Ada Dam

Ada Dam's signature, 1869 (SCSU Archives)

Roberts plot marker, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Reading, Massachusetts (Find A Grave)

Ada Annette Dam was born on August 4, 1853 in Harrington, Maine. Her father, Joseph Sturtevant Dam, was 23, and her mother, Mary Jane (Bussell) Dam, was 17. By 1860, she moved with her parents to Minnesota, where they settled in Maine Prairie. Graduating with the Third State Normal School’s first class on June 30, 1871, Ada delivered a culminating essay, “Wisdom and Knowledge,” in which she discussed using one’s extensive knowledge to acquire wisdom.

Ada taught in local schools before marrying Jacob Frank Roberts, a bookkeeper from Massachusetts, on October 4, 1875 in St. Cloud. After moving to Winchester, Massachusetts, they had two children: Elmer Linwood (May 1879) and Edna May (January 3, 1881). Ada died of vascular disease at the age of 39 on July 17, 1893 and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Reading, Massachusetts. As an adult, Edna followed her mother into teaching.