John Greenleaf Adams

Who was John Greenleaf Adams?

John Greenleaf Adams 1810 – 1897 was co-editor with Dr. E.H. Chapin of the Universalist Hymns for Christian Devotion and alone for the Gospel Psalmist, 1861.

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he married twice and had two sons and one daughter. He was ordained in 1833 in Rumney, New Hampshire.

Although rarely used outside his denomination, best known of his hymns are

Heaven is here, its hymns of gladness

God's angels; not only on high do they sing

His papers can be found at the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School among which include correspondence with A. C. Thomas, Thomas Thayer, Lucius Paige, Moses Ballou, W. H. Ryder, J. W. Hanson, M. Goddard.