John Huy Addams (July 12, 1822 – August 17, 1881) was a politician and businessman from the U.S. state of Illinois.

Addams quickly became a successful businessman working as a director for two railroad companies and a bank president.

[3] In 1844 Addams, then 22, and his new bride arrived in Cedarville, Illinois, near the Illinois-Wisconsin state border in Stephenson County.

[4] In January 1863 Sarah Addams, then pregnant with her ninth child, went to assist in the delivery of a baby for the wagon-maker's wife.

[6] Addams served for sixteen years in the Illinois Senate, where he acquired a reputation for integrity; as one historian phrased it, "he became famous as a man who not only had never taken a bribe, but had never been offered one.

[6] Besides his role in founding the state's Republican Party he was also one of the key individuals who helped bring the second Lincoln-Douglas Debate to Freeport.

[9] A week later John Addams became ill while climbing in an ore mine and the family decided to return home by train.

They made it to Green Bay, Wisconsin, before Addams was too sick to travel any further and the family booked a hotel room.

[9] John H. Addams died suddenly of acute appendicitis on August 17, 1881, in the hotel in Green Bay at the age of 59.