Private Earnest E. Adams was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on May 27, 1891. His mother was Josephine Adams. Private Adams was raised in New Jersey. He left school at age seventeen while in the eighth grade. He worked various jobs at the Singer Manufacturing Company for three years. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at Ft. Slocum, New York on December 31, 1915.

Private Earnest E. Adams died on August 2, 1931.