William Cranch to Abigail Adams, 24 April 1800
William Cranch to Abigail Adams
City of Washington Apl. 24th. 1800—
Dear Madam,
Mr. Carroll has requested me to communicate the Contents of the inclosed letter, and I hasten to do it lest it you should have given an Answer to Mr. Law, before this arrives. Mr. Carroll’s description of his house is a very modest one— And I can say in addition to it,
that it’s situation is delightful, being the whole of square No. 736, which is delightf a large square, and has a good fish pond, I believe well stored with fish— His spring house (which is a milk house) his bath & his smoke houses are excellently contrived for the purposes intended, as I am inform’d, and Mr. Carroll’s family having lived on the spot for many years can prove it to be as healthy as any place whatever. He has prepar’d and will erect a very handsome free stone portico to the door which will cost 800 Dols. Mrs. Carroll is a good friend of Mrs. Cranch’s, and is an amiable & domestic woman.—1 I am not sure that Mr. Law’s house is healthy, & have in fact suspicions that a marsh which runs at the foot of the Capitol hill, will render it liable to the ague & fever. Mr. Carroll’s being farther removed from it, & having for many years been found healthy, would be prefer’d by me. I think you would find yourself infinitely better accommodated at Mr. Carrolls than at Mr. Laws, although the rent is higher. I must say however that the marsh which I spoke of, may be drain’d at a very small Expence. The house I have taken is on square N°. 741— We have not yet been able to get into it, but reside at present in a house on square 740— You will observe the situations on an engraved plan of the City.—2
I am extremely obliged by the kind interest you have taken with regard to my health, and have the pleasure to inform you that I was able to return to court, and have continued to recover ever since. My Complaint was a bilious cholic, to which I was always liable in New England.
Please present me respectfully to Mrs. Johnson & affectionately to her son—
I had written you a letter to go by her but being at that time much engaged in moving, I neglected to give it her—
Please mention me respectfully to the President and affectionately to your son T. B. A—to Mr. Shaw & Miss Smith / & believe me respectfully & / affectely. your obliged Nephew
W. Cranch3
RC and enclosure (Adams Papers).
1. Cranch enclosed a 19 April letter to him from Daniel Carroll of Duddington, in which Carroll offered the Adamses the use of a Washington, D.C., house for an annual rent of $2,000. Carroll (1764–1849) owned substantial property in Washington, D.C., and had business dealings with Cranch and James Greenleaf. In 1797 he completed construction of his two-story brick house on square 736 near the intersection of First and F Streets SE. Carroll married Anne Brent (d. 1805) in 1787 (Allen C. Clark, “Daniel Carroll of Duddington,” , 39:4, 10, 13–14, 21, 22, 40 [1938]; Paul K. Williams and Gregory J. Alexander, Capitol Hill, Charleston, S.C., 2004, p. 12–13).
2. On orders from George Washington, city surveyor Andrew Ellicott drew a plan of Washington, D.C., based on Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s sketch of 22 June 1791. The map was published in Oct. 1792 by Samuel Hill of Boston. Numbered lots were included to benefit developers, and the map was soon considered the official city plan (Frederick Gutheim and Antoinette J. Lee, Worthy of the Nation: Washington, DC, from L’Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission, 2d edn., Baltimore, 2006, p. 28–29).
3. AA responded to Cranch’s letter on 30 April 1800, reporting that the family’s Washington, D.C., housing plans were on hold pending a report on the construction of the President’s House and advising him to guard his health (DLC:William Cranch Papers).