John Adams was a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778.
See eulogy by his friend Dr David Hosack (Essays, i., New York, 1824), with biographical details taken from a letter of Rush to President John Adams; also references in the works of Thacker, Gross and Bowditch on the history of medicine in America.
Since 1860 several visits have been paid to the group by scientific investigators - by Dr Habel in 1868; Messrs Baur and Adams, and the naturalists of the "Albatross," between 1888 and 1891; and in 1897-1898 by Mr Charles Harris, whose journey was specially undertaken at the instance of the Hon.
Adams Smith's Wealth of Nations, if it has ever been, has long ceased to be a scientific text-book.
His father, a farmer, also named John, was of the fourth generation in descent from Henry Adams, who emigrated from Devonshire, England, to Massachusetts about 1636; his mother was Susanna Boylston Adams. Young Adams graduated from Harvard College in 1755, and for a time taught school at Worcester and studied law in the office of Rufus Putnam.
