James "Grizzly" Adams

Short Biography

John "Grizzly" Adams (also known as James Capen Adams and Grizzly Adams) (1812–1860) was a famous California mountain man and trainer of grizzly bears and other wild animals he captured for menageries, zoological gardens and circuses. When Theodore H. Hittell met Adams in 1856 at Adams' Mountaineer Museum in San Francisco, California, Adams first represented himself as William Adams, then a short time later told Hittell (also incorrectly) his name was James Capen Adams, an alias he maintained until 1860. He also told Hittell he was born on October 20, 1807, in Maine.