to have been a woman of keenness, sagacity, and geniality, and throw very valuable light on the history and social life of her time.
ADAMS, Alvin (1804-77). The founder of Adams Express Company of America. He was born at Andover, Vt., and in 1840 established between New York and Boston an express route which, subsequently extended, led in 1854 to the incorporation of the Adams Express Company. Consult: Stimson, History of the Express Business (New York, 1881).
ADAMS, Brooks (1848—). An American lawyer and social essayist. He was born at Quincy, Mass., a son of Charles Francis Adams (q.v.). He was educated in Quincy, in Washington, and in Europe, according to the changes of his father's residence. He graduated at Harvard in 1870, was admitted to the bar, and practiced law till 1881. He has since contributed much to magazines, and has published The Gold Standard, The Emancipation of Massachusetts (1887), a study in the evolution of religious freedom, an historical essay, The Law of Civilization and Decay, and America's Economic Supremacy (1900). His works are characterized by subtlety and originality.
ADAMS, Charles Baker (1814-53). An American naturalist. He was born at Dorchester, Mass. He graduated at Amherst; assisted Prof. Edward Hitchcock in the geological survey of New York; became tutor at Amherst, 1836; professor of chemistry and natural history in Middlebury College, Vermont, 1838 to 1847, and was professor of astronomy and zoölogy at Amherst from 1847 till his death. From 1845 to 1847 he was State geologist of Vermont. He went several times to the West Indies in the interest of science; wrote on conchology, and with the assistance of Prof. Alonzo Gray, of Brooklyn, published an elementary work on geology.
ADAMS, Charles Follen (1842—). A humorous dialect poet. He was born at Dorchester, Mass., and was educated in the common schools. He served in the Civil War, and was wounded and captured at Gettysburg. In 1872 he began poetic production, cultivating the ballad in German dialect. His verses are collected under the titles Leedle Yawcob Strauss and Other Poems (1878), and Dialect Ballads (1887).
ADAMS, Charles Francis (1807-86). An American diplomat and statesman, the son of President J. Q. Adams. He was born in Boston; spent the years 1809 to 1817 with his father in Europe, chiefly in Russia and England; prepared for college at the Boston Latin School, and graduated at Harvard in 1825. He then spent several years in Washington, and later studied law in the office of Daniel Webster (at Boston) from November, 1828, to January, 1829, when he was admitted to the bar, though he never practiced. During the next ten years he devoted himself chiefly to literary pursuits, contributing many papers to magazines, writing an able political pamphlet entitled, An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs (Boston, 1835), and editing the Letters of Abigail and John Adams (1840-41). From 1841 to 1840 he was a member of the State Legislature, serving three years in the House and two in the Senate; and from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the Boston Whig, and as such was the leader of that wing of his party
called the “Conscience Whigs.” In 1848 he presided over the Free Soil Convention at Buffalo, and was unanimously nominated for vice-president, but after the election retired to Quincy, Mass., and spent several years in editing the Works of John Adams (10 volumes, 1850-56). In 1858 he was elected to Congress as a Republican, and served with marked ability until May, 1861, when he was sent as United States Minister to England. Here he remained for seven years, and during the Civil War rendered invaluable services to his government. In face of the pronounced sympathy for the South manifested by the aristocracy and the upper social classes generally and of the favoritism at times of the British government itself, he preserved throughout a dignified demeanor and performed his duties with such ability as to earn for himself a place second only to that of Franklin in the history of American diplomacy. Indeed, many years later Lowell said: “None of our generals in the field, not Grant himself, did us better or more trying service than he in his forlorn outpost in London.” He returned to America in 1868, and was elected to the presidency of Harvard in the following year, but declined to serve. In 1872 he barely failed of a nomination to the presidency at the hands of the Liberal Republicans. He was the arbitrator for the United States at Geneva in 1871 and 1872 (see Alabama Claims), and to him is due in great part the credit for the successful settlement of all difficulties with England growing out of the controversy of the Civil War. On his return he was engaged for several years in editing the Diary of John Quincy Adams (12 volumes, 1874-77). Both in politics and diplomacy Mr. Adams was austere, dignified, eminently sincere, and independent to a fault. As an authoritative biography consult C. F. Adams, Jr., Life of Charles Francis Adams (Boston, 1900), in the American Statesmen Series.
ADAMS, Charles Francis, Jr. (1835—). An American soldier, financier, and writer. He is a son of Charles Francis Adams, and was born in Boston. Mass., May 27, 1835. He graduated at Harvard in 1856, studied law in the office of Richard Henry Dana, Jr., and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He entered the Union Army as first lieutenant in a Massachusetts cavalry regiment in 1861, became a captain in 1862, served as chief of squadron at Gettysburg, and at the close of the war was in command, as colonel, of a regiment of colored cavalry. In May, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army, and in July retired from active service. From 1884 to 1890 he was president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. From 1893 to 1895 he was chairman of the Massachusetts Park Commission, and as such took a prominent part in planning the present park system of the State. Since about 1874 he has devoted much of his time to the study of American history, and in recognition of his work in this field was chosen president of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1895, and of the American Historical Association in 1901. His writings and addresses both on problems of railway management and on historical subjects are marked by a singular clarity of statement and a degree of intellectual independence that has frequently given rise to widespread controversy. He has written: Railroads, Their Origin and Problems (New York, 1878); Notes on Railway
