1Abigail Adams to John Thaxter, 20 March 1785 (Adams Papers)
To what cause shall I attribute your silence, that not a line has reachd me since I arrived in Europe? Altho I have not written to you since my arrival, yet as a Friend and former correspondent I feel myself entitled to your remembrance. I have heard from others of your welfare and pleasing prospects, in which be assured no one more sincerely rejoices than your Friend. My son too complains...
2Abigail Adams to John Thaxter, 20 October 1783 (Adams Papers)
To you my young Friend upon whom the parential ties are strong and unbroken; who never yet knew the agonies which attend the loss of a fond Mother; or the pangs which rend the filial Heart Bereaved of a dear and venerable Father, to You I say, may Heaven long continue those blessings, nor teach you, experimentally to Sympathize with your afflicted Friend. My dear parent is no more! His illness...