Edwin Tappan Adney was born in 1868 in Athens, Ohio. He first visited Woodstock, New Brunswick, in 1887, just before entering Columbia University. He returned to Woodstock from time to time, and eventually made it his home. In 1897-1898, Adney became one of the first reporters to cover the gold rush in the Yukon. In 1900, he was a special correspondent for Collier's Weekly during the gold rush at Nome, Alaska. Adney married Minnie Bell Sharp, daughter of Francis Peabody Sharp, a horticulturalist and apple grower in Jacksonville, NB, in 1899. They had one son, Glenn, born in 1902, who became a jazz musician and then an actuary for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York. Minnie Bell died in 1937; Tappan Adney died at Woodstock, in 1950.

Adney’s studies of American Indian culture resulted in the publication of a great number of works, including books on the natural history, religion, and myths of the Northeastern Indian tribes and the Maliseets of New Brunswick. The New Brunswick Museum in Saint John holds a collection of his models of canoes and other findings.

Tappan Adney's knowledge of historical heraldry permitted him to work on many decoration projects (carved shields of arms, overmantels, etc.) for colleges and public buildings throughout Canada. Projects included the Royal Military College, Kingston; Queen's University; the University of British Columbia; and the Manoir Richelieu. Adney also painted mural panels for the Hudson's Bay Company building in Winnipeg. In 1926, E. T. Adney won a competition organized by the Montreal newspaper, "La Presse," for the creation of a Canadian flag. His design remained a contender in competitions until the late 1940s.

Source: "Friend of Indians, E.T. Adney Widely Known Writer, Artist, Passes Here", The Sentinel Press; October 12, 1950.