# Washington Adams

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**Washington Adams** (1814 – May 14, 1883)[1][2] was a justice of the [Supreme Court of Missouri](/source/Supreme_Court_of_Missouri) from 1871 to 1874.[3]

## Early life, education, and career

Born in [Christian County, Kentucky](/source/Christian_County,_Kentucky), to parents who had emigrated there from their native Virginia, the family moved to [Howard County, Missouri](/source/Howard_County,_Missouri), in 1816, when Adams was two years old.[2] He attended the local schools, but was "more indebted to himself than to teachers for his education, which, in addition to English, embraced the usual course in Latin and Greek".[2] He then [read law](/source/Read_law) for four years in the office of Peyton R. Hayden, a distinguished lawyer at Boonville, gaining [admission to the bar](/source/Admission_to_the_bar) in 1835, and establishing a successful law practice in Boonville.[1][2]

## Judicial service and constitutional convention participation

On December 27, 1871, he was appointed by Governor [Benjamin Gratz Brown](/source/Benjamin_Gratz_Brown) to fill the seat on the supreme bench vacated by the resignation of Judge [Warren Currier](/source/Warren_Currier), and afterwards, at the election in November, 1872, Adams was elected to fill the balance of the term. He served until his resignation in October, 1874. He was also a member of the state constitutional convention of 1875,[2] where he chaired the convention's Judiciary Committee and "played a pivotal role in the construction and framework of the State constitution".[1] This included extending the term of service for judges of the state supreme court, and establishing a three-judge appellate court in St. Louis.[1]

## Personal life and death

Adams was a member of the Episcopal church. He was married in Boonville in 1840 to Eliza, daughter of William Brown, of Cynthiana, Kentucky. They had three children.[2] Adams died suddenly at his residence, in Boonville, of heart disease at age 68 or 69.[2]

## References

1. ["Judge Washington Adams"](https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=180215). *www.courts.mo.gov*. Retrieved November 29, 2022.

1. "[Death of Judge Adams](https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061066/1883-05-15/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1883)", *The Sedalia Weekly Bazoo* (May 15, 1883), p. 3.

1. ["Former Judges of the Supreme Court"](https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=299). *www.courts.mo.gov*

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