Annette Grace Abbott Adams was born on March 12, 1877 in Prattville, California. She attended Chico State Normal School and earned a teaching certificate. She taught school for four years to save money to attend the University of California, Berkeley. There she and her sister helped start a Delta Delta Delta chapter at Berkeley.
After graduating in 1904, she moved to Alturas, California, and taught high school. When she became principal at Modoc County High School in 1907, she was one of the first female principals in the state of California.
On August 13, 1906, she married Martin Houston “Mart” Adams who was two years her junior. Some say she married just to have a “Mrs.” In front of her name. She became dissatisfied with a principal’s salary and decided that law was a career for her. After she left for law school in 1910, the couple did not live together, but they never divorced.
In 1910, for every 200 men who were lawyers, judges and justices, there was only one female in those positions. In 1912, Adams graduated from the University of California Berkeley School of Law. That year she was one of the first women to be admitted to the California Bar. She and Marguerite Ogden Steele formed a partnership and served a mainly female clientele. Steele was a victim of the 1917 influenza epidemic.
After working for Woodrow Wilson’s election in California, when women could not vote in a Presidential election, she was rewarded with an appointment as an assistant Attorney General position. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of California from 1914-19. In 1920, she was appointed as the Assistant Attorney General for the same district, making her the first female to be a United States Assistant Attorney General. She was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1920.
In an interview published in the July 14, 1920 edition of the Chattanooga News, it was noted that she lived alone and made her own breakfast. She told the reporter:
Well, I find my greatest relaxation after the grind of the office in housework I guess it’s because I love my home so much that I’ve taken such an interest in the women’s fight against the high cost of food and clothing. I’m an active member of the ‘Housewives’ league, and I’ve often used my office and spare tie to do all I can to help out.
I’ve been preaching the gospel of saving. I boycotted 16 cent milk, I refused to eat 10 cent potatoes and I never bought a 17-cent loaf of bread in my life. And I have stopped wearing silk stockings.
Common sense – that is what America needs now. If the majority shows common sense the discontented minority will. I’m rather optimistic about the future.
A report in the 1920 Delta of Tri Delta, reiterated her thrift:
For the past year Mrs. Adams has been actively interested in methods for bringing down the soaring costs. She has given many talks before women’s and business men’s clubs, and was instrumental in forming the federal fair trade committee for San Francisco which has already accomplished much in combating prices.
Adams resigned the position in 1921 and was in private practice until 1935. She made a run for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1923, but was unsuccessful.
In April 1926, the senior class of Tri Deltas were guests of honor at a luncheon that the local alumnae hosted. It took place on a Saturday afternoon at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Adams was one of the speakers.
On November 12, 1935, she was appointed Assistant Special Counsel. She was appointed Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal for the Third District in 1942. She was one of the highest ranking judges in the state. She was elected to a 12 year term on the Court of Appeal. In 1950 she became the first female to sit on the California Supreme Court in a special assignment (Gardner v. Jonathon Club (1950) 35 Cal.2d 343)
She retired in 1952 due to ill health and died in Sacramento in October 26, 1956.
