31From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 18 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letters of 29th. Novbr.—4 and 5 Decemr. 6th. and 7th. December—numbered 5. 6. 8. 9. with the correspondence between you and the Society for the suppression of Intemperance at Hanover enclosed in number 6 and the copy of your Letter to Mr Rush, enclosed in number 9 which copy conformably to your request I herewith return.— Before receiving these last two Letters I had...
32From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 31 January 1813 (Adams Papers)
My last letter to you was of 14. November since which I have not had a line from you, nor indeed from any of my friends in America— The second year has passed away since I received last best account of my affairs in your hands. The intervals between my own letters to you, insensibly lengthen—It shall not be so if any thing should ever occur, the information of which can give you pleasure. The...
33John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 19 August 1803 (Adams Papers)
I have received two or three letters from you, which I have not answered for want of a conveyance— My objection to the Post Office, you know— I have two or three pieces by me, in a state of preparation for you; which I purpose sending by the first convenient private opportunity.— M r: Hichborn brought me last week a letter from you; but I have not been able to see him since, having been all...
34John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 26 July 1800 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday morning early we took our departure from Freystadt, & came to this place; a distance of eight german miles; five of which are in single stage from Sprotau here— The face of the country has visibly & greatly improved as we came along; & although we still had to wade through miles of sands more, or less deep, we were frequently relieved by patches of good roads, & by beautiful fields...
35From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 March 1824 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters of 29. Decr. (enclosing your annual account) and of 4. February last have been duly received, but I have not had, and have not yet time to examine or remark upon them. I must rely upon your discretion for the management of those concerns of mine in your hands to which it is impossible for me now to attend— My present object is to transmit the enclosed Letter from the Secretary of...
36From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 23 October 1813 (Adams Papers)
Mr. W. Story, arrived at Gothenburg on the 28th: of last Month, and forwarded to me from that place several Letters from Quincy, among which was your N. 25/16 May 7. 1812. and 30/21 May 21. and July 1. 1813.—In this last I read thus “With my present letter I shall forward a copy of our Current account, under a separate cover &c.” I looked anxiously for the separate cover, for reasons which I...
37John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 23 June 1793 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter containing the orders upon the branch bank, and also that with the bill of lading of 3 barrels; I ought to have written you this information a post or two ago, but some business, more indolence, and most of all forgetfulness was the occasion of my omission. I suppose you will soon commence Attorney, and I understand you have some thoughts of retiring into one of the...
38From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 August 1812 (Adams Papers)
Since I wrote you last, I have had no letter from you, or indeed from any person in the United States. The Embargo, and the Declaration of War, have effectually superseded all arrivals here directly from America. To this general fact there is an exception occasioned by the Declaration of War itself.—A Pilot Boat was on the 22d of June dispatched from New York by certain Merchants of that City...
39From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 28 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
At length, after eighty days of tedious and dangerous navigation, we are all safely landed at the place of our destination—I have written to you twice upon our passage—first, from the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, and once in the Cattegat, the night before we expected to arrive at Elseneur—From that time, I shall now continue the narrative of our voyage, which though address’d to you, is for all...
40From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 November 1809 to 28 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
My last Letter brought our good Ship Horace to anchor safe in the Road of Elseneur—on the 28th: of September.—At that place we were detained a full week, by adverse winds—Having been informed upon my landing there, that the king of Denmark, and his principal Minister, Count Bernstorff, were both absent from Copenhagen, I gave up, in the first instance the intention of going thither—But having...
41John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 2 November 1795 (Adams Papers)
The letter from Charles enclosed in yours of yesterday, accompanies as he says the bills, which may therefore be expected immediately for acceptance. As they are at thirty days sight, it will perhaps be necessary to pay the money before the close of the year. The sum of f. 7,500. will just about absorb that for which I have a right to draw upon the bankers at Amsterdam, untill the last of...
42From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 30 March 1808 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your kind attention to my affairs, as detailed in your last Letter which I have received within these two days— I confide entirely in your judgment and discretion, and shall approve of any arrangements you shall make for the present disposal of my farm— R. Dexter holds or held a note from me of a little more than three hundred dollars—I left a request with Shaw to pay it as...
43John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 7 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
The reason, which induces travellers, who purpose a visit to the Riesenkoppe, to pass the night before at the Hempel’s baude is, that they may ascend the mountain in the morning early enough to see the sun rise, from its summit— Such was our own intention; but when we rose at two o’clock in the morning, Louisa, found herself suffering so severe a headache, that she was obliged to give up the...
44John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 May 1797 (Adams Papers)
I have just got your agreeable favours of 8–9— & 11— May, and as this is the last day upon which I can write to reach you at Paris, and I have but little time for the post, I shall be short. M r: Arnoux’s letter has given me great pleasure, and I wish you if you have time, to give him my grateful thanks for it; for his kind remembrance of the family, as well as his attentions to you. Madame de...
45From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 28 April 1812 (Adams Papers)
The only notice of existence directly from yourself that I have received since your letter of 2. June 1811. is by a scrap of half a dozen lines dated 5. January last which I received together with a letter of the same date from my Mother, by the way of Paris— This scrap was also enclosed with three or four newspapers, and short as it was gave me great pleasure— The letter which it mentions as...
46John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 April 1799 (Adams Papers)
Somewhat more than a month ago I received the very welcome intelligence that the vessel on board of which you were a passenger had arrived at New-York. Some days later, a letter from M r: Murray mentioned that he had seen your arrival announced in a Philadelphia newspaper of the 15 th: of January.— Soon after, I received from our ever dear and honoured mother a letter of 1. Feb y: fully...
47From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 December 1807 (Adams Papers)
Your’s of the 3d: instt: came to hand the night before last; I am perfectly satisfied with your sales of my wood—I had a little kindness for the grove in the rear of the brook, and if circumstances should carry me back to the house of our nativity, shall miss the prospect which it furnished; but your reasons for disposing of it are substantial, and I suppose a young growth will come up,...
48John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 11 April 1801 (Adams Papers)
You have here a triplicate of my letter respecting your account—a duplicate of the conversation between Frederic. 2. & Gellert. And the first number of a series, in which I purpose to review an important late french work, which I shall send to your father. It seems to me as if the frequency of writing shortened the distance between us. But you will not complain if it likewise sometimes...
49From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 10 April 1811 (Adams Papers)
You observe in your letter of 24 September last, that my Son George was losing much of his french conversation idiom, that is, precisely one of the things upon which I had most earnestly set my heart, in his education. Walter Shandy Esqr was of opinion that there was a great, and mysterious virtue in the name given to a child—He intended to call his son Trismegistus, and the name which above...
50John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 11 April 1778 (Adams Papers)
I Now Sit Down to inform You That I have Safely arrived at Paris which we Did on Wednesday evening when We went to 3 hotels Before we could Procure a Lodging which we Did for 2 days the next Morning we Went To a place Calld Passy where we found Dr franklin his Son and some other Gentlemen where we stayd about an hour when Mr. Deanes son and another Gentleman and I Went about the City which we...
51John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 15 October 1803 (Adams Papers)
I presume you had not left Bristol two hours before we arrived there— Your advice to us to stop at the Fox-Chace, we could not follow— For we should not have known how to get forward— Neither can we go into the City, because, if we did they would exclude us from Baltimore.— We are now at Dover’s—The Rising Sun—Close by the Bridge— We shall stop here to-morrow, and proceed on Monday— We hope...
52John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 May 1788 (Adams Papers)
We have mutually been deficient in those attentions, which absent connections ought always to preserve towards one another: the fault has been the greatest on my side, as I was under the additional obligation of setting a good example; but I feel myself at this time peculiarly bound to write to you, to apologize for the rough expressions which upon several occasions I used while I was with...
53From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 24 January 1814 (Adams Papers)
I avail myself of the opportunity by Mr: Gallatin and Mr Bayard, who have concluded upon their departure to offer you my affectionate remembrance on the entrance of the New Year and the assurance of my Prayers to Heaven that it may be propitious to the comfort and happiness of yourself and all your family— and that it may be succeeded by many many others of pleasantness and peace for you all....
54From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
They have at length found on the Books of the Bank, the dividend of 24 dollars due to your father, and have given me for it the check on the Branch Bank at Boston which is herewith enclosed—I shall pass over to the proper office in the War Department, the Affidavit in behalf of William Oliphant, and as soon as I can get information of what has been done in the case of Peter Ellins will inform...
55John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 February 1801 (Adams Papers)
I last week informed you that I had withdrawn from Amsterdam all the stocks I held there, and had remitted to M r: King, in London fourteen hundred pounds sterling, for which I authorised you to draw, and requested you to place the proceeds in the most advantageous manner; but not in any institution or fund depending upon our national Union; for the generality of our Countrymen are so far from...
56John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
From the cloister at Grussau (the day before yesterday) we returned to dine with M r Ruck at Landeshut— It was a formal dinner of thirty persons according to the fashion of the country; we sat down soon after one, & rose from table just before six. The whole of this time is employed in eating; for the ladies & gentlemen rose together, & there was little wine drunk. But as only one dish is...
57John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
I suppose you flatter yourself, that having more than three months ago got safely out of Silesia, you are to hear nothing further about it; but indeed I shall not let you off so cheap. There still remains a very short geographical, statistical, & historical account of this interesting province, which I feel it my duty to write— Whether you will conceive it your’s to read it, I need not...
58John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 September 1801 (Adams Papers)
On Sunday morning, after a cold and somewhat tedious ride all the preceding night I reached Newark— Pass’d the day and next night there, and on Monday, your sister took me into town with her. I have bespoke my passage for Providence, and am waiting only for a wind. Old M rs: Smith and her daughter Nancy were very obliging, and the Col l: is friendly and hospitable as usual.— He has introduced...
59From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 26 October 1814 (Adams Papers)
The enclosed promissary Note for two hundred dollars is signed by Mr. Jesse Nichols of Providence Rhode Island. I have lent him the money to Enable him to return to America and he promises me it shall be repaid immediately after his arrival He goes as passenger in the Chauncey, and this Letter will go by the same opportunity—I request you to obtain the payment as soon as you can with...
60From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 24 June 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 17th. with deep concern at the purport of its contents—I will endeavour towards the close of the next, or the beginning of then succeeding month to visit you and our ever honoured Parent—In the mean time should any thing further occur to make it necessary for me still more to anticipate the period of my journey, I rely upon your attention and affection to...
61From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 23 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
Since my last letter to you, which was of 28 February I have received yours of 6 and 12 Feby both numbered 24. of 19 Feby. N 25. & of 13 april N. 26 with all their enclosures. Mr Ogdens Bill for £877.10. has also been duly received and paid. I am now so much hurried by the preparations for my departure that I have no time to trouble you with observations upon my affairs. The only instruction I...
62From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 May 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have recieved your letter of the 26 ulto. If the proposition which you say has been made to you, is the express desire of my father & it was by his direction that you made it me; & if on the receipt of this letter, he continues to desire that the house should be painted white, I authorize you to comply with his wishes; provided it can be done without inconvenience to the tenant of the house;...
63From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 February 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter N. 12 of the 14th. instant is before me—I approve of every thing which can contribute to the comfort of my father’s life: and of every thing which may at the same time contribute to your welfare and that of your family—Though I do not fully perceive in what manner my assistance can be required for your removal to his house, I am not aware of any manner in which, I shall hesitate to...
64From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 September 1814 (Adams Papers)
With the copy of my last Letter, which was entrusted by me to Mr Dallas, I now transmit also one of a preceding Letter, written last January—We have reason to hope they will all arrive safe as they go by Cartels, and this appears to be the only good effect that will result from the Negotiation at Ghent. I have nothing now to add to what I wrote you in my two last Letters, concerning my affairs...
65From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 31 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
No more scolding about your accounts—No more petty complaints about trifles instead of hearty thanks for the faithful care, and trouble which you have taken in the management of my affairs—The hints about the state of your health, given in your letter of 7. April No 16/6 which I received the 22. of this month, have not only given me the heart-ache in themselves, but have brought me under my...
66John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 November 1793 (Adams Papers)
Your father will be the bearer of this Letter, and probably will find you at Philadelphia, which our late accounts represent as being totally free from the pestilence, which raged with so much violence for two or three months.— Remember however and be cautious— In the midst of the general calamity, for which your friends participate in the general affliction, they recollect with pleasure,...
67From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 December 1809 (Adams Papers)
The messages from the Governor of the island of Bornholm, which I mentioned in my last were sent and received, in the midst of a brisk gale of wind, while we were stretching to and from the shore of the island, under close reefed top-sails—Close under the high lands of the Coast, the boats were able to come out to the ship, but she could not lay to there without drifting beyond the length of...
68From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 December 1811 (Adams Papers)
More than four months have again passed away, since I have received a line from you, and nearly seven since the date of your last Letter—I should feel this less severely, if that and your other most recent letters had not left a source of uneasiness upon my mind, which nothing but more agreeable information can remove—Although the communication direct from this Country to the United States was...
69From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 26 November 1804 (Adams Papers)
Yours of the 14th: came to hand Saturday Evening—24th: I suppose you were not inconsolable at the loss of your election, and that your expectations had not been raised very high of a different issue—As to the electoral Ticket, I am certainly not one of those who can say I told you so—Nor am I one of those who can say I am not sorry for it—But I do not think crimination against any body can be...
70From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 October 1821 (Adams Papers)
List of Keys, left at Quincy by J. Q. Adams—with T. B. A. 1. Padlock large French trunk— marked J. Q. A. 2. Chest—not painted do 3. Chest do do 4. Mahogany box— 5. Small black trunk 6. Trunk de la Volaille 7. Large Hair Trunk. MHi : Adams Papers.
71From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 19 August 1814 (Adams Papers)
I have now barely time to enclose you a Press-Copy of my last Letter; the original of which I sent to England, to be forwarded by the earliest opportunity from thence. It is of no inconsiderable importance to me, and I must request your particular attention to the enquiry, how you have disposed of the balance of $2528..26 due to me on your account ending 31. December 1810; and why you have...
72John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 April 1791 (Adams Papers)
I received by the last Post your short favour, inclosing a much longer one to Quincy which I have punctually delivered: I know not whether this will reach you before your departure from Philadelphia; if it does not it can do no harm: and if it does, as you have concluded upon coming this way with the family it may be of some service to me.— You recollect doubtless that while I was in...
73John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 2 June 1797 (Adams Papers)
I arrived here last Evening and this morning received your cover, enclosing the Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury.— There are Letters here from America, as late as the 29 th: of April. M r: Murray had then sailed so that he may be looked for every day. I have not yet seen M r: Damen, and of course have made no arrangements. I shall make none immediately for my own departure. I feel a...
74John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 July 1800 (Adams Papers)
I cannot send you a duplicate without adding a line to it; for there is a pleasure in knowing that our distant friends are well, though but one day later than we have already heard from them We have been spending several days at Charlottenburg with D r Brown’s family, and Louisa’s health which never fails to droop at Berlin in the summer, has derived benefit from it— To morrow morning we set...
75From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 February 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letters of 13 and 17 Jany, the Letter numbered 7. and enclosing your account to the close of the year—The other two Powers of Attorney, both of which I am obliged to return to you re infecta . Mr. Cutting’s Letter will explain to you the state of things with regard to the Land-Claims, and you must ascertain whether you can furnish the proof required As to the Stock, the...
76From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 2 July 1825 (Adams Papers)
In compliance with your letters of 2d and 23d ulto. I have executed a deed of my share of Land in Salem Vermont, which as soon as I can get it acknowledged, I will forward to Mr Baxter at Brownington I am not certain whether you intended to advise that I should buy out the rights of the heirs of Norton Quincy to the Wood Lot which you mention. If you do I shall readily consent to the purchase;...
77John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 January 1804 (Adams Papers)
The Louisiana revenue bill (of which I sent you some time since a copy) has this day pass’d the third reading in the Senate— But with various amendments so that it must go back to the House of Representatives, where it will probably pass on Monday— The first section has been altered in point of form, and made as I conceive more vague and uncertain than it was at first— In thirty-five days from...
78From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 8 February 1805 (Adams Papers)
I have two or three letters from you which I am afraid will never be answered in the manner all your letters deserve to be answered; but I know you will make all the proper allowances for my situation, and the shortness of my Time.—There is however a question or two which I can no longer delay to answer.—And first; respecting the enlargement of the Meeting-House, I have to say that I cannot...
79From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the first instant did not come to hand until last Monday—That of the 9h. enclosing Mr. Whitney’s Sermon upon the decease of our dear and ever to be lamented Mother, for which I beg you to thank him in my name, reached me yesterday, together with a Letter from my Son George—I am yet almost without any account of the particulars of her illness—A line from Harriet Welsh, received...
80From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 19 March 1806 (Adams Papers)
I have received two letters from you, since I wrote you last; but I presume you will know the reason which has prevented me from answering the first of them before the coming of the last.—As the Session advanced the business to which my attention became necessary accumulated so much that I had scarcely time to go home and come to the Capitol from day to day—And besides all the subjects which...