Austin Adams (May 24, 1826 – October 17, 1890) was an American lawyer and justice of the Iowa Supreme Court for twelve years.

Austin's father, Jerry Adams, was a successful farmer and clerk of the school district, and served twice in the legislature.

In later years he wrote "[The] older pupils, the young men and women [...] not only assisted me in my studies, but their presence and example afforded me inspiration.

Adams heard only "dogmatic and terrorizing theology" at the church and it "succeeded in destroying much of the happiness of his childhood.

At age thirteen, his teacher urged his father to give Austin a better education than he could receive at the country school house.

At age sixteen he began teaching students at the academy, some of whom were older than he was, in the winter while working on his father's farm in the summer.

"The physical inability to see distinctly increased an introspective state of mind and somewhat blunted the observing powers which he himself regretted.

[1] He was admitted to the bar in Woodstock, Vermont, in January 1853 and entered practice with ex-Governor Carlos Coolidge.

When Adams decided to move west, his friends believed that it wouldn't suit him and that he would return early.

[10]During the American Civil War in 1864, he was secretary of the Sanitary Fair for three months to raise funds for the hospital.

[1] Adams had built up an excellent reputation in the 1860s, so when he was chosen to be a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, from 1876 to 1880,[1] the choice was welcomed with widespread approval.

He began his term on the Iowa Supreme Court on January 1, 1876,[6] leaving the firm of Adams, Robison & Lacy.

Mary Newbury Adams supported the advancement of women and was a member of many progressive and scientific organizations.

"This year, he more than once said, was the happiest of his life, sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust in the order and law of the universe.