John E. Adams, a prominent lawyer and early member of the Brown County bar in South Dakota, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1857. After moving with his family to Pennsylvania, he attended Allegheny College and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1880. In 1883, Adams moved to Dakota Territory, establishing his practice in Columbia before relocating to Aberdeen when it became the county seat. He served as mayor of Columbia in 1887, as county judge from 1890, and as mayor of Aberdeen in 1900. Adams was also active in Scottish Rite Masonry and various fraternal organizations. He married Martha E. Wilkinson in 1888, and they had five children.
John E. Adams, among the prominent members of the bar of the state of South Dakota, is the subject of this sketch, who is established in the practice of his profession in the city of Aberdeen, being one of the pioneer members of the bar of Brown County. Judge Adams was born in the city of Paterson, New Jersey, on the 13th of May, 1857, and is a son of John and Sarah J. Adams, both of whom were of Scotch-Irish extraction. When he was a child, his parents removed to Pennsylvania, and he there secured his early educational discipline, after which he took a course of study in Allegheny College, at Meadville, that state. He then took up the study of law, made rapid progress in his technical reading and assimilation of legal lore, so that he secured admission to the bar of the Keystone state in 1880. In the spring of 1882, he came west to Iowa, locating in the southeastern part of the state, where he engaged in the practice of his profession until the following spring, when he came to the territory of Dakota and located in Columbia, which was then the county seat of Brown County. There he soon built up a good practice and gained marked precedence in his profession, while in 1887 he was elected mayor of the town, serving one term. When the county seat was removed to Aberdeen, he transferred his residence to the new capital of the county. In 1890, he was elected county judge and presided on the bench for two terms, while in 1900 he was elected mayor of the city, serving one term and giving an admirable and progressive administration. He is one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of this fine little city and is held in the highest esteem in professional, business, and social circles. He is a staunch Republican and has taken an active part in furthering the interests of his party in the state. He has attained to the maximum degree, the thirty-third, in Scottish Rite Masonry, and is one of the prominent and appreciative members of this time-honored fraternity in the state, while he is also identified with the Knights of the Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church and are prominent members of the thriving parish of St. Mark’s Church, one of the leading and most prosperous ones in the missionary diocese of the state.
On the 12th of August, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Adams to Miss Martha E. Wilkinson, who was born in the city of Kankakee, Illinois, on the 15th of April, 1867, being a daughter of William H. and Mary Wilkinson. Of this union have been born five children, all of whom still remain at the parental home, namely: Maple F., Merle E., Constance M., Mildred, and Doris L.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.