Eliza Adams

English, Dutch, and German (mainly northwestern Germany): patronymic from the personal name Adam . In North America, this surname has absorbed cognates from other languages, e.g. Greek Adamopoulos , Serbian and Croatian Adamović (see Adamovich ), Polish (and Jewish) Adamski .

Irish and Scottish: adopted for McAdam or a Scottish variant of Adam , with excrescent -s.

History: This surname was borne by two early presidents of the US, father and son. They were descended from Henry Adams, who settled in Braintree, MA, in 1635/6, from Barton St. David, Somerset, England. The younger of them, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) derived his middle name from his maternal grandmother's surname (see Quincy ). — Another important New England family, established mainly in NH, is descended from William Adams, who emigrated from Shropshire, England, to Dedham, MA, in 1628. James Hopkins Adams (1812–61), governor of SC, was unconnected with either of these families, his ancestry being Welsh; his forebears entered North America through PA.