Post by grrraaahhh on Jan 31, 2011 23:45:34 GMT -9
Most people are familiar of the fictional character portrayal of James Grizzly Adams in books, then movie, and lastly television.
However, if you are interested about the historical character....
J. Capen "Grizzly" Adams (died October 25, 1860) was a famous mountain man and trainer of grizzly bears. According to multiple reports his first-name was James and he was born on October 20, 1807, although his gravestone gives his first-name as John, and his birth date as October 12, 1812.[1]
Born in Medway, Massachusetts, Adams spent many years in the mountain ranges of the U.S. west (mainly California), living around animals and sometimes capturing them for zoos. He went to the mountains after having gone broke through a series of disappointments, and having left his wife and children behind. Adams's famous companion was a bear named "Ben" (short for Benjamin Franklin), who died in a zoo that Adams himself opened in San Francisco in the late 1850s.
Adams made pets of several grizzlies and often wrestled with them. His most delinquent grizzly, named General Fremont (for John C. Fremont), during a playful wrestling match, struck Adams in the head, cracking it like an eggshell. The wound healed, only to be reopened by the "General". Although never fatal, by the fourth time the General had severely injured James Adams' skull, leaving his brain exposed.
Adams died of meningitis that he had contracted from an open head wound that resulted from an accident while training a monkey on tour with P.T. Barnum in 1860. He was buried in Bay Path Cemetery, Charlton, Massachusetts. It is said that P. T. Barnum paid for his tombstone.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_%22Grizzly%22_Adams
However, if you are interested about the historical character....
J. Capen "Grizzly" Adams (died October 25, 1860) was a famous mountain man and trainer of grizzly bears. According to multiple reports his first-name was James and he was born on October 20, 1807, although his gravestone gives his first-name as John, and his birth date as October 12, 1812.[1]
Born in Medway, Massachusetts, Adams spent many years in the mountain ranges of the U.S. west (mainly California), living around animals and sometimes capturing them for zoos. He went to the mountains after having gone broke through a series of disappointments, and having left his wife and children behind. Adams's famous companion was a bear named "Ben" (short for Benjamin Franklin), who died in a zoo that Adams himself opened in San Francisco in the late 1850s.
Adams made pets of several grizzlies and often wrestled with them. His most delinquent grizzly, named General Fremont (for John C. Fremont), during a playful wrestling match, struck Adams in the head, cracking it like an eggshell. The wound healed, only to be reopened by the "General". Although never fatal, by the fourth time the General had severely injured James Adams' skull, leaving his brain exposed.
Adams died of meningitis that he had contracted from an open head wound that resulted from an accident while training a monkey on tour with P.T. Barnum in 1860. He was buried in Bay Path Cemetery, Charlton, Massachusetts. It is said that P. T. Barnum paid for his tombstone.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_%22Grizzly%22_Adams