Adam was born "in the street which is called Gracious" (Gracechurch) in the parish of St. Peter's, Cornhill in London. He graduated from Magdalen College and worked as a lawyer. In 1594 he moved to Groton. While living at Groton, Adam often tried poetry, either in English or Latin; a manuscript anthology of some of his work exists in the British Museum (Harleian Manuscripts No. 1598). The opening lines of a poem written for his neighbor Lady Mildmay on the birth of her son Henry are: "I sing not like the swan, that ready is to die...But with the Phoenix I rejoice, when she in fire doth fry".