William Adams, a son of Robert Adams, Sr., and his wife Martha, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, October 17, 1838. He came to America with his parents in 1847, and lived and was educated in Buffalo. He came to New York with his mother and younger brothers in 1859 and soon entered the firm of Beadle and Company, becoming superintendent in 1864. Upon the death of his brother Robert, in 1866, he became one of the partners in the firm, and after the death of his brother David, became its sole owner. His first published article was a short sketch in The Home. Beginning about 1876, he made annual visits to Europe and described his tours in letters to the Brooklyn Eagle and the Banner Weekly. After his death, some of these letters were published in a volume entitled "Across the Ocean Ferry, or, Europe to American Eyes." He died of heart failure, unmarried, in Brooklyn, December 19, 1896. For further details of his life and a portrait,⁽¹⁾ see Part II of this book.

His European letters appeared in The Saturday Journal, with interruptions, from No. 441 to 490, and in the Banner Weekly from No. 262 to 644.

Notes

1	A portrait is given in Part II, Fig. 14.