ADAMS, DR. SAMUEL--Page 1

In Truro, Massachusetts stands a sad old tombstone which bears the following epitaph:

~O death all eloquent, you only prove
What dust we dote on when we creatures love.~

The stone belongs to Mrs. Abigail (Jordan?) Adams, who died in childbirth in 1774, at age 24. Her baby boy died a few weeks later. The sad part is that the attending physician was her husband, Dr. Samuel Adams, who was at the same time wrestling with personal political demons and the possible ruin of his medical practice.

Samuel Adams was the town physician in Truro, MA. At this critical time of American history, we find Dr. Adams taking a stand as an ardent patriot in a Loyalist town. Many of the townspeople wanted to storm and burn his home, but instead they blacklisted him professionally, preferring to either remain sick, or travel to adjacent towns to seek care.

He was born in Killingly, CT in 1745, and learned medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Nathaniel Freeman of Sandwich. He was the town physician in Truro for many years. One of his sons was Rev. Charles Adams, pastor in Harwich. At the start of the conflict, Dr. Adams joined the service as a surgeon. He put his past behind him after the war, moving first to Ipswich, MA and then in 1798 after marrying Abigail Dodge, he moved to Bath, ME, where he practiced medicine until his death in 1819. After Truro, he was highly respected in the towns where he successively resided. [Page 2]