Dr. Adelaide (Ada) Adams was born in Washington County, NY in 1835. At age 13, Ada taught at her first school, maintaining that occupation until her marriage to Dr. Samuel Adams in 1852.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Ada assisted in the hospitals caring for the sick and dying. With medical experience from the war, Ada took to reading and practicing medicine. In 1868, both Samuel and Ada entered the practice of medicine at the renowned Pennsylvania House, here in Springfield. In 1870, she received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the College for Women in Cleveland, being the fist woman physician admitted to the State Medical Society.

In addition to her medical practice, she was active in the Temperance movement and the Central ME Church. On April 6, 1876, Ada Adams died after giving birth to a newborn daughter.

Dr. Ada L. Adams is buried in Ferncliff in Section H, Lot 58.