Born on October 2, 1755, in Medfield, Massachusetts, Hannah Adams was the daughter of a notably eccentric bibliophile father whose lack of business acumen kept the large family in poverty. She inherited his love of books and remarkable memory, and although she received no formal schooling she was well tutored by divinity students boarding in the home. One of these showed her the Reverend Thomas Broughton╒s Historical Dictionary of All Religions, which prompted her to read widely and keep voluminous notes in the field of religions. The notes were published in 1784 as An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects Which Have Appeared from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Present Day. The book was well received, saw three more American editions and three in London, and brought its author a modest financial return. Determined to earn her living in this way, she set to work on A Summary History of New-England, which appeared in 1799.
By this time her eyesight was affected by her constant work. While preparing an abridged version of her history for schools, she learned that the Reverend Jedidiah Morse was engaged in a similar project. Morse╒s book appeared first, and hers apparently suffered in sales as a result. A number of Boston liberal intellectuals, motivated both by admiration for her and antipathy to Morse, a staunchly conservative Calvinist, precipitated a public controversy over the matter, in which Morse conducted himself so clumsily as to lose all public support. Hannah Adams took little direct part in the celebrated controversy. Several of her Boston supporters established an annuity for her, and the rest of her days were devoted to the compilation of data. She published The Truth and Excellence of the Christian Religion Exhibited, 1804, History of the Jews, 1812, and Letters on the Gospels, 1824. She died in Brookline, Massachusetts, on December 15, 1831; her Memoir of Miss Hannah Adams, Written by Herself appeared the following year.
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