Melvin O. Adams

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Melvin Ohio Adams (1850–1920).png

| image_size =

| name = Melvin O. Adams

| birth_date = {{birth date|1850|11|7|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Ashburnham, Massachusetts

| death_date = {{death date and age|1920|8|9|1850|11|7}}

| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts

| restingplace = Meetinghouse Hill Cemetery
Ashburnham, Massachusetts

| nationality = American

| occupation = Attorney
Railroad executive
Military officer

| party = Republican

| spouse = Mary Colony

| alma_mater = Dartmouth College

| title = United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts

| term_start = 1905

| term_end = 1906

| predecessor = Henry P. Moulton

| successor = Asa P. French

}}

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.{{cite web|title=Adams, Melvin Ohio (1850–1920)|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/adams6.html#256.74.11|work=PoliticalGraveyard.com|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=2022-02-14}}

Early life

Adams was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts on November 7, 1850, to Joseph Adams and Dolly Winship (Whitney) Adams.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/menofprogressone00her/page/939 |title=Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts |editor-last=Bacon |editor-first=Edwin M. |editor-link=Edwin Munroe Bacon |publisher=The New England Magazine |location=Boston |pages=939–940 |year=1896 |access-date=2022-02-14 |via=Internet Archive}} 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.{{cite book|last=Davis|first=William Thomas|title=Bench and bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts|year=1895|publisher=The Boston History Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/benchbarofcommon01davi/page/500 500]|url=https://archive.org/details/benchbarofcommon01davi}} On January 20, 1874, he married Mary Colony of Fitchburg. From 1874 to 1876, he served as Ashburnham's Town Moderator.{{cite book|last=Stearns|first=Ezra Scollay|title=History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, from the grant of Dorchester Canada to the present time, 1734–1886: with a genealogical register of Ashburnham families|year=1887|publisher=Town of Ashburnham, Massachusetts|location=Ashburnham, Massachusetts|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyashburnh01goog/page/n245 241]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyashburnh01goog}}

Legal and military career

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.

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.{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|title=The Lizzie Borden Sourcebook|year=1992|publisher=Branden Books|isbn=9780828319508|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lizziebordensour00kent}}{{cite book|last=Sullivan|first=Robert|title=Goodbye Lizzie Borden|year=1975|publisher=Chatto & Windus}}

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

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.{{cite book|title=Law Notes, Volume 9|year=1906|publisher=E. Thompson Co.|pages=198|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXoqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA198}}

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.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jis-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA306 |title=Obituary: Melvin O. Adams |journal=The Railway Review |date=July–December 1920 |volume= 67 |page=306 |access-date=2022-02-14 |via=Google Books}}

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

Trustee

Adams served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College and the Perkins School for the Blind.{{cite book|title=Report|publisher=Perkins School for the Blind|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NW8PAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA4|year=1900}} He was instrumental in securing the funds necessary to rebuild Dartmouth Hall.{{cite web|title=I've heard the Dartmouth Hall is not the original building. When was it rebuilt and why?|url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ask/categories/misc/61.html|work=Ask Dartmouth|publisher=Trustees of Dartmouth College|accessdate=7 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020030807/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ask/categories/misc/61.html|archive-date=20 October 2012|url-status=dead}}