Melvin O. Adams
United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
In office
1905–1906
Preceded byHenry P. Moulton
Succeeded byAsa P. French
Personal details
Born(1850-11-07)November 7, 1850
Ashburnham, Massachusetts
DiedAugust 9, 1920(1920-08-09) (aged 69)
Boston, Massachusetts
Resting placeMeetinghouse Hill Cemetery
Ashburnham, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican[1]
SpouseMary Colony[1]
Alma materDartmouth College
OccupationAttorney
Railroad executive
Military officer

Melvin Ohio Adams (November 7, 1850 – August 9, 1920) was an American attorney and railroad executive who was part of Lizzie Borden's legal defense team, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1905 to 1906, and the president of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad.[1]

Early life

Adams was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts on November 7, 1850, to Joseph Adams and Dolly Winship (Whitney) Adams.[1][2] He attended school in his native Ashburnham, Massachusetts as well as the Appleton Academy in New Ipswich, New Hampshire. In 1871, he graduated from Dartmouth College. After graduation worked as a teacher in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and studied law in the office of Amasa Norcross.[3] On January 20, 1874, he married Mary Colony of Fitchburg.[1][3] From 1874 to 1876, he served as Ashburnham's Town Moderator.[4]

In 1875, Adams graduated from the Boston University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar that year and was soon thereafter became an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts. In 1886, Adams resigned his position to go into private practice with Augustus Russ. Adams and Russ remained partners until Russ' death in the summer of 1892.[3]

In 1892, Adams was retained by Andrew V. Jennings to serve as the associate defense counsel for Lizzie Borden, a Fall River, Massachusetts woman accused of killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet. After a much-publicized trial, Borden was acquitted on June 20, 1893.[5][6]

An active member of the Massachusetts Republican Party, Adams served on the staff of Governor John Q. A. Brackett[3] as assistant adjutant general with the rank of colonel.[7]

In 1905, Adams was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He remained a U.S. Attorney until his resignation on December 5, 1906.[8]

Business career

In 1890, Adams joined the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad as a director and general counsel. From 1891 until his death in 1920 he was the railroad's President.[9]

Adams was also the vice-president of the Liberty Trust Company.[1]

Trustee

Adams served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College[1] and the Perkins School for the Blind.[10] He was instrumental in securing the funds necessary to rebuild Dartmouth Hall.[11]

Death

Adams died on August 9, 1920, at his home in Boston.[9] He was buried in the Meetinghouse Hill Cemetery in Ashburnham.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Adams, Melvin Ohio (1850–1920)". PoliticalGraveyard.com. The Political Graveyard. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  2. ↑ Bacon, Edwin M., ed. (1896). Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: The New England Magazine. pp. 939–940. Retrieved February 14, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Davis, William Thomas (1895). Bench and bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Boston History Company. pp. 500.
  4. ↑ Stearns, Ezra Scollay (1887). History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, from the grant of Dorchester Canada to the present time, 1734–1886: with a genealogical register of Ashburnham families. Ashburnham, Massachusetts: Town of Ashburnham, Massachusetts. pp. 241.
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1992). The Lizzie Borden Sourcebook. Branden Books. ISBN 9780828319508.
  6. ↑ Sullivan, Robert (1975). Goodbye Lizzie Borden. Chatto & Windus.
  7. ↑ Marquis Who's Who, Inc. Who Was Who in American History, the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P.3 ISBN 0837932017 OCLC 657162692
  8. ↑ Law Notes, Volume 9. E. Thompson Co. 1906. p. 198.
  9. 1 2 "Obituary: Melvin O. Adams". The Railway Review. 67: 306. July–December 1920. Retrieved February 14, 2022 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Report. Perkins School for the Blind. 1900.
  11. ↑ "I've heard the Dartmouth Hall is not the original building. When was it rebuilt and why?". Ask Dartmouth. Trustees of Dartmouth College. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
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