Adams, Evangeline Smith (Mrs. George E. Jordon, Jr.) (1859-1933)

Noted American astrologer. Born February 8, 1859, in Jersey City, New Jersey; daughter of George and Harriette E. (Smith) Adams (of the Adams family of New England); and a descendant of John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. She was educated in Andover, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois, and from childhood she was strongly impressed by the religious and academic atmosphere of Andover, which was then the center of various theological institutions. While still young, Adams had her horoscope read by Dr. J. Herbert Smith, then professor of Materia Medica at Boston University and became profoundly interested in astrology. Smith's reading of Adams's horoscope and his personal observation of her character convinced him that she was an ideal personality to help elevate astrology to the dignity of an accepted science. He taught her all he knew, and she supplemented this knowledge by studying Hindu Vedanta under Swami Vivekananda, pioneer of Hindu philosophy in the United States. After years of study, Adams started practice as a professional astrological consultant in New York.

She became nationally known when she read a chart for the owner of New York's Windsor Hotel on Fifth Avenue predicting a serious disaster that would take place almost immediately. The hotel owner was unaware of any impending problems and took no action, but the next day his hotel was destroyed by fire. The resulting media publicity brought Evangeline Adams immediate fame nationwide. In 1914 she was prosecuted for "fortune-telling" but contested the case in court. She demonstrated her methods of work and made an accurate prediction concerning the judge's son. Judge John H. Freschi acquitted her, stating: "The defendant has raised astrology to the dignity of an exact science."

Adams published various books and pamphlets on astrology, and many famous individuals (including J. Pierpont Morgan, Mary Pickford, singer Enrico Caruso, and King Edward VII of Britain) visited her headquarters at Carnegie Hall. From1930 onward she broadcast three times weekly, and received thousands of letters requesting astrological readings. As early as 1931, she predicted that the United States would be at war in 1942. In 1932 she was booked for a 21-night lecture tour but canceled it after predicting her own death, which duly occurred. She is generally recognized as the leading astrologer of her time who laid the groundwork for professional astrology in the United States. She died in New York November 10, 1933.

Sources:

Adams, Evangeline. Astrology: Your Place among the Stars. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1930.

——. Astrology: Your Place in the Sun. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1928.

——. Astrology for Everyone: What It Is and How It Works. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1931.

——. The Bowl of Heaven. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1926.