Myra Clark Gaines (c.1805-1885) was born and died in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was an American socialite and the third wife of General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Clark Gaines was also the plaintiff in one of the longest running series of lawsuits in United States history. The lawsuits contested her father's will and ran from 1834 to 1891, with the United States Supreme Court issuing its final ruling six years after her death. Mary Baker Eddy was introduced to Clark Gaines by Eddy's cousin, Fanny McNeil Potter. There's no record of when exactly Eddy met Clark Gaines, but it was most likely on Eddy's 1882 trip to Washington, D.C. There is no record of Clark Gaines studying with Mary Baker Eddy or uniting with the Church of Christ (Scientist).

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