 His name may have been originally Heinrich Friedrich Adolphe Frost, but he evidently preferred "Adolph Frost".Adolph was born in Hamburg, Germany the only son of Johann Joachim Domenicus (John) Frost (31 March 1813 – 14 December 1865) and his wife Catharina Maria Louisa Juncken (March 1821 – 11 February 1905) and two sisters, who emigrated to South Australia on the barque "Steinwaerder" ("Steinwärder") on the 30 August 1848 from Hamburg, arriving on 12 January 1849 at Port Adelaide, South Australia.They settled at Lyndoch, and on completion of his schooling learned the skills of the saddler, after which he followed his trade at Rhynie, then around 1869 to Port Wakefield then Yorketown, where he ran a lucrative business, and for a time served as mayor.