Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/34

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ADAMS
ADAMS

He played also at the St. Charles theatre, Baltimore, where he achieved his first great success. About 1860 he appeared in Bufi'alo as Hamlet, and subsequently with Miss Kate Bateman and Mr. J. W. Wallack at the Winter Garden in New York; and afterward in all the principal cities in the United States as a star. In 1866 he returned to New York, and in Wallack's old theatre, the Broadway, played Robert Landry in the "Dead Heart," and Adrian de Teligny in the "Heretic." At the opening of Booth's theatre, 3 Feb., 1867, he appeared as Mercutio, and shortly afterward enacted Narcisse, lago, Raphael, Rover, Claude Melnotte, and Enoch Arden, this last character becoming a great favorite. He appeared with Edwin Booth during the season of 1869-'70 in several of Shakespeare's plays, then visited Australia, where his health failed, and, returning to San Francisco, received a generous benefit, 27 May, 1876, followed by others in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and elsewhere. He possessed a voice of wonderful richness, strength, and melody, and was regarded as one of the best light comedians on the stage. His wife, a clever actress and graceful danseuse, retired from the stage several years ago.


ADAMS, Eliphalet, clergyman, b. in Dedham, Mass., 26 March, 1677; d. in New London, Conn., 4 Oct., 1753. He was the son of Rev. William Adams, the second minister of Dedham, Mass., was graduated at Harvard college in 1694, preached in various places without settlement for ten years, and in 1709 was ordained a Congregational minister in New London, Conn. He was a man of learning, and was an eminent Hebraist. A diary kept by him for several years is preserved in the "Massachusetts Historical Collection," iv, 1. Having become interested in the welfare of the Lidians in the region, he acquired their language. As a preacher he was popular, and various of his sermons were delivered before bodies educational and political. Many of them were published, the principal ones being, one on the death of Rev. James Noyes, of Stonington, 1706; election sermons, 1710 and 1713; a discourse occasioned by a storm, 1717; Thanksgiving sermon, 1721; on the death of Gov. Saltonstail, 1724; on the ordination of Rev. William Gager, 1725; on the ordination of Thos. Clap, 1726, and a discourse before young men, 1727.


ADAMS, Ezra Eastman, author, b. in Concord, N. H., 29 Aug., 1813; d. in Oxford, Pa., 3 Nov., 1871. He was graduated at Dartmouth college in 1836, and in 1840 became chaplain to the seamen at Havre, France. After ten years of assiduous labor, he made an extensive tour in Europe, and then re- turned to America. In 1854 he became pastor of the Pearl st. Congregational church in Nashua, N. H., whence in 1860 he went to Philadelphia and entered the service of the foreign evangelical so- ciety. Soon afterward he took charge of an enter- prise that developed into the Broad st. church of that city. From 1867 till his death he was pro- fessor of theology in Lincoln university, near Ox- ford, Pa., and in 1870 he began editorial work on the " Presbyterian." He wrote poems of merit.


ADAMS, Frederick Whiting, musician, b. in Pawlet, Vt., in 1786; d. in Montpelier, Vt., 17 Dec., 1858. He was a good performer on the violin, and early turned his attention to violin-making. He conceived the opinion that the superior tones of the Amati and Stradivarius instruments were due to their having been made of old and seasoned wood, and accordingly he searched the forests of northern Vermont and Canada for maple and pine, taking his wood from partially decayed trees, and constructed 140 violins, some of which were re- markable for their powerful and sweet tones. He was the author of “Theological Criticisms” (Montpelier, 1843).


ADAMS, Hannah, author, b. in Medfield, Mass., in 1755; d. in Brookline, 15 Nov., 1832. She was the first woman in America who made literature a profession. Showing at an early age a fondness for study, she acquired a fair knowledge of Greek and Latin from divinity students boarding with her father, who was himself a man of literary tastes. He became bankrupt when she was in her seventeenth year, and she and her brothers and sisters were obliged to provide for themselves. During the war of the revolution she supported herself by making lace, and afterward by teaching. She was a woman of varied learning and indomitable perseverance. Her principal work was a “View of Religious Opinions” (1784), in which she gave a comprehensive survey of the various religions of the world. It was divided into: 1. An Alphabetical Compendium of the Denominations among Christians; 2. A Brief Account of Paganism, Mohammedanism, Judaism, and Deism; 3. An Account of the Different Religions of the World. The work passed through several editions, and was reprinted in England. In the fourth edition she changed the title to “Dictionary of Religions.” She wrote also a “History of New England” (1799) and “Evidences of Christianity” (1801). Her writings brought her little pecuniary profit, yet they secured her many friends, among them the Abbé Grégoire, with whom she carried on an extensive correspondence, and also received his aid in preparing her “History of the Jews” (1812). In 1814 she published a “Controversy with Dr. Morse,” and in 1826 “Letters on the Gospels.” She was simple in her manners and of rare modesty. A voyage from Boston to Nahant, about ten miles, was her only journey by water, and a trip to Chelmsford her farthest by land. During the closing years of her life she enjoyed an annuity provided by friends in Boston, and at her death was buried in Mount Auburn, the first person whose body was placed in that cemetery. Her autobiography, edited with additions by Mrs. Hannah F. Lee, was published in Boston in 1832.


ADAMS, Henry A., Jr., naval officer, b. in Pennsylvania in 1833. He entered the naval school at Annapolis in 1849, and was graduated in 1851; became a passed midshipman in 1854, and a master the following year, when, while attached to the sloop of war “Levant,” he took part in the engagement with the forts at the mouth of Canton river, China. He was commissioned as lieutenant in 1856, and was on the “Brooklyn” at the passage of forts St. Philip and Jackson, and the capture of New Orleans in April, 1862. Commissioned as lieutenant-commander and transferred to the North Atlantic blockading squadron, he participated in both the attacks on Fort Fisher, and received the encomium from Admiral Porter in his official despatch of 28 Jan., 1865, “I recommend the promotion of Lieut.-Com. H. A. Adams, without whose aid we should have been brought to a standstill more than once. He volunteered for anything and everything.” After the taking of Richmond he was one of the party that accompanied President Lincoln on his entry into the city. He was commissioned as commander in July, 1866, and was ordered to the store-ship “Guard,” of the European squadron, where he remained during 1868-'9, and was afterward assigned to duty in 1870 in the navy-yard at Philadelphia.


ADAMS, Herbert Baxter, educator, b. in Amherst, Mass., 16 April, 1850. His early training