Little-Known Treasures from Lewis Historical Library... The Methodist Circuit Rider's Writing Desk (The First Laptop?)

[NOTE: Members of the Theobald family visited Lewis Library recently to provide some historical background on a 19th Century writing desk they donated to Lewis Historical Library.]

By Jill Larson, Archivist

Josiah Adams left England after denouncing Queen Victoria in 1856. He migrated to America and settled in Fostoria, Ohio, where he married and raised four children: James, Carrie, Emma, and Thomas Henry Adams. In 1859, Josiah became a deacon of the Methodist-Episcopal Church in Fremont, Ohio and later served as a circuit rider.

Circuit riders were itinerant preachers of the Methodist denomination. A circuit consisted of 20-40 “appointments,” with circuit riders traveling the district and preaching in pioneer cabins, schoolhouses, and taverns. This circuit system, devised by John Wesley for his English societies in their formative period and later developed in America by Francis Asbury, proved especially adapted to the conditions of the American frontier and came into its own in the trans-Allegheny region. Its success was a factor in establishing Methodism in America. A circuit rider, traveling on horseback because it was economical and suited to the forest pathway, preached nearly every day and twice on Sundays, thus covering his circuit every 4-5 weeks. (Columbia Encyclopedia)

Josiah Adams carried a small, wooden writing desk on his circuit in Ohio (as shown in accompanying photograph). This solidly built desk (17 ½ inches by 8 ½ inches) is quite unique. It opens to a flat writing board complete with a small ink well and hollowed slots for quills. Underneath storage provides space for a Bible, hymnal, and writing paper, etc. Images come to one’s mind of Josiah resting by the fireside in the evening and working on sermons or writing letters home to the family.

Josiah Adams' youngest child was Thomas Henry Adams, who at age 14 came to Edwardsport, Indiana, in Knox County where he became a printer. He later founded the Vincennes Commercial newspaper as a weekly. He was recognized as an energetic, colorful editor who wrote extensively of the events in Knox County. Thomas' great-grandsons are Edward and Thomas Theobald of Vincennes (pictured below). The Theobald family donated Josiah Adams’ writing desk to Lewis Historical Library some years ago. We are very pleased to have “the first laptop,” as I call it! It is a fine treasure for us and for all who wish to come to our library to view the desk on display.