John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 2 June 1797
John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Amsterdam 2. June 1797.
My dear Brother.
I arrived here last Evening and this morning received your cover, enclosing the Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury.—1 There are Letters here from America, as late as the 29th: of April.2 Mr: Murray had then sailed so that he may be looked for every day.
I have not yet seen Mr: Damen, and of course have made no arrangements.3 I shall make none immediately for my own departure. I feel a little anxious on account of your Health.— Let me know by return of Post how you are.— Do not by any means undertake to go with me, untill you can do it with perfect safety. I can and will protract my departure if it should be expedient.— Above all, be of good cheer. Keep up your Spirits, and take care not to expose yourself to a cold.
I will thank you to send me half a dozen, blank Passports;—you will see Captain Mackay again tomorrow or the next day at the Hague.
Your’s affectionately
John Q. Adams.4
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “À Monsieur / Monsieur T. B. Adams. / à / La Haye.”; internal address: “Mr: T. B. Adams.”; endorsed: “J. Q Adams Esqr: Amsterdam / 2 June 1797. / 3 Recd: / Do Answd.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130.
1. The letter from Oliver Wolcott Jr., dated 8 April, detailed the remittances sent by the United States to discharge the interest and principal on the Dutch-American loans that were due on 1 June. Wolcott also reported that William Vans Murray would leave for Amsterdam in ten days (Tripl, Adams Papers). TBA’s cover letter to JQA has not been found.
2. No letters to JQA or TBA dated 29 April have been found, but on 2 June JQA noted that Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst and Nicolaas Hubbard had “received some late remittances from America” (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27).
3. Herman Hend Damen was an Amsterdam merchant-broker originally from the Palatinate. On 25 June JQA informed Damen that he had “eighteen wooden chests and boxes, numbered from one to five, and four other packages containing a book case” that he was sending to Amsterdam to be shipped to Portugal via Captain Jeffries’ Neptune, and on 8 July, after learning of the change in his mission, JQA requested Damen to have his goods relanded and stored at Amsterdam pending further orders (both LbC’s, APM Reel 130). Damen did not receive JQA’s letter in time, however, and the shipment arrived in Lisbon by early October. The books were eventually sent to Massachusetts, arriving in Quincy in June 1799. They were stored by Rev. Peter Whitney at the John Quincy Adams Birthplace until collected by JQA in Nov. 1802 (, 23:321; JQA to Krochman & Jacobsen, 28 June 1797, 2 June 1798, LbC’s, APM Reels 130, 133; JQA to William Loughton Smith, 13 Sept. 1797, LbC, APM Reel 130; AA to JQA, 12 June 1799, Adams Papers; D/JQA/24, 1 Nov. 1802, APM Reel 27).
4. JQA also wrote letters of 4 and 5 June 1797 asking TBA to perform various secretarial tasks and reporting that he would depart for England as soon as Murray arrived in Amsterdam. JQA also noted the arrival of James Markham and Esther (Hetty) Morris Marshall in Amsterdam (LbC’s, APM Reel 130).