Michael A. McAdams was born in Quebec, Canada in 1856. He
came to Sandusky, Ohio in 1891 to play with the Cedar Point band. He can be seen with his tuba in the back row of the
Ackley Band at Cedar Point in the picture
below; he was a member of the band for more than twenty years.
During the winter seasons, Mr. McAdams traveled as a
musician with several theatrical groups, including Howe and White’s
Circus, the Buffalo Bill tent show, and Bailey & Myers tent show.
Besides
being a popular musician, Michael McAdams also was employed as a printer for several years
by the Register Publishing Company. Around 1918 his eyesight began to
fail. An article in the March 13, 1924 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an article about a benefit concert performed on his behalf by the
Ackley Band. The article stated, in part, “From the moment the conductor
raised his baton for the first note of the Sousa March ‘Fairest of the Fair’
till the echoes from the last notes of the ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ died away
in the final offering, the program was one of artistic portrayal and mastery of
detail.” Mr. McAdams surprised the audience by coming onto the stage and
playing a tuba solo, “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Asleep in the Deep.” This was
his first appearance in a public concert in a number of years, and the audience
was delighted with his performance. The Register
article said that McAdams showed “old time expertness that always made him
a favored player in the days of Sandusky’s crack bass bands.”
On April 18, 1928, Michael A. McAdams died at
the Union Printers’ Home in Denver, Colorado.
An obituary, found in the 1928 Obituary Notebook at the
Sandusky Library, stated that McAdams had remained friends with E.B. Ackley and
other Sandusky musicians throughout the years. The printers’ union as well as
several benefit band concerts for Mr. McAdams, aided in making his last days
more comfortable.
