Joel Adams

Joel Adams (February 4, 1750 – July 9, 1830) was an American planter and soldier from Richland County, South Carolina. Adams served as an officer in the South Carolina militia during the American Revolution and also served in the Continental Army. Adams married Grace Weston, daughter of William Weston, and they had seven children.

Adams was instrumental in the successful agricultural development of central part of South Carolina in the 18th century, and was influential in the political structure of the state being centered in Columbia, South Carolina at the time.

His great-grandson Henry Walker Adams (1852-1903), son of James Uriah Adams, served in The South Carolina House of Representatives.

The South Carolina author and physician Dr. Edward Clarkson Leverett Adams (1876–1946) was the double great-great-grandson of Joel, and was a member of The South Carolina House of Representatives. E.C.L. Adams was the great-grandson of Joel Adams II and James Adams, two of Joel's sons. He was the author of a number of books including Tales of the Congaree. African American author, and Harlem Renaissance leader, Langston Hughes visited E.C.L. Adams at his home in South Carolina and said of Adams that he "was exactly my idea of what a true Southern gentleman should be."

His descendant Weston Adams served in the South Carolina House of Representatives, and was also a United States Ambassador.

Joel Adams is buried at St. John's Congaree Episcopal Church in Congaree, South Carolina.