George J. Adams
Encyclopedia
George Jones Adams was the leader of a schismatic Latter Day Saint
sect who led an ill-fated effort to establish a colony of Americans
in Palestine
. Adams was also briefly a member of the First Presidency
in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)
. In preparation for colonizing Palestine, he changed his name to George Washington Joshua Adams, to tie himself to two well-known country builders: George Washington
of the United States
and Joshua
of ancient Israel.
, New Jersey
of Welsh descent. By the 1830s, he had been trained as a Methodist
preacher and was a merchant tailor. He was also an aspiring Shakespearean actor, but had little success in being cast in roles.
While travelling from Boston to New York City
in February 1840, Adams heard the preaching of Latter Day Saint apostle Heber C. Kimball
, and was baptized
into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the same week. Within a month he had become an elder in the church. In 1841, Adams travelled to England
as a missionary
for the church; he was successful in winning numerous converts and stayed in England for eighteen months.
In October 1843, church president Joseph Smith, Jr. asked Adams to travel with apostle Orson Hyde
as a missionary to Russia
. In 1844, Smith invited Adams to join the exclusive Council of Fifty
. On June 7, 1844, Smith set apart
Adams "to be an apostle and special witness ... to the empire of Russia", in preparation for the Mormon political kingdom. However, just prior to Adams' planned departure later that month, all church political efforts were suspended after Smith was killed
and the church was thrown into turmoil. Adams returned to New England as a regular missionary, and, along with William Smith, Joseph Smith's surviving brother, created much turmoil among the branches there, claiming to be the "Thirteenth Apostle" and "greater than Paul," and therefore having more authority than any of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On April 10, 1845, Adams was excommunicated by the Quorum of Twelve Apostles for proposing that the church be led by Joseph Smith III
(Joseph Smith's eldest son) under the guardianship of William Smith.
Back in Boston
in 1847, Adams was the main witness in the sensationalistic trial of Cobb v. Cobb, in which Henry Cobb sued his wife, Augusta Adams Cobb, for divorce, for having committed adultery
with Joseph Smith's successor, Brigham Young
; she had married Young in November 1843 without first divorcing Henry. The court case went to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
, presided over by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw
, and was widely reported in newspapers nationwide.
. In 1850, Adams crowned Strang with a metal crown as a spiritual "king of Israel", and Adams was appointed to be Strang's "prime minister
" and "viceroy
". However, by 1851, Adams had been excommunicated from the Strangite church on recurring charges of embezzlement
, adultery
, apostasy
, and drunkenness
.
called the Church of the Messiah. Adams claimed to be a prophet
of Jesus Christ to the world and began publication of a periodical called The Sword of Truth and Harbinger of Peace. In 1864, Adams established the headquarters of his church in Indian River
, Maine
, near the Canadian
border. Later that year, Adams announced a great mission whereby he and his followers would travel to and settle in Palestine
. Adams taught that their colony could prepare the land for the return of the Jews, which in turn would hasten the Second Coming
of Jesus. The members of the church donated much of their money to the church in an effort to realise Adam's proposal.
In 1865, Adams and Indian River's postmaster, Abraham McKenszie, traveled to Palestine and arranged for the purchase of a tract of land near Jaffa
. Upon returning to the United States
, Adams organized the Palestine Emigration Association to coordinate his church's move. In February 1866, Adams was received by U.S. President
Andrew Johnson
and Secretary of State
William H. Seward
at the White House
. Seward agreed to expedite a petition from Adams and his church members to the government of the Ottoman Empire
to ensure that the American settlers' title to the land Adams arranged to purchase was respected.
One hundred and fifty-six members of the Church of the Messiah sailed from Boston to Jaffa on the Nellie Chapin, arriving on September 22, 1866. The colony began by camping on the beach, relying on local Arab
s for food and water. Within a month, six children and three adults had died. By November, the colony had erected a number of simple frame houses.
The pilgrims secured a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) plot of land outside of Jaffa, where they founded the American Colony, named Amelican in Arabic
, or Adams City in English
, between today's Rechov Eilat and Rechov haRabbi mi-Bacherach in Tel Aviv-Yafo. However, the settlers quickly encountered problems. Scavengers ravaged their crops and the community faced famine heading into the winter of 1866-67. This and the climate, the insecure and arbitrary treatment by the Ottoman authorities, made many colonists willing to remigrate to Maine.
But their leader Adams withheld their money, which the colonists had earlier conveyed to him. So the missionary Peter Metzler of the Protestant mission in Jaffa bought the land of five colonists, providing them the funds to leave. Adams was drinking heavily at the time and had lost his control over the colonists. In April, a group of colonists appealed to the American consul
to the Ottoman Empire for assistance in returning to America. By the end of the month, the U.S. government had arranged for 26 settlers to return. By the end of summer, after the colony's crop harvest was a disastrous failure, only Adams and 40 other settlers remained. By October 1867, the U.S. State Department had appropriated $3000 for the return of any of the remaining colonists who wished to leave Palestine, while by December 1867, the colony had run out of money and resources.
Some of the colonists traveled back to America on the ship Quaker City; Mark Twain
was a passenger on the same journey and he wrote about the failed settlers in his chapter 57 of his 1869 book The Innocents Abroad. Upon returning to the United States, many of Adams' former followers joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
. In June 1868, Adams and his wife left Palestine and sailed to England. Twenty of the original colonists remained in Palestine, some of whom remained permanently.
The remigrated colonists could sell much of their real estate left behind to newly arriving settlers, called Templers
, coming from Württemberg
in 1869. On 5 March 1869 also Metzler sold most of his real estate to the new colonists, thus Adams City became later known as the German Colony of Jaffa.
and tried to raise followers for a second attempt at settling Palestine, he had returned to America by 1870. He preached in Philadelphia and in 1873 opened a "Church of the Messiah" building for Sunday sermons. When confronted by his past exploits by former followers or others, Adams would deny his identity and past. He died in Philadelphia of "typhoid pneumonia". His only child, Clarence A. Adams, was a Baptist
clergyman in Pennsylvania until his death in the 1920s.
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
sect who led an ill-fated effort to establish a colony of Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. Adams was also briefly a member of the First Presidency
First Presidency
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...
in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement with around three hundred members as of 1998...
. In preparation for colonizing Palestine, he changed his name to George Washington Joshua Adams, to tie himself to two well-known country builders: George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Joshua
Joshua
Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...
of ancient Israel.
Conversion and early church service
Adams was born in OxfordOxford, New Jersey
Oxford is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Oxford Township, in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. The population was 2,283 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Oxford is located at ....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
of Welsh descent. By the 1830s, he had been trained as a Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
preacher and was a merchant tailor. He was also an aspiring Shakespearean actor, but had little success in being cast in roles.
While travelling from Boston to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in February 1840, Adams heard the preaching of Latter Day Saint apostle Heber C. Kimball
Heber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...
, and was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the same week. Within a month he had become an elder in the church. In 1841, Adams travelled to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
for the church; he was successful in winning numerous converts and stayed in England for eighteen months.
In October 1843, church president Joseph Smith, Jr. asked Adams to travel with apostle Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...
as a missionary to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. In 1844, Smith invited Adams to join the exclusive Council of Fifty
Council of Fifty
The Council of Fifty was a Latter Day Saint organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. On June 7, 1844, Smith set apart
Setting apart
Setting apart is an ordinance or ritual in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whereby a person is formally chosen and blessed to carry out a specific calling or responsibility in the church....
Adams "to be an apostle and special witness ... to the empire of Russia", in preparation for the Mormon political kingdom. However, just prior to Adams' planned departure later that month, all church political efforts were suspended after Smith was killed
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...
and the church was thrown into turmoil. Adams returned to New England as a regular missionary, and, along with William Smith, Joseph Smith's surviving brother, created much turmoil among the branches there, claiming to be the "Thirteenth Apostle" and "greater than Paul," and therefore having more authority than any of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On April 10, 1845, Adams was excommunicated by the Quorum of Twelve Apostles for proposing that the church be led by Joseph Smith III
Joseph Smith III
Joseph Smith III was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and Emma Hale Smith...
(Joseph Smith's eldest son) under the guardianship of William Smith.
Back in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1847, Adams was the main witness in the sensationalistic trial of Cobb v. Cobb, in which Henry Cobb sued his wife, Augusta Adams Cobb, for divorce, for having committed adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
with Joseph Smith's successor, Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
; she had married Young in November 1843 without first divorcing Henry. The court case went to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...
, presided over by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw
Lemuel Shaw
Lemuel Shaw was an American jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court...
, and was widely reported in newspapers nationwide.
Strangite leader
After his excommunication, Adams came to accept the spiritual leadership of James J. Strang, and in December 1846 became editor of Star in the East, a Strangite publication printed in Boston. He then was ordained Strang's counselor in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement with around three hundred members as of 1998...
. In 1850, Adams crowned Strang with a metal crown as a spiritual "king of Israel", and Adams was appointed to be Strang's "prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
" and "viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
". However, by 1851, Adams had been excommunicated from the Strangite church on recurring charges of embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
, adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
, and drunkenness
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
.
Church of the Messiah
By the late 1850s, Adams had established a church in New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
called the Church of the Messiah. Adams claimed to be a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
of Jesus Christ to the world and began publication of a periodical called The Sword of Truth and Harbinger of Peace. In 1864, Adams established the headquarters of his church in Indian River
Washington County, Maine
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. In 2010, its population was 32,856. Its county seat is Machias.Sometimes referred to as "Sunrise County" because it is the easternmost county in the United States, and it is often where the rising sun first shines on the 48...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, near the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
border. Later that year, Adams announced a great mission whereby he and his followers would travel to and settle in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. Adams taught that their colony could prepare the land for the return of the Jews, which in turn would hasten the Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
of Jesus. The members of the church donated much of their money to the church in an effort to realise Adam's proposal.
Palestinian settlement
Adams' friendship with Orson Hyde heavily influenced his decision to move to Palestine. Hyde was the first Mormon envoy to Jerusalem, and Adams "dreamed of replicating Hyde's pilgrimage to the Holy Land." After migrating around the Northeast for some years, Adams settled in Indian River, Maine, and prophesied that the prerequisite the Second Coming was "the Jews' restoration to Palestine."In 1865, Adams and Indian River's postmaster, Abraham McKenszie, traveled to Palestine and arranged for the purchase of a tract of land near Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
. Upon returning to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Adams organized the Palestine Emigration Association to coordinate his church's move. In February 1866, Adams was received by U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
and Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
William H. Seward
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. Seward agreed to expedite a petition from Adams and his church members to the government of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
to ensure that the American settlers' title to the land Adams arranged to purchase was respected.
One hundred and fifty-six members of the Church of the Messiah sailed from Boston to Jaffa on the Nellie Chapin, arriving on September 22, 1866. The colony began by camping on the beach, relying on local Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s for food and water. Within a month, six children and three adults had died. By November, the colony had erected a number of simple frame houses.
The pilgrims secured a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) plot of land outside of Jaffa, where they founded the American Colony, named Amelican in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, or Adams City in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, between today's Rechov Eilat and Rechov haRabbi mi-Bacherach in Tel Aviv-Yafo. However, the settlers quickly encountered problems. Scavengers ravaged their crops and the community faced famine heading into the winter of 1866-67. This and the climate, the insecure and arbitrary treatment by the Ottoman authorities, made many colonists willing to remigrate to Maine.
But their leader Adams withheld their money, which the colonists had earlier conveyed to him. So the missionary Peter Metzler of the Protestant mission in Jaffa bought the land of five colonists, providing them the funds to leave. Adams was drinking heavily at the time and had lost his control over the colonists. In April, a group of colonists appealed to the American consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
to the Ottoman Empire for assistance in returning to America. By the end of the month, the U.S. government had arranged for 26 settlers to return. By the end of summer, after the colony's crop harvest was a disastrous failure, only Adams and 40 other settlers remained. By October 1867, the U.S. State Department had appropriated $3000 for the return of any of the remaining colonists who wished to leave Palestine, while by December 1867, the colony had run out of money and resources.
Some of the colonists traveled back to America on the ship Quaker City; Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
was a passenger on the same journey and he wrote about the failed settlers in his chapter 57 of his 1869 book The Innocents Abroad. Upon returning to the United States, many of Adams' former followers joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Community of Christ
The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...
. In June 1868, Adams and his wife left Palestine and sailed to England. Twenty of the original colonists remained in Palestine, some of whom remained permanently.
The remigrated colonists could sell much of their real estate left behind to newly arriving settlers, called Templers
Templers (religious believers)
Templers are members of the Temple Society , a German Protestant sect with roots in the Pietist movement of the Lutheran Church. The Templers were expelled from the church in 1858 because of their millennial beliefs. Their aim was to realize the apocalyptic visions of the prophets of Israel in the...
, coming from Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...
in 1869. On 5 March 1869 also Metzler sold most of his real estate to the new colonists, thus Adams City became later known as the German Colony of Jaffa.
Return to America and death
Although Adams preached briefly in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and tried to raise followers for a second attempt at settling Palestine, he had returned to America by 1870. He preached in Philadelphia and in 1873 opened a "Church of the Messiah" building for Sunday sermons. When confronted by his past exploits by former followers or others, Adams would deny his identity and past. He died in Philadelphia of "typhoid pneumonia". His only child, Clarence A. Adams, was a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
clergyman in Pennsylvania until his death in the 1920s.