Born: 2 October 1755, United States
Died: 15 December 1831
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Hannah Adams was an American author renowned for her works on comparative religion and early United States history. She was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, and passed away in Brookline. Adams was the first female professional writer in the United States.
She was raised in a modest and secluded countryside environment, and largely self-educated herself. Her formative years unfolded in a time when scholarly women were a rare find in New England. Despite grappling with chronic health issues and often facing financial hardships, she remained unwavering in her pursuit of knowledge. Her father, a Harvard College-educated man, ran a small rural store where books were among the commodities. He also hosted divinity students, from whom his daughter acquired knowledge of Greek and Latin, skills she would later teach to others.
In 1784, Adams published her first work, “A View of Religions,” which garnered a favorable response, leading to an expanded edition in 1791. The income generated not only improved her financial situation but also enabled her to settle the debts she had incurred during her and her sister’s illnesses. Additionally, it allowed her to lend a small sum at interest. In 1799, she released “A Summary History of New-England.” While gathering materials for this endeavor, including sifting through ancient manuscripts, she suffered a decline in her eyesight, necessitating the assistance of a secretary to prepare the manuscript for the printers. Her magnum opus, “The History of the Jews since the Destruction of Jerusalem,” was reprinted in London in 1818, with all expenses covered for the benefit of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Adams also embarked on an autobiography, which posthumously saw the light of day thanks to the efforts of Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee. In her later years, she enjoyed financial stability thanks to a comfortable annuity raised by her circle of friends.
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
ADAMS, HANNAH, A celebrated American writer, was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, in 1755. Her father was a respectable farmer in that place, rather better educated than persons of his class usually were at that time; and his daughter, who was a very delicate child, profited by his fondness for books. So great was her love for reading and study, that when very young she had committed to memory nearly all of Milton, Pope, Thomson, Young, and several other poets.
When she was about seventeen her father failed in business, and Miss Adams was obliged to exert herself for her own maintenance. This she did at first by making lace, a very profitable employment during the revolutionary war, as very little lace was then imported. But after the termination of the conflict she was obliged to resort to some other means of support; and having acquired tram the students who boarded with her father, a competent knowledge of Latin and Greek, she undertook to prepare young men for college; and succeeded so well, that her reputation was spread throughout the state.
Her first work entitled “The View of Religions,” which she commenced when she was about thirty, is a history of the different sects in religion. It caused her so much hard study and close reflection, that she was attacked before the close of her labours by a severe fit of illness, and threatened with derangement. Her next work was a carefully written “History of New England;” and her third was on “The Evidences of the Christian Religion.” Though all these works showed great candour and liberality of mind and profound research, and though they were popular, yet they brought her but little besides fame; which, however, had extended to Europe, and she reckoned among her correspondents many of the learned men of all countries. Among these was the celebrated abbé Gregoire, who was then struggling for the emancipation of the Jews in France. He sent Miss Adams several volumes, which she acknowledged were of much use to her in preparing her own work, a “History of the Jews,” now considered one of the most valuable of her productions. Still, as far as pecuniary matters went, she was singularly unsuccessful, probably from her want of knowledge of business, and ignorance in worldly matters; and, to relieve her from her embarrassments, three wealthy gentlemen of Boston, with great liberality, settled an annuity upon her, of which she was kept in entire ignorance till the whole affair was completed.
The latter part of her life passed in Boston, in the midst of a large circle of friends, by whom she was warmly cherished and esteemed for the singular excellence, purity, and simplicity of her character. She died, November 16th. 1832, at the age of seventy-six, and was buried at Mount Auburn; the first whose body was placed in that cemetery. Through life the gentleness of her manners, and the sweetness of her temper were child-like; she trusted all her cares to the control of her Heavenly Father; and she did not trust in vain.