Adams Papers
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Abigail Adams to John Adams, 27 October 1800

Abigail Adams to John Adams

Quincy October 27 1800

my Dearest Friend

after a sleepless night I begin my journey, with an anxious mind, tho not a desponding one.1 My dear sister is I hope out of danger, tho So low and weak as not to be able either to stand or walk. Mrs Norten whom we had all buried in our expectations, is getting up again. thus have I cause of comfort that Death has not enterd their Doors whilst in my own family I have cause to mourn the Death of poor Jackson whom last week I burried. the two shipleys were also threatned with the same fever and Mrs Porter. to all of them & to mrs smith the doctor administerd Emetic’s & calomil they are all better— shipley however is not yet out—

I have been anxious that I have not heard from you. I have made all the haste I could under the circumstances of distress in which my sisters family have been, four others having the fever bad. my own weak state of body, and the agitation of My mind from the sudden death of Jackson, and the apprehension of the fever upon others has distrest me greatly— new cases daily occur—

Shipley and the two Girls I send off tomorrow. Becky I hope will Deliver You this. My journey is a mountain before me, but I Must climb it. Mrs smith I take to N york— Ever yours—

A A2

P s I will write you upon the road

RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The President of the United States / Washington”; endorsed by William Smith Shaw: “Mrs. Adams / rec 4 Nov.”

1After departing Quincy on 27 Oct., AA stopped in New York to see CA and arrived in Philadelphia on 9 November. She left that city on 11 Nov. and arrived in Washington, D.C., on 16 Nov. (AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 10 Nov.; AA to JA, 11 Nov.; AA to AA2, 21 Nov., all below).

2AA also wrote to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, on 26 Oct. (DLC:Shaw Family Papers), describing the Quincy epidemic and reporting that “Sister Cranch has been the most dangerous, and is now the weakest and most reduced.”

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