Nehemiah Adams, D. D., an American clergyman, born in Salem, Mass., Feb. 19, 1806. He graduated at Harvard college in 1826, studied divinity at Andover, settled as colleague pastor with the Rev. Dr. Holmes over the first Congregational church in Cambridge, Dec. 17, 1829, resigned March 17, 1834, and was installed over the Essex street church in Boston, March 26, 1834. He took an active part in the controversy with the Unitarians, and published several works of a polemic and devotional character. The principal of these are: "Remarks on the Unitarian Belief," "The Friends of Christ in the New Testament" (Boston, 1853), and "Life of John Eliot." He was also a frequent contributor to the "Spirit of the Pilgrims," a religious periodical (Boston, 1826-33), devoted to the defence of the puritan faith against the encroachments of modern liberalism. He has also published " Christ a Friend," "Agnes and the Key of her Little Obffin," "Bertha and her Baptism, or the Early Saved," works of religious consolation for the afflicted.

In 1853 Dr. Adams spent a winter, for the benefit of his health, in Savannah, Georgia, on the plantation of a wealthy slaveholder; and on his return he wrote " A South Side View of Slavery " (1854), in which he gave a highly favorable description of the institution, and especially of its influence on the religious character of the slave. He also published a correspondence on the same subject with Governor Wise of Virginia. After 35 years of pastoral labor with the Essex street church, in 1869, in consequence of failing health, he resigned his pastorate. His people refused to accept his resignation, but procured an associate minister, and gave him a long leave of absence, which he employed in making a voyage round the world, spending much time in the Sandwich Islands. He returned in 1871 with improved health.