David Adams was born in 1799, possibly in Alabama, and arrived in St. Louis in the late 1820s where he opened a “tipling house,” or saloon, with his brother James. In 1827, David married Elizabeth Vachard (born 1809), daughter of Mary and Charles Vachard. Always active in the fur trade, David joined Capt. Bonneville’s expedition west in 1832. He continued to be active in the plains fur trade, eventually opening a trading post from Fort Platte with his partner John Sibille around 1843. In 1848, David agreed to lead a party west to the California gold mines. In 1851, he became the executor for the estate of Charles Vachard, the father of his wife, Elizabeth. All business ventures were financially unsuccessful and he returned home penniless and in debt. In 1853, David became the toll gate keeper for Gate #1 on Natural Bridge Road and in 1857 he opened a blacksmith shop with Joseph Hughes. The “Duncan’s Island Trial” began in 1857, as David Adams tried to reclaim land from the city of St. Louis that he believed belonged to him, but a quit claim deed in 1858 shows that he sold his rights to that land for $5. Although he became a successful guide and trapper, he ended up spending his later years in St. Louis impoverished, and died in 1874.