501From Abigail Smith Adams to Julia Stockton Rush, 7 July 1813 (Adams Papers)
“The Chamber where the good Man meets his fate is privileged beyond the common walk of virtuous Life, quite in the verge of heaven” Your Letter my dear Madam of June 23d, afforded me that painfull pleasure which we feel in contemplating the virtues, the tallents and the endearments, which altho the dear possessor is no longer with us, the sweet remembrance still remains, and will bloom arround...
502From Abigail Smith Adams to William Cranch, 1817 to 20 May 1818 (Adams Papers)
I yesterday received your Letter from Annapolis of May 8th. I congratulate you my dear Sir, that altho the clouds have been darkned round you, and altho You have experienced by death the loss of kind and worthey Friends, others are rising up to Supply their place. the opening now which presents itself, is Such as may give you Sanguine hopes & Light prospect. I sincerely wish they may be...
503From Abigail Smith Adams to Anonymous, June 1811 (Adams Papers)
your two last favours of May 18th & 29th are now before me unreplied to. my apology must be that it has been our general Election for of the High, altho nigardly paid office of Govr Leiut Govenour Senators & Legislature. and pray Madam methinks I hear you ask what have you to do in it. why really nothing at all, but to give them my good wishes. but you must know that at this period there is a...
504From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 22 February 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Schooner Washington owned by mr Gray is ready to Sail for St Petersburgh. I have already sent some Letters on Board of her, but the great bulk mr Erving is charged with, and when he will Sail, I know not. he has been ready, and waiting this Month for his Dispatches. concequently our Letters are already a Month old. There is a Charm in a Letter of recent date, Consisting in its very...
505From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 3 May 1813 (Adams Papers)
The vessel which carries you this Letter will convey to you the account of the Death of a dear and valued Friend, the Friend of his Country, the Friend of Mankind, and the confidential Friend & constant correspondent of your Father, the Sincerely lamented Rush upon the 10 of April your Father received a Letter from him, as he had done for more than a year almost every week. upon the 18th to...
506Obituary Notice for Abigail Smith Adams, 12 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
In the death of Mrs. ADAMS, her friends and society lament no ordinary loss. The grave has closed over the mortal remains of one, whose character combined with as much practical wisdom and substantial virtue as have ever been possessed by any individual. Society is not adorned with a purer example; virtue had not a firmer prop; religion cannot number among its friends a more rational,...
507From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 30 December 1812 (Adams Papers)
Despairing almost of conveying a Letter to you amidst the war of Empires and Kingdoms, I have had but little encouragement to write, yet knowing how anxious you must be Relative to your Family, your Children your Friends and Country I Shall make the attempt, and trust this Letter on Board a Cartel now going from Nyork to England, hopeing that it will be treated with the Same lenity, with which...
508From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 28 June 1816 (Adams Papers)
I have to acknowledge your obligeing Letter of June the 18th, and to thank you for the communications—our News papers had previously announced the presentation of mrs Adams at the Queens drawing Room, and copied from the morning Chronical, the distinguishd elegance and taste of her dress. This has Set the wits of all our Bells to work, to find out what Lama triming is, that Elegant article not...
509From Abigail Smith Adams to Anonymous, 7 January 1811 (Adams Papers)
Sure my dear Friend there is a secret Sympathy in Souls whose minds are congenial to each other which draw them to communion. the Night before I received your palsied Letter, in its Silent watches my mind was employed about you and I was reflecting upon your lonely Situation for to you I knew it must be so, however Surrounded by kind tender and affectionate Friends, and I contemplated writing...
I received yesterday your journal to the 21st of Jan’ry. Washington Seems to be in a whirpool of dissipation—well described by Scott in his tales of my Landlord—“a chase through Life, after follies not worth catching; and when caught successively thrown away; a chase pursued from days of tottering infancy to old Age—Toys and merry makings in Childhood, Love and its absurdities in youth....
511From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 5 November 1816 (Adams Papers)
while your Father is deeply engaged, in reading, Dupuis “orgine de Tous Les Cultes ou Religion universelle” which he Says is the most Learned work he ever read. all is Silent around me, and I embrace this Season of quiet and tranquility to write to you, and to acknowledge your Letter of August 12th No 92.—your hand writing, always gives me a Spring to my Spirits, and is like a cordial, altho...
512From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 24 April 1811 (Adams Papers)
your Letter No 10 has found its way in four Months after its Date. It is as you observe, three and four Months that Letters are upon their passage before they reach the place of their destination. I have thought it very fortunate, with all the chances they run, that So many of them reach us in perfect order, not of time, but condition your No 4 I give up as wholy lost, but of the late Numbers,...
513From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 20 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
As I hope you are now in a Situation both to receive Letters, and write them with more Security that they will reach their destination. I flatter myself that I Shall hear oftner from you. By the Amsterdam packet which is to Sail on Sunday, I Shall endeavour to Send this Letter, and as I have lately written by an other vessel to my Son, I Shall address this to you, to congratulate you, as I...
514From Abigail Smith Adams to Richard Rush, 20 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
I have not yet replied to your kind letter from Philadelphia—I designed it Sooner, but overwhelmd as we have been, by the unexpected Stroke of providence, in the premature (as to us weak Mortals) it appears, in the death of the Greatest Man our State could boast, and one of the best, what could I say? but be dumb and silent, for thou O Lord hast done it.—A Nations Tears flow upon this...
515From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 4 February 1815 (Adams Papers)
I received last Evening, all the articles you were so kind as to purchase for me. they were perfectly to my mind, and your Mem. accurate, expect in one particular, which was Seventy 5 cts Sent back to me by Charles, which is not charged, and which I Shall insist upon your doing, because I will not allow of any Such pranks—let me be proud as well as you. I also am daily calling upon you for...
516From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 11 September 1815 (Adams Papers)
Captain Tracy is to Sail on Sunday in the galen. our young men are flying abroad. some upon buisness, some from curiosity; those of the most respectable Standing apply for letters of introduction to you. your Father has given letters to mr Prescott who goes first to the Brazills and now to mr John Gray who is a passenger in the Galen an other Gentleman has now applied by the Name of...
517From Abigail Smith Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 13 September 1810 (Adams Papers)
I was much rejoiced to receive your kind Letter of Sep’br 26th I began to be very anxious that I had not heard from you for a long time, I so often had experienced your punctuality. that I was apprehensive, that either You or Some of your Family were Sick. altho my anticipation was realizd, I rejoice that the cause was so far removed, as to enable you to write with so great a Share of Spirit...
518From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 31 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
I received last Evening the Calico & your Bill, in which I find Several mistakes which I Shall point out as I proceed. when you purchased me the Bombazet, I enclosed ten dollars. You bought me 7 yd 2 Skeins of Silk Some linen, one pound Tea 6 pd currents & 3 pd of coffe, the last of which I took tho I did not Send for it. all these articles of Groceries you have omitted in Your Bill—I then...
519From Abigail Smith Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 1 April 1816 (Adams Papers)
After three months Sickness, great part of which time, I expected to go hence & be here no more, I am getting up Some Strength, and returning Rest, has again blessed my Eyes that Sweet “restorer Balmy Sleep,” the best of Physicians to the agitated Nerves and feeble frame, is invigorating me again, and I am enabled to take my pen and acknowledge a Letter long Since received from mr Vanderkemp—...
520From Abigail Smith Adams to Anonymous, 1812 (Adams Papers)
I received your Letter written in some agitation of mind, but I presume not without a due consideration of the Subject, it is a very different and hazardous undertaking to give advice in affairs of this kind particularly where the affection are warmly interested, the adviser genuinely loses the Friendship of one or other of the parties, but my dears charity knows that to the gentleman I am a...
521From Abigail Smith Adams to Thomas Baker Johnson, 9 November 1815 (Adams Papers)
I received your Letter, bearing date july 1815 you must excuse me for not nameing the day of the month not having the Letter to refer to. writing to your Sister Adams a day or two after receiving it, I could not refrain making her a sharer in the pleasure which the contents of the Letter afforded me, and I inclosed the Letter to her. Since I received yours I have received two Letters from her,...
522From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 7 May 1810 (Adams Papers)
Captain Smith, a Brother of Mrs Charles Millars call’d here to let us know that he should sail for Gottenburgh in a day or two, and would take Letters from us to you. I am desirious of writing to you as frequently as I can, tho no doubt many vessels sail without my knowing it. My last Letter to you was by Captain Harrod, who was charged with the articles which mrs Adams wrote me to procure...
523From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 12 March 1812 (Adams Papers)
I have already acknowledged the receipt of your Letter by Captain Bainbridge received three weeks Since and Stated that 4 Numbers were missing. Yesterday we received from new york a Letter for your Brother No 25 dated Nov’br 6th which arrived in the Ship Phenix Capt. Freeman 60 Days from Gottenburgh, in which vessel came mr Loring Austin by whom you write that you Sent a Letter for me, which I...
524From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 31 December 1809 (Adams Papers)
This is the last Day of the year 1809, and almost 4 Months Since you left us. we have been fortunate in hearing from you and of you, through this long voyage. From the banks of Newfoundland we received your Letters by the Dove. the beginning of August, we heard again of you on the 26th. and upon the Evening previous to our thanksgiving. whilst my harp was hung upon the willow, reflecting upon...
Scarcly a week has past, for these two Months in which I have not written either to my Son, or to you, but our Letters are not only committed to the Chance, of winds and waves, which may Scatter them like the leaves of the Sibyls, but they have many other hazards to run, through the Dens of Cyclopes, and the fangs of the Harpies. I write this to Send you by the Ship Hugh Johnston, Captain...
526From Abigail Smith Adams to John Adams, 21 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
I always feel gay, when I take my pen to write to you. it is the recollection of your ardour, your intrepidity your and your Sparkling Eyes, and rosy cheeks which appeard to me the other Night, heightned by your return to your Native State & country which animated your whole frame, when you ran eagerly into the Arms of your Grandmother, which so gratified me, that I regreted when I awoke, and...
I have to acknowledge a very tender and affectionate Letter from you, bearing date 8th Janry 1814, which I received only a few days since.—Sympathy from those we Love, when affliction assail us, is balm to the Bleading Bosom, and assuages the wound it cannot heal, and which is opened affresh. "when Memory with busy art will o’er the heart Strings play wake tender strains, tho full of smart Nor...
528From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 2 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
How often I have in imagination I have visited you this Dreary season. I know not, but not a day has past without my thinking of you, and wishing that it had been my good fortune to have been situated in the Neighbourhood of you. then would your cheering countenance have enlivened the confinement I have experienced since I saw you. for the week after I was taken sick and am now only leaving my...
I address you, altho I know not where to find you, which is, and has been a source of much anxiety to me, four months have elapsed since the signature of the Treaty of Peace; when mr Adams wrote from Ghent, that in ten day’s, he should go to Paris, and from thence, send on to St petersburgh, to request you to join him there, and if he should, (as was expected,) be sent to England, that your...
The season was so far advanced, and several vessels had arrived from the North without Letters, that I had given up the Idea of hearing again from you, untill Spring—your Letter was therefore doubly acceptable to me. I wrote to you a few days previous to the receipt of your Letter of 23d of october, and Sent it on, to Newyork to go by our Special Minister to Denmark— Altho I regret that you...
531From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 5 March 1806 (Adams Papers)
I fear your Father may have given you unnecessary anxiety; I told him at the time it was not best to mention an indisposition so slight as John’s was, but he said if he wrote; he must tell all. I had observed for several days about noon a high coulour in his cheeks, and at that time, he was unusually irritable, Some other Symptoms indicated a redundancy of Bile, which proved to be the case....
532From Abigail Smith Adams to Ann Frances Harrod Adams, 20 September 1806 (Adams Papers)
Having finishd my Farm House avocations I sit down to inquire how you are, and how my dear little Girl is after your journey. the fog of the morning I feard would prevent your Sitting out early, and make it late before you reachd the much longed for paternal Habitation. I could enter into all your sensations upon approaching it, and meeting again a kind and affectionate Mother after a long...
I this morning received Your Second Letter, by way of journal. we have all been highly entertaind. it makes me a Sharer with you, in your various occupations—brings me acquainted with Characters, and places me at your fire Side. one Single Letter conveys more information in this way, than I could obtain in a whole Session of Congress.—I hope you will continue this method altho you will receive...
534From Abigail Smith Adams to William Cranch, 25 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
The solemn and impressive scenes through which I have passed the last week, were too affecting to me to commit to paper. I thank God for that support and consolation which now enables me to address the only son of my dear departed brother and sister, endeared to me by every tie of affection and consanguinity, whose lives were a worthy example to all their posterity, and whose deaths were a...
535From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 3 November 1811 (Adams Papers)
I owe to your Friendship, a Letter of thanks for the interest you take in whatever concerns me or mine. I know your Sympathizing Heart will hasten to pour the balm of consolation into the afflicted Bosom of your Friend, when you learn that my dear and beloved Sister is numberd with the dead. this is an event which my mind was in a measure prepard for, from her long Sickness, but I had not...
536From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 28 May 1810 (Adams Papers)
I received a Letter yesterday from mrs Johnson, informing me that Capt Bandrige, in the frigate President, was to Sail with dispatches to St Petersburgh. I embrace the opportunity, tho not more than ten days since I wrote you largely, by a vessel bound to Gottenburgh. Mr Smith a Brother of Mrs Charles Millar took charge of the Letters. Yet to learn that We are all alive and Well, by whatever...
537From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 24 March 1806 (Adams Papers)
I was much pleased at receiving your Letter of March 14th. It was a much longer interval than had occured before, without receiving a line from you. but Mrs Quincys kindness in always mentioning you to my sister had relieved me from the fears that you might be sick. it is with Sincere Satisfaction that I learn from your own hand that your Health is much mended. When a Man enjoys good Health,...
A long and Severe fit of Sickness must plead my excuse for so long delaying the acknowledment of Mr vander Kemps very polite and flattering Letter, in which he has estimated the little civilitis due shone to him, not as a homage due to his Character and worth, so conspicuous to every intelligent mind, but as acts of Superoragation— the only regret I feel is that I fear I Shall never have an...
you will I know excuse my not haveing written to you more than once; when you learn the additional care and anxiety I have had in my Family by the Sickness of Louisa, who has had two other allarming attacks of pukeing blood, more than half a pint each time, and a much larger quantity passing down. She is much reduced, and for several days unable to leave her Bed—She is now able to sit up...
I am ready to join in the exclamation of Eloissa when she said “Heaven first taught Letters, for some wretches aid” For how very wretched should I be, but for the intercourse which Letters afford, to soften the pains of absence, and mitigate the pangs of seperation from near and dear Friend’s? how large a portion of these joys and sorrows have fallen to my lot, through Life, are known only to...
541From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 24 July 1813 (Adams Papers)
I received yesterday your Letter of the 4th April. I was grieved to find by it, that your spirits are so deprest, and your health so infirm. you have had great calls upon your fortitude, and the trial of your virtues, since your seperation from your Friends— we know upon what terms we hold our existance here. the Christian looks beyond this State of trial for the reward promissed to those who...
542From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 4 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
When I wrote last to you, I was at a loss What to say to you, to console, and reconcile you to your situation. the thought struck me to say, that some light might spring up, where we did not foresee it, and extricate you from your difficulties. Such a light appears to me to have arrisen in the midst of surrounding darkness, by the appointment of mr Adams an associate judge of the Supreem...
543From Abigail Smith Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 6 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
The great quantity of snow upon the Ground has obstructed the travelling So much, that the post did not get in last week, and your Letter which Should have come by that Mail, did not arrive untill yesterday. The Nomination and appointment of mr Adams, had been announced in the public papers, and in Some private Letters, before I received yours— Supposing that his absence would be an...
544From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 13 April 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters are always Common property with the Family to hear from you, and know that you are all well, is a mutual gratification to us all—Your Father is not so punctual in acknowledging Letters, dates and numbers as you are, so that your last Letter to him of Janry 14th No 56 is left for me to notice, and laugh, at your excuse for its brevity. I have received several from you of the like...
545From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 27 February 1814 (Adams Papers)
I learn that the vessel in which our ministers are to embark, will not go untill thursday. I will write you a few more lines, in hopes they may be in Time, and that for the pleasure I know it will give you, to learn, that your Father and I have So far recoverd from our late sickness, as to ride the last week to weymouth, to visit our old Friend Dr Tufts, who in his 82d year, still enjoys So...
546From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 1 October 1817 (Adams Papers)
while I congratulate dear Caroline upon the Birth of a daughter, I am calld to mourn with her Brother, upon the loss of a son. mr Adams writes me, that he found them in great affliction He is with mr & mrs Fry—expecting to get to Housekeeping by the first of this month. He is entering upon the Duties of his office, with fear and trembling. His Eyes and his right Hand threaten to fail him, and...
547From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 30 September 1816 (Adams Papers)
Since my Letter to you of the 23 of August I have only written one Letter! it was to Abbe Shaw congratulating her upon her marriage, which took place upon the 18th of this month, to which I was invited, but many Circumstances prevented my attendance. She is gone with her Husband to reside in Salem. She has the prospect of being happily married. She is a good and amiable girl, possessing many...
548From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 17 November 1811 (Adams Papers)
The intercourse between us is daily more and more obstructed, it may prolong your tranquility that it is so: I know not how to take up my pen, yet painfull as the Duty is, I must perform it, untill the task may devolve upon some other, to tell you that your Parents are also numberd with the dead. I wrote you in Sep’br, an account of my dear Sister Cranchs Sickness, and of the little prospect I...
549From Abigail Smith Adams to Richard Rush, 26 February 1816 (Adams Papers)
It is a long time since we have received a Line from you at Quincy. I have been so very sick myself, as not to be able to write for several weeks; I am still confined to my chamber very feeble. during this period, I have been, more than once informed that you had been Named for a mission to Russia. While on the one hand, it would give me pleasure to learn that my son was succeeded by so...
I have been haunted with the Deamon of omission, and a hundred Sprights in the garb of excuses, Such as Company, family avocations Noisy Boys &c &c This morning, being very Stormy, I determined to expel them all, and commence writing a Letter to you. I beleive I had promised to write to my Son. I know that he must be so enveloped in publick Buisness, that he can ill afford time to attend to...