Dudley W. Adams was born on November 30, 1831 in Winchendon, Massachussets, United States, the son of Joseph Boynton and Hannah (Whitney) Adams, and a descendant in the eighth generation of Henry Adams of Braintree, Massachussets. When he was four years old his family moved to a small rocky farm, where he spent his boyhood and youth.
Adams was bright and eager to learn, and passed through the public schools.
Adams became a teacher as a young man and when he was twenty-one years old he went west, and with his small savings took up a piece of government land, becoming one of the first settlers of Waukon, Iowa. He learned surveying, and was for ten years the assessor of the county.
In 1856 he established Iron Clad Nursery, and in a comparatively short time developed an orchard of 4, 000 trees.
When the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was organized he became one of its most active promoters, and in 1873 was elected its Master.
No federal legislation was secured at that time, owing to opposition on the ground of unconstitutionality, but in Iowa a law embodying the ideas of the Grangers was passed, which was held constitutional. The result of the agitation which Adams helped to stimulate was the establishment of nation and state regulation of railroads.
In 1875 he went to Florida, where he planted an extensive orchard of orange and other fruit trees.
He organized the State Horticultural Society and became its president, holding that office until his death.
Adams organized the Iron Clad Nursery which was one of the best in Iowa and founded the State Horticultural Society. He also did much to develop intelligent horticultural industry in Florida. Adams was the father of the first attempt at railroad-freight legislation, and had a hand in framing some of the proposals for fixing rates and forbidding discriminations, which were introduced into the Congress of 1873-1874. His service in organizing the farmers, awakening them to self-consciousness, and uniting them in efforts to promote their interests, especially with relation to railroad transportation, was of great importance.
Adams was studiously inclined, of progressive tendencies, and a man of great energy.
Adams was married January 31, 1856 at Winchendon, Massachusetts, to Hannah Huestis, a native of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. They had no children.
