[1] Adams was born in Douglas Town in the New Brunswick colony in British North America (now part of Miramichi) on September 16, 1848.
He emigrated to the United States in 1864, settling in New York City, and worked in a dry-goods firm in New York City until he began studies at Columbia Law School.
Adams graduated with a degree in law in 1876, and was admitted to the bar the same year.
Elected to the United States House of Representatives from two different districts, Adams represented the 8th District in the forty-eighth United States Congress from March 4, 1883 to March 3, 1885.
He died of heart disease at The Ansonia Hotel in Manhattan on February 16, 1919.