Adams, Francis G.

Alternate name: Frances Granger

Francis G. Adams, who went by "F. Granger Adams," was a stockbroker, banker and bank executive, and newspaper editor and publisher. He began conducting financial business around 1810 in what became Chicago, Illinois. Sometime in 1852 he opened a brokerage and exchange office at 44 Clark Street. He expanded the business into banking soon after. Between 1853 and 1855, he purchased more than 200 acres of public land in Cook County, Illinois. Starting in 1855, he edited and published the Bank Note List, a semi-monthly newspaper that focused on finance and reported on bank insolvencies as well as methods for detecting counterfeit bank notes. While continuing to work as a banker, he remained in charge of this paper until sometime in 1862. He was a leading banker in Chicago up to 1863, when he relocated to New York City. That same year, his banking house merged with Trader's Bank of Chicago, of which he became president. In 1865 the bank became Trader's National Bank, and he its vice president.

Weston A. Goodspeed and Daniel D. Healy, eds., History of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1909), 2:151, 160, 187; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 68; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Cook County, 687:289, 687:294, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1858 and 1859 (Chicago: George W. Hawes, 1859), 40; Alfred T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884), 1:549; John Moses and Joseph Kirkland, eds., The History of Chicago Illinois (Chicago: Munsell, 1895), 1:520; Encyclopaedia of Biography of Illinois (Chicago: Century, 1892), 1:245; Alfred T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1885), 2:631.