1Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1797 (Adams Papers)
If words could express the gratitude I feel for your kindness to me, & my Children, it would be worth while to delineate it upon paper, but as I am sure the attemt would be vain, I can only beg of him to reward you a thousand fold, who alone knows your particular wants, & can amply supply either body, or mind, out of his rich treasury— I sent for Cousin Charles to spend the Sabbath with me, he...
I have received two letters from you, & suppose you wonder that you have not heard from me much oftener.— we have eight Children in the house all under 14 years age— They are as good as any; but they keep me fully employed; they play hard, & tear their Cloaths so that it is almost impossible to keep them whole.— If it was not the belief , that I am promoting the cause of Literature, instilling...
3Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 29 July 1797 (Adams Papers)
Your kind Letter which assured me of your welfare was a cordial to my heart. It came safe to hand, with its contents by Judge Livermore. The affectionate regard it evinced for me, & mine, might have overwhelmed an heart less accustomed to favours; accustomed , not callous I assure you, for esteem, love, & gratitude so often put in motion, fans the finer feelings, & makes them glow with...
4Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 15 May 1798 (Adams Papers)
Though the kind remembrance I have of my Sister is imprinted upon my heart, as with a point of a diamond, & can never be erased while vital spirits remain, yet I know not when I have written to her.— The cares & anxieties, the hopes, & the fears, that I should do too much, or not enough for my poor Betsy, I did not wish to trouble you with, or to tell you that my mind has been so agitated...
5Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 27 March 1799 (Adams Papers)
It is a long time since I have written to you— My mind has been so agitated that I was not fit to write—or in other words, when I sat for a moment, & attempted to write my paper became so blotted, that I was asshamed to send it— Now do not attempt to reason; for I should feel so conscious that its dictates ought to be obeyed, & so little able to comply, that this would prove another source of...
6Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 15 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
Not one word have I heard from my Dear Sister, since I left Boston, nor have I had any intelligence from Washington excepting what we have gathered by the News Papers, & those we have read with a peculiar degree of anxiety. My mind as well as the publicks, has been long held in painful suspense, nor do we yet know but that he , who has been the stability of Our Times, may again preside, &...
7Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 26 November 1798 (Adams Papers)
I have this moment been conversing with Richard Dexter upon the subject of becoming one in your Family— His Object is to get some property, that he might acquire more knowledge in our Academy, & then go into the country, purchase Land for a little Farm, & by honest industry be stiled a useful member of Society, & a faithful defender of its rights, & Liberties— He sustains a good Character, &...
8Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 22 August 1798 (Adams Papers)
Whenever I have set myself down to write to my dear Sisters, I have found myself so drowned in Grief, as to prevent my proceeding any further, than to make the attempt— To see my Child laid in the dust, was an affliction I had not prepared myself for; & I find the realities, the solemnities, the trial greater than I can bear, or support as I ought— I had too fondly hoped for her assistance...
9Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 28 January 1798 (Adams Papers)
I have thought day after day, that another should not pass without writing to my much loved Sister; that tomorrow I should have time , & would devote it, to the effusions of Sisterly affection, but I find each day fraught with its cares, & now more peculiarly so by my dear Betsy Quincy’s being sick with a lung fever, in consequence (I suppose) of a sudden cold. She was voilently seized with a...
10Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 29 January 1799 (Adams Papers)
After many expecting, anxious hours for my dear Nephew, I am made happy by seeing his safe arrival announced in the Newspaper— The fibres of my heart cannot remain untouched, while my Sisters must be filled with joy, & gratitude— I claim a share, & feel that I am a maternal Participant— I know that you long to clasp your Son in your fond arms— When he reaches Peace-field you will think the...
11Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 30 March 1800 (Adams Papers)
A Letter which I had a long time wished for, I at length received from my Affectionate Sister. Every day I had been thinking I would write. But the round of duties that called for my unremitted exertions, left me too weary, or too inert to take up my Pen, for the company which our Boarders attract, demand polite & respectful attentions, from me, by their own obliging behaviour— And I thought...
12Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 17 January 1800 (Adams Papers)
How often do we find that having much to say, the full heart cannot impart the half— This evil I find extends to epistolary writing, for having many things incidents crouding upon each other, I thought I had not time to notice them as I ought, & so have communicated nothing. But as the occurrences of my own Family, are what can only be very interesting to you, I will tell you that our numerous...
13Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 23 September 1800 (Adams Papers)
Miss Palmer has given me hopes of your coming, & Mrs Smith to our Exhibition, & says, you say, you will be so good as to carry me home with her— We have a Ball the next night after Exhibition & I suppose my Boarders will not leave me till Friday— We have a charming harmonious family, & are as still, as could be supposed where there are so many Young ones— But if at this time You should see...
14Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1797 (Adams Papers)
Health to my Sister, under a more fervid Sun, than that to which she has hitherto been accustomed. Yes! I most ardently wish you this most needfull blessing, without which all others must be tasteless, even Friends a burden, & grandeur painful.— I hope Queen Mab has told me a falsehood. She came last thursday night in her airy Chariot, drove directly upon my heart, presenting you to me, laying...
15Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 6 October 1797 (Adams Papers)
Since my last my time has been cheifly occupied, in attending to those services, which were due to our late worthy Nephew— Though we had been in daily expectation of his dissolution, & every breath he drew seemed as if I heard a voice, saying “Sister Spirit come away” yet it was a sudden stroke at the close— As he called the watcher who set by him, Aunt, I suppose he took her for me ; & I was...
16Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 19 December 1797 (Adams Papers)
Least I should forget it, I acknowledge the receipt of ten Dollars you sent while I was at Haverhill, but in the multiplicity of my thoughts I for-got to mention it— you will please to excuse me— I have conversed with Mr Attwood about receiving pay for his expences he absolutely refuses taking anything for his trouble— The extra, charges I have seen payed, by mony Mr Attwood, & I found in his...
17Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 16 February 1799 (Adams Papers)
My little Abby—has been sick with a slow intermitting fever, occasioned by a cold—which has thrown many round us into fevers— The Dr has just been here, & says that disorders opperate strangely, many whom he thought out of danger, are seized again—Some in their heads, lungs, & several have died with repeated voilent billious cholicks—but we have not lost any one in the Town as yet— It has been...