1From William Steuben Smith to John Quincy Adams, 6 April 1806 (Adams Papers)
my son John graduates at this College the next Commencement—I am so occupied and shall continue so for some time to come, in the final arrangement of my affairs, that I shall not be able, and sufficiently composed, to give him the aid that he may require, in composing an English oration for him to deliver on that day— Will you do me the favour to write one on such a subject, as will instruct,...
2From John Adams to William Steuben Smith, 15 April 1808 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your agreeable letter of 31st March from Albany. Grumbles at the Embargo appear to me to be mere electioneering artifices. The orders and Proclamations of the King of England, and the Decrees of the Emperor of France at Berlin and Milan, ought to be and would be an embargo, if our Government had not interfered. Perhaps some Merchants would have adventured; but it would have...
3From William Steuben Smith to John Quincy Adams, 1 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
I have this day heard of your appointment, as minister to the Court of St. Petersburg, by an almost unanimous vote of the Senate; I embrace the earliest opportunity of congratulating you upon this fresh instance of the high consideration in which our country holds you.— My situation here induces me to state to you, that I have been greatly disappointed in my endevours to procure some...
4From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 5 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
I received your favour of the 1st: instt: and thank you for your obliging congratulations—I am unable to give you at present a positive answer, in relation to your proposal to go with me, for the offer of which I give you my thanks—I know not whether the Secretary is appointed or indicated by the Government; or whether the choice will be left to my discretion. I have written to make the...
5From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 10 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
From information I have obtained since I wrote you last, I think it will be expedient for you to come here as soon as you can. Without being yet able to speak with certainty as to the object of your wish, I have sufficient ground to think that it will be advisable for you to be here, by the 20th: of this month at the latest—and as much sooner as you conveniently can. your affectionate friend...
6From James Madison to William Steuben Smith, 2 May 1810 (Adams Papers)
Reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Integrity, Prudence and Ability I do appoint you the said William Steuben Smith Secretary of Legation of the United States of America at the Court of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; authorizing you hereby to do and perform all such matters and things as to the said place or office doth appertain, or as may be duly given you in...
7From James Madison to William Steuben Smith, 4 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
Reposing a special Trust and Confidence in your Integrity, Prudence and Ability: I have appointed you the said William Steuben Smith Secretary of Legation of the United States of America to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; authorizing you hereby to do and perform all such matters and things as to the said place or office doth appertain, and the same to Hold and exercise...
I received your very complimentary letter of the 6th of September, I rejoice with you at the splendid victory obtained by Capt. Hull fighting under the brilliant Colours of the Constitution and I mourn with you, for my Country at large, on the fatal Capture of the Northwestern Army under General Hull, there is no calculating the immensity of the horrid scenes, which must inevitably follow,...
9From William Steuben Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 12 June 1813 (Adams Papers)
On the 24. May I had the very great satisfaction of receiving your kind letter of 23d. February. I felt doubly obligated to you for it as I conscious it must have been written under the impression, arising from the existing relations between the U. States and Britain, that the probabilities were very much against my ever receiving it; and I regret to say that the political appearances are not...
10From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 31 May 1814 (Adams Papers)
Mr: Peyron arrived here last Thursday, and by him I received the eight Packets which you had committed to his care; and among them your favours of 3. and 11. May to me, and of 16. May to Messrs: Gallatin and Bayard, jointly with me. I arrived myself, only one day before Mr Peyron, and should have proceeded immediately to Gothenburg; but I found that Mr Gallatin and Mr Bayard were not there;...
11From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 20 August 1814 (Adams Papers)
I received on the 19th: of July, your favour of 10 June, which has hitherto remained unanswered because I concluded you would have left St. Petersburg before the answer could reach you On the 8th: instt: I received a Letter from the Secretary of State, dated 22 June 1814 of which the following is an extract. “On the Subject of your Secretary’s Salary, instructions would long since have been...
12From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 1 September 1814 (Adams Papers)
A Letter from Mrs: Adams, informs me that you sailed from Cronstadt, in an English vessel for Hull, on the 28th: of July—I hope therefore that this Letter will find you in England, if you should not be already on your way from thence to Holland—The John Adams in which I had obtained a passage for you and your family, sailed from the Texel Roads last Sunday, so that the chance of your going in...
13From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 7 September 1814 (Adams Papers)
I am rejoiced at learning, at last, your safe arrival with your family at Amsterdam—I have twice written to you—once, by Mr. Dallas, a Letter which he left with Mr Hoogland the American Consular Agent at the Helder; and last week, a Letter addressed to you at Hull in England, for which place, Mrs. Adams wrote me you had embarked at Cronstadt.—I regret very much that you lost the opportunity of...
14From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 1 February 1815 (Adams Papers)
I send you back, by Mr Bauwens, the first Volume of Madame de Stael’s Book which was brought with me from Ghent by mistake—At the same time I enclose a French Post-Book which you requested me to procure for you. On leaving Ghent, I forgot to make two small payments, besides that which I mentioned to you of a postage-bill to Mr Hughes—One of them was to Mr Cornelissen for six copies of a Latin...
15From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 13 February 1815 (Adams Papers)
I received only last friday your letter of the 5 Instant and have been since then endeavouring to find lodgings for you I have finally taken chambers in this Hotel for you one week at 80 francs—If you stay longer you will without difficulty procure in other parts of the city apartments at a more moderate price; but as it would have been necessary to engage them immediately had I taken them...
16From William Steuben Smith to James Monroe, 4 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have the honour to state my arrival at this place on the 2nd. instant, returning from St. Petersburg in Russia, where I have been performing the duties of Secretary of Legation, during the residence of Mr. Adams at that Court; and who, upon the receipt of the orders of his Government to repair to Gothenburg, for the purpose of becoming a Member of a Commission to negotiate a Treaty of Peace...
17From John Adams to William Steuben Smith, 8 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
I congratulate you on your Arrival in your Shall I Say, native Country, after an Absence in the frozen Regions of Russia, of six Years, with your Lady and my first Great Grand daughter. Mine is the most curious posterity that ever I read. Some have been born in Quincy or rather Braintree, Some in Boston, Some in London, Some in Boston, Some on long Island, Some in New York, Some in Berlin and...
18From John Adams to William Steuben Smith, 30 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of the 22nd has Sensibly affected me; You need not however regret your birth, nor that of your child; The House of an Ambassador wherever he is, is in the Territory of his own Sovereign, & his children or Grand children, or Great Grand Children, or any of his Country men, or Country Women attached to his Embassy, & born in the house, or under his protection, are natives of his...
19From Thomas Boylston Adams to William Steuben Smith, 30 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
Our dear Caroline, your sister, is about to leave us and return to you, and I cannot suffer her to depart without some expression of my sorrow, that the first tender of my congratulation to you & Mrs Smith, upon your safe return to your native land, Should be drawn from me by the afflictive event, which has lately bereaved you of a lovely child. It is a loss, sincerely deplored by all your...
20From Abigail Smith Adams to William Steuben Smith, 30 August 1815 (Adams Papers)
Inclosed are two Letters which I received last evening with a Letter from your Brother Uncle , and your Aunt Sister , to me. his bears date 17 july. he Says the Commercial Treaty was signd the 3d of this Month, and that mr Gallatin and Clay have Saild for Nyork with it. it is only for four years duration. His Situation in England is not like to be very agreable, either to him or to her; and he...
21From Abigail Smith Adams to William Steuben Smith, 22 November 1815 (Adams Papers)
Inclosed is a Letter from Charles, by the hand writing. I received it yesterday, with a Letter from Mrs Adams dated 2 October: they were all well then, but I presume mrs Smith gets Letters frequently—I cover the Letter to your Father to you I wrote him one last week and sent to the valley, not recollecting that he might have left it. if he has not received it, you will be So good as to tell...
22From Abigail Smith Adams to William Steuben Smith, 1816 (Adams Papers)
I have not been able to answer a very pleasant Letter from your Father, which I received after I was sick. I am now something stronger, and my physician says, I shall get up again, but a small blast would blow me away.... You will be so good as to give me information of your Brother as soon as you hear. I have not any Letter of a later date than Novbr 7th. Remember me to Aunt Nancy when you...
23From Abigail Smith Adams to William Steuben Smith, 20 February 1816 (Adams Papers)
I am very anxious to learn whether mrs Smith is confined? I expected the post of this day would have brought me a Letter, but was dissapointed, in hearing either from you, or Caroline—I Should have written to mrs Smith, but I have been little able, for Six weeks to hold a pen, Sometimes I have tremblingly pen’d a few lines to Caroline, to keep her mind at ease. I have not been able to answer a...
24From Abigail Smith Adams to William Steuben Smith, 24 March 1816 (Adams Papers)
I embrace the earliest opportunity to congratulate you upon the Birth of a son, and to rejoice with you, in the safety of Mother and child—who I hope may live and prove worthy of his Ancestors—I was writing to your Brother whom I received your Letter, and I communicated to him the agreeable intelligence I should have sent Johns Letter for you to have a read , but I presumed you must have...
25From William Steuben Smith to William Richard Hamilton, 7 June 1816 (Adams Papers)
Mr Smith had the honour of waiting on Mr Hamilton this morning, for the purpose of requesting the favour of an order to the Custom House at Dover, to admit a small box from France; addressed to —John Quincy Adams Esqr. American Minister at London, containing articles of dress for Mrs Adams. Mr Hamilton will much oblige by permitting such order to be given. UK-KeNA : Foreign Office.
26To James Madison from William Steuben Smith, 28 June 1816 (Madison Papers)
A vacancy having occurred in the Office of Marshal of this District, by the decease of the late Marshal, if a disposition of that Office has not been made by Your Excellency, I would sollicit the exercise of your prerogative in my favour. The Zeal which would be exercised might be all that could counterbalance any deficiency of talent, but with that every occasion should be seized to manifest...
27From James Monroe to William Steuben Smith, 15 May 1821 (Adams Papers)
I find, on conferring with the Secretary of the Treasury, that it will proper for me to appoint a naval officer for the customs at Pensacola, and to allow him one thousand dolrs. pr. annm. salary, with the other emoluments incident to the trust. If you are willing to accept the appointment, I will confer it on you, & will direct the commission to be issued immediately. A sloop of war will sail...
28From Joseph Anderson to William Steuben Smith, 17 May 1821 (Adams Papers)
The President of the United States having been pleased to appoint you to the office of Naval-Officer at Pensacola, your Commission is enclosed. You will take and Subscribe the oath prescribed by Law, and enter into bond, with two or more Sufficient Sureties, in the Sum of two thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of the Trust. Forms of the oath and bond are also enclosed. When taken and...
29From Joseph Anderson to William Steuben Smith, 22 May 1821 (Adams Papers)
Your official bond and oath are received and approved Respectfully MHi : De Windt Family Papers.
30From John C. Calhoun to William Steuben Smith, 29 March 1824 (Adams Papers)
You are hereby informed, that the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, has appointed you to the rank of Paymaster in the regiment of in the service of the United States: to take rank as such, from the twenty second day of March 1824.— You will, immediately on receipt hereof, please to communicate to this Department your acceptance or non-acceptance...
The Executors of the last Will and Testament of John Adams, late of Quincy deceased, enclose herewith a Copy of the said Will, in which you are interested as Devisees. We also deem it proper to give you notice that the said Will has been proved before the Judge of Probate for the County of Norfolk in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That we have given the bond required by law for the return...
32From William Steuben Smith to John Quincy Adams, 19 August 1826 (Adams Papers)
I had yesterday the honor of receiving the communication you did me that of addressing to me from Quincy dated the 14th inst. in relation to the last Will & Testament of my venerable, lately deceased, Grandfather. In offering to you the expression of a sincere grief at the bereavment we have had thus dispensed to us, by his death, I beg leave to tender you also the assurance of my conviction...
33From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 5 October 1826 (Adams Papers)
The Executors of the last Will and Testament of John Adams, deceased, have proceeded to the execution of the said Will by receiving payment from John Quincy Adams of ten thousand dollars, with interest thereon from the time of the Testatory decease, in fulfilment of the Conditional devise to him of the homestead Estate here, and by making sale, so far as has been practicable of all the rest...