Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams, 29 May 1804
Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams
Washington May 29th. 1804
My best and dearest friend
I recieved your very kind favors of the 14th 20th &. 24th. on Friday & Saturday & Should certainly not have delayed answering them so long had I not been prevented by a severe attack of the Spasms attended with a considerable degree of Fever which have tormented me these three days1 I am pretty well to day and certainly am should not complain as though the Spasms were very violent they were not attended with the faintings which used to weaken me so much and it is the first attack I have had since my residence in Washington—
I have not heard how the affair of the runaway Slave has ended but Mrs. Mason told Mama that Mr. Madisson had threaten’d to arrest Mr. Suttle who had the Slave arrested he is agent to the Lady to whom the Slave belongs our Neighbours are preparing for a journey to the eastward—
Mr. J. T. Mason is very much disappointed his Uncle Mr. Barnes instead of leaving the property to him has left it to his Son (should he ever have one) if not to the Son of Stephen T. Mason and so on in case of failure to his Sister son who is the youngest of the family J. T. Mason is to have the management of the estate and sixteen hundred Dollars a year upon which he has set up his coach and four and rides about quite in stile it is said the will aught to be put aside This Uncle was a very exentric character a Batchelor a votary of Bachus &c. who was become a most disgusting object in appearance although one of the most gentlemanly sensible men in this part of the Country he has left all his slaves their freedom in three years provided they behave well this fortune may prove a source of real grief to Mrs. Mason I think.2 They lost a Son &. Daughter twins about two years since—
Mr. Pichon &. his Lady have been in Baltimore the last fortnight they returned yesterday it is reported that he is recalled &. in great disgrace with the first Consul owing to a letter of Jeromes to his Brother relating a conversation he had with Mr. P. in which he says P. spoke very disrespectfully of some part of the Emperors first Consuls conduct this conversation is said to have taken place before his marriage I suppose Jerome has done this to punish him for the opposition he made to his marriage &. possibly to please his wife3 I shall be extremely sorry if this is true as in all probability it will blight all his prospects of a public situation in future and he has been so many years devoted to this line it will be difficult for him to adopt any other they are charming people and have my sincere good wishes go where they will I am told the gentleman is arrived in New York who is to take his place—
George is very well grows very tall and is so intolerably mischevous I hardly know what to do he destroys all Mrs. Hellens chickens drives the ducks to death gets down to the Wharf &. plays such pranks I am obliged to keep a person constantly running after him I am obliged to make him fear me he laughs at every body else and nobody can do any thing with him in fact he is one of the finest children I ever saw but much too clever or wise for his age— John looks very well & grows very handsome but is so excessively passionate I am almost afraid to wash him of a morning he is about two great double teeth which have teazed him very much the last two or three days he is one of the greatest mimicks you ever saw he will not touch a drop of Milk in any shape and I am sometimes obliged to give him a bon[e I] know you do not approve of this and it is very much again[st] my inclination but cracker and water alone is not sufficiently nourish[ing] I enter into these particulars because I am sure they must be interesting and because I wish you to know how I go on in your absence—
Adieu my most beloved friend perhaps in time you will learn to read my heart more correctly than you do at present I meant not to make conditions in my letter but to act solely for the future as you thought fit however painful a separation must ever be to me your interest alone must be my consideration and every thing else must give way. remember me affectionately to your family I am very sorry that your Brother is still necessitated to postpone his “favorite wishes” if he ever intends to settle4 it is now full time think of every thing expressive of affection and yet you will barely scarcely do justice to the sentiment of tenderness with which you inspire your / most affectionate wife
L C Adams
Mr. Steward has purchaced a lot and is going to build immediately he intends to bring his family and reside here entirely he has finished almost all his pictures two for Mrs. Merry 2 for Mr. Merry and onather for M Thornton I walked there a few days since but he was not at home and I only saw those in the outer room he leaves this place in five weeks to go to the Eastward—5
The Vessel is not yet arrived with the things I sent your trunks to Alexandria a few ten days since Mr Green has promissed to send forward them as soon as possible I will thank you to send me some money if convenient I cannot guess who the Young Lady is unless it is Miss Morton6 Mama begs you will send the enclosed letter to Shaw with a request that he will send it by the first Vessel7 the family are all very well
Adieu
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “John Q. Adams Esqr.”; endorsed: “Louisa— 29. May. 1804. / 9. June Recd: / 10. Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
1. That is, JQA to LCA, 14 and 20 May, the latter of which is above. In his letter of 14 May, JQA noted that he was sending a toy drum for GWA along with items LCA had previously requested. He commented on the family’s health and that his joy in the coming summer was tempered by their separation. He also reported learning of Mary Jefferson Eppes’ death and AA’s reaction to the news (Adams Papers).
2. Richard Barnes (b. 1744), a merchant of Leonardtown, Md., died on 29 April. In a will drafted in 1800, Barnes designated that the majority of his estate transfer to his nephew John Thomson Mason, who married Elizabeth Beltzhoover (1781–1836) in 1797. A later, revised will changed the terms generally as LCA outlined. John Thomson Mason’s male heir would inherit the estate as long as he changed his surname to Barnes. Otherwise the inheritance would pass to the sons of other relatives, including Mason’s brother Stevens Thomson Mason or his sister, Anne Thomson Mason Chichester (1769–1817), all with the same condition of changing their name to Barnes. John Thomson Mason was named executor of the estate with an annuity of $1,600 and oversight and use of Barnes’ two properties, in Leonardtown, Md., and Washington, D.C. LCA’s information was also correct regarding the manumission of Barnes’ enslaved population, although they were also expected to adopt his surname (Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia’s Northern Neck Counties, www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us; Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 2 May 1804; Alexandria Gazette, 7 July 1836).
3. The tension between Jerome Bonaparte and Louis André Pichon likely stemmed from the French chargé d’affaires’ reminder, on learning of Bonaparte’s intention to marry Elizabeth Patterson, that a 27 March 1803 French law required a mother’s consent for an underage marriage to occur. In response, Bonaparte initially delayed his nuptials but then married at the end of 1803 without Pichon’s knowledge. The following spring, the Baltimore Telegraph and Daily Advertiser, 24 March 1804, reported Pichon’s immediate recall. The U.S. press widely reprinted the news, including some reports that further claimed a replacement had been appointed or had arrived in the United States. This information was refuted, beginning with the Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 25 April (, p. 384–385; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 29 March; Maryland Herald, 3 April; Boston Columbian Centinel, 4 April; Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser [Ga.], 11 April; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 20 April).
4. LCA was quoting from JQA’s letter of 9 May, for which see her 20 May letter to JQA, and note 1, above.
5. Dolley Payne Todd Madison similarly commented on Gilbert Stuart’s activities, writing of his purchase of a “square to build a ‘Temple’” but also that for two years the artist had voiced his intention to leave Washington, D.C., for Boston. Stuart’s strained finances did not allow for the property purchase. In addition to his portraits of Anthony and Elizabeth Death Leathes Merry, the artist painted one of Edward Thornton, the British chargé d’affaires (Madison to Anna Payne Cutts, 1804, ; Charles Merrill Mount, “Gilbert Stuart in Washington: With a Catalogue of His Portraits Painted between December 1803 and July 1805,” , 48:85, 123, 127 [1971–1972]).
6. Margaret Morton (1772–1859) was the older sister of Eliza Susan Morton Quincy and lived with her sister and Josiah Quincy III from 1800 to 1809. In 1815 she married David Ritzemer Bogert of New York (Memoir of the Life of Eliza S. M. Quincy, Boston, 1861, p. 17, 265, 266).
7. Enclosure not found, but see JQA to LCA, 17 June 1804, and note 2, below.