Frederick+Eugene+Adolphus

Frederick Eugene Adolphus was born on November 25, 1856 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, William Augustus Adolphus was a second-generation German immigrant, an artisan by trade but also a fairly sucessful merchant. His mother, Fiona McCoy, was the daughter of an Irish family who emigrated when she was only 11 from Dublin in order to escape the [|Great Potato Famine] in her motherland. By 1861 the family moved from Baltimore further north to Buffalo, New York in order for William to start a new furniture business, Adolphus' Erie & Hudson Furnishings. By the time Frederick was 18 he had already held serveral jobs from newsie to puddler's apprentice. Not being able to find a steady job he left Buffalo in 1878 and moved to Jacksonville where he also had trouble keeping a job. He finally kept a job piloting steamboats up and down the [|St. Johns River]. On one of his trips he met his future wife, Elise Williams, and the two wed in 1881. Meanwhile his father's business, after years of expansion, had been bought out by [|Montgomery Ward]. William was sent to Chicago to manage the distribution of his furniture throughout the country. He unfortunatly died two years later in 1883 leaving his son a small fortune and property in Chicago. Frederick moved to Chicago and took over his father's work. Frederick hated the micromanagement involved in his job and decided to leave his post at Montgomery Ward. Longing for his days spent traveling the St Johns River and coast of Florida, he decided to join the [|Great Northern Railway Company] (controlled by James J. Hill and the one and only J.P. Morgan) in order to travel the west as a conductor. His family didn't approve much of his constant travel so he took a position as a the Chicago Station Master a post which he served almost 35 years until 1919 when he retired. During his tenure he witnessed all the great happenings in the city as well as almost being killed by angry rioters during the [|Pullman Strike] of 1894. He wouldn't stay retired for too long only one year later a family friend by the name of A.E. Staley asked Frederick to help manage his new football team that had just relocated to Chicago. They were once known as the Decatur Staleys but with the move came a new name, the Chicago Staleys. Shortly thereafter Staley turned control of the team over to George Halas who promptly renamed the team the [|Chiago Bears]. Frederick would go on to have two sons, John and Laurence, and one daughter Meredith. Frederick Adolphus died on June 2, 1943 at the age of 86.