt Lake City Herald, engaged in the mechanical department of that paper. In 1895 Mr. Adams removed to Fremont county, Idaho, and located at St. Anthony, where he was associated with Ben F. Rich in the publication of the Silver Hammer, and in the following year, 1896, he moved the plant to Rexburg, continuing the publication of the Silver Standard until 1904. He then became manager of the Courant Journal at Rexburg, continuing in that position for some time. With his brother, W. H. Adams, he then started the Rexburg Standard, and later published the Sugar City Times for about four years. In 1913, Mr. Adams moved to Shelley, Bingham county, and bought out the Shelley Pioneer, which he has been conducting ever since. When he acquired this paper it consisted of four pages, which he gradually increased until he brought it up to its present size of ten pages. The paper enjoys a wide patronage and has a circulation in excess of five hundred, while the jobbing section secures a goodly share of the commercial printing of Shelley and surrounding district.

In 1884 Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Ada Robinson and they became the parents of five children as follows: May, the wife of Emmet C. Walker, of Salt Lake, and they have three children; Joseph H., a rancher, who is married and has two children; Rose, wife of Bert Haight, living at Salt Lake, and they are the parents of three children; Pearl, who is the wife of Warren Blake, of Sugar City, and has three children; and Henry, who died in 1895. Mrs. Ada Adams died in 1894, and in December of the same year Mr. Adams was married to Frances Cole, and to them have been born nine children, namely: George W., who has charge of the mechanical department of the American Falls Press; Earl T., who served for over two years in the aviation service during the war with Germany, being attached to the Thirteenth Aero Squadron; Susie, wife of James Rindfelisch; Clyde R., who married Vera Oler, foreman of the mechanical department of the Shelley Pioneer; LeRoy, who served fourteen months with the marines during the World war; Arvilla and Irene, attending school, and Frank, aged four. One child died in infancy.

Mr. Adams is a republican but conducts his paper as an independent organ. He nevertheless takes an active part in political affairs, at the same time not aspiring to public office. He served as school trustee for three years in Shelley and was clerk of the school hoard for two years. Mr. Adams helped to open the Montana mission of the Latter-day Saints church and has had charge of the Shelley second ward choir since 1914. He is very well known all over the state, and has been acquainted with all its governors from Governor Hunt down. Mr. Adams was entertainer for the Eastern Idaho Press Club, and has given and continues to give of his time and ability to projects calculated to serve the best interests of the community in which he resides and where his worth and character as a citizen are fully established.