Florida State Archives

WELCH, Adonijah Strong, a Senator from Florida; born in East Hampton, Conn., April 12, 1821; attended the public schools; moved to Michigan in 1839 and settled in Jonesville; graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1846; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847; high school principal 1847-1849; principal of the Michigan State Normal School, Ypsilanti, Mich., 1851-1865; trustee of the Michigan Agricultural College at East Lansing; moved to Pensacola, Fla., in 1865 and later to Jacksonville, where he established a lumber mill and also engaged in orange growing; upon the readmission of the State of Florida to representation was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate on June 17, 1868, and served until March 3, 1869; declined renomination to accept the presidency of the Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, and served from 1869 to 1883, when he resigned; commissioner to inspect foreign colleges of agriculture 1882-1883; professor of psychology and history in the Iowa State Agricultural College 1885-1889; was an author and engaged in educational work; died in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, Calif., March 14, 1889; interment in the Iowa State College Cemetery, Ames, Iowa.