[2] His father was a 1795 graduate of Yale who was an American educator noted for organizing several hundred Sunday schools.

His mother was a great-great-granddaughter of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony who was a passenger on the Mayflower.

[9] He was there a leader of the new-school board of the Presbyterian church, and in its efforts to reunite the two bodies, was a chief advocate.

[1] Dr. Adams delivered the address of welcome at the great gathering of representatives of the various Protestant churches of the world, at an evangelical alliance in New York City October 3, 1873.

[1] At the general council of the Presbyterian church, held at Edinburgh in 1877, he responded to the address of welcome by the lord provost of that city.

Together, Adams and his second wife Martha were the parents of:[5] He died on August 31, 1880, at Orange Mountain, New Jersey.

[15][13] The latter was born in New York City and was educated privately at first, then went to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire.