Early Life and Ancestry
Adams was born as Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Asaneth Ann "Annie" (née Adams) and James (or John) Henry Kiskadden. Little is known of Adams's father. He died in 1878 when Maude was only six years old. It has been written that he came to Utah from Montana, and that the Kiskaddens originated in Ohio. He was not a Mormon, and Adams herself once wrote of her father as having been a "gentile". The surname "Kiskadden" is Scottish.
Most of what is known of Adams's ancestry traces through her maternal grandmother, Julia Ann Adams (née Banker). The Banker family came from Plattsburgh, New York. Adams's great grandfather Platt Banker converted to Mormonism, and it is said that the family migrated to Missouri with fellow members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Missouri, Julia married Barnabus Adams. The family then migrated to Utah, settling in Salt Lake City, where Maude's mother, Asaneth Ann "Annie" Adams was born. Adams was also a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland. The extent of Adams's connection to the LDS Church is unclear. Adams took long sabbaticals in Catholic rectories, and in 1922 she donated her estates at Lake Ronkonkoma to one of these places, the Sisters of St. Regis, for use as a novitiate and retreat house.
Adams's mother, Annie Kiskadden, was an actress and, travelling with her, Maude spent her early years in provincial theaters, first appearing in plays at the age of nine months when she was carried onstage in her mother’s arms. At the age of five, Adams starred in a San Francisco theater as "Little Schneider" in Fritz, Our German Cousin and as "Adrienne Renaud" in A Celebrated Case. Often described as shy, Adams was referred to by Ethel Barrymore as the "original 'I want to be alone' woman". She was known as helpful to aspiring young actors and actresses. She was known at times to supplement the salaries of fellow performers out of her own pay. Once while touring, a theater owner doubled the price of tickets knowing Adams's name meant a sold-out house. Adams made the owner refund the difference before she appeared on the stage that night.
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