Joseph A. Adams (1834-1900) was born in Northampton, England, and died in Seattle, Washington. He was an itinerant Congregational minister who emigrated to the United States in about 1860 and preached in Indiana, Colorado, and California. He was a student of Mary Baker Eddy's, completing the Primary and Normal classes in 1886 and joining the Christian Scientist Association on May 5, 1886. In the Spring of 1886, Adams preached several times at the services of the Church of Christ (Scientist) in Boston before returning to Chicago later that year. He was a Christian Science teacher and practitioner, listed in the directory of The Christian Science Journal until February 1888 when, at the request of the Board of Directors of the Church of Christ (Scientist), Chicago, his card was removed from the Journal because of his "affiliation with schools of thought not loyal to Christian Science." After his card was removed, Adams founded his own church called the Second Congregation of Christian Scientists, and he also edited his own periodical, the Chicago Christian Scientist, later called the Chicago Truth Gleaner. In 1895 he returned to Oakland, California, and tried to found a church; however, it appears to have been short-lived and he instead lectured before various audiences on spiritualism and "gospel science."

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