Paulina “Pina” Thomas Adams
Paulina “Pina” Thomas Adams (1843-1876) helped found the “Soldiers’ Aid Society” during the Civil War and the “Ladies Memorial Association “to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the Confederacy after the war.
Paulina “Pina” Thomas Adam, born February 19, 1843 was the daughter of Stevens and Isabella Thomas. She served as first secretary of the “Soldiers’ Aid Society” which she helped found early in the war. This organization included in its membership the most prominent women in Athens. The Soldiers Aid Society worked to provide packages of necessities and delicacies to be forwarded to troops in the field. They also worked to sew uniforms and make bandages to treat the wounded. Letters of thanks returned to the women of the organization from recipients of their efforts demonstrated how much the soldiers appreciated these gifts of blankets, food, and even hymn books. Following the war, she helped establish the Athens Ladies Memorial Association to honor the Confederate dead. Her tenure with this group proved brief, however. She married Reverend William H. Adams, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church of Charleston, South Carolina in 1866. The couple made their home in Charleston where she devoted herself to that city’s memorial association. She died June 10, 1876, after suffering feeble health for several months.
