1Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your kind letter of the 4 th: inst t: which came to hand last evening, accompanied by one from D r: Tufts, enclosed by William. My letters are left usually at M r: Wistar’s and Sarah when she gave me those of last evening—say’s “Thomas, I expect I have got a rich treat for thee; from the number of packets addressed to thee, I should judge thee a favorite among thy friends”— I...
2Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 June 1800 (Adams Papers)
I returned to the City the night before last on the 18 th: day after my departure. My Father sat off on Tuesday and I found the house turned inside out. My own things were carefully packed up by M r: Briesler and yesterday I had them removed to my lodgings in the same family that I was with last year. M r: Briesler & family will be ready to sett out on Tuesday and will leave the house in good...
3Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 October 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have your favor of the 26 th: ult o: with an enclosure; with what I paid for the servant’s trunk & the cask of wine, the account is just balanced. I have not been called on for any more charges & imagine none are due— The wine I suppose to be a present from Our Consul M r: Willis. I am extremely grieved at the disaster, which has befallen my Cousin Boylston, & which, according to your...
4Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 26 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have no letter from you later than the 4 th: which I mention only because the interval is a little longer than usual between your communications and lest any you might have written may have miscarried. From William I got a packet on Saturday, after my letter of that day was sent to town, otherwise, I should have acknowledged its receipt. In J Russells paper of the 15 th: which he enclosed...
5Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 16 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
On the 11 th: inst t: I received your favor of the 4 th: and last evening, on my return from Mr: Breck’s Country seat, where I passed Friday & Saturday night’s, your’s of the 8 th: had come to hand. Same time, rec d: from William the poem you sent me for Miss Wister & his letter of the 6 th: I am obliged by all these things & newspapers to boot. Coopers address, valedictory, I now remember to...
6Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 September 1798 (Adams Papers)
Your kind favor of July 19 th. was transmitted from Hamburg by our cousin Welsh & came to hand last evening. He had a pleasant passage of 38 days and will come on here as soon as he is a little recruited. We had already received your letter of the 14 th: informing of his intended embarkment in a short time, and I have made my arrangements in consequence to be off as soon as the Elizabeth...
7Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 19 July 1800 (Adams Papers)
I had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 12 th: , this morning, enclosing a letter from my brother, for the perusal of which I thank you. It is a very long time, since I had any intelligence concerning him, and I feel anxious lest some of his letters or mine should have miscarried on the route. W. Shaw informs me, in his letter of the 11 th: that the State Department has letters dated...
8Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 June 1799 (Adams Papers)
Your kind favor of the 2 d: inst t: found me as you conjectured at Philadelphia, fixed in my lodgings & in possession of my Office, which however is too far removed from the Court house & the seat of business. I was unwilling to give up the advantage of living in the family where I am, because in case of the fever appearing in the City, the same lady has a place of her own at Germantown to...
9Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 30 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
Your kind letter of the 25 th: inst t: came by this day’s Mail. I have found a Coachee ready made, at Fielding’s for sale, which, with the alterations that can with ease & despatch be made, will, I think, answer your purpose exactly. The body of the Coachee is somewhat shorter & more in the form of a Coach, than that you have, but it is well put together & the wheels & carriage appear to be...
10Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 6 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have your favor of the 30 th: ult o before me, and thank you for your tender solicitude on account of my health, for which however I think you need not be particularly solicitous, since I am, excepting a few sensations peculiar to the climate of this City at this season, as well as usual; in addition to which I am on the point of leaving town for some weeks to reside at Germantown in the...
11Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 17 August 1797 (Adams Papers)
I have at length made up my mind to accompany my brother and his lady to Berlin. In justification of this resolution I shall only observe, that it was formed after full and mature consideration, in which both sides of the question, to go or not to go, were deliberately examined, but I may also add, that compliance with the earnest desires of my brother, had a greater share in producing this...
12Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 January 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have had the pleasure of seeing and perusing two or three letters from you to my Father and M r Shaw since my arrival here, and have learnt with joy that your health is better than it has been for some time past. Do not be impatient for my coming on, for I shall certainly make no unnecessary delay, and unless I should take a run to George town for a moment, I shall set off for Boston on...
13Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 10 September 1797 (Adams Papers)
M r: Fitch Hall being about to embark for New York I have entrusted to his care a trifling present, which I beg you to accept from me. I intended to have sent you a profile of myself by M rs: Johnson, but was prevented by the suddenness of her departure, which took place a week sooner than it had been previously fixed. The whole family left this place yesterday morning with the intention of...
14Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 February 1798 (Adams Papers)
Your kind favor of November 7 th: written at East Chester came to hand on the 24 th: ult o: and I have now to acknowledge the receipt, on this day, of your more recent communication, dated the 3 d: ult o: at Philadelphia. I have written to you but once since our arrival here, but my brother has been so frequent & copious in his letters both to you and my father, that I derive a sort of excuse...
15Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 21 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favor of the 15 th: inst t: which reached me yesterday at this place, where I have been since the 15 th: and where notwithstanding your kind invitation & advice, I expect to continue until it shall be clearly ascertained whether the pestilential fever is to prevail or not in the City this season. I am out of the way of danger, if any should exist; and before the expiration...
16Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 7 April 1797 (Adams Papers)
I have already acknowledged the receipt of your kind favors of Sept r: 25 th: & Nov r: 8 th: which were the last I have from you, and that notorious thief of time, procrastination, has devoured a long interval since I made the promise to write you in a few days. I delight in receiving letters from you, but I have an almost inconquerable aversion to writing in my turn, nor can I account for a...
17Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I am in possession of your favor of the 21 st: inst t: with the letter of my brother enclosed; they were both very acceptable and I return the enclosure with thanks for the perusal— I hope shortly to receive the letter, which he mentions having written me on the subject of his affairs; though I think they are in as good & safe a train as any disposition I could make of them— I have written an...
18Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
As I am in the City for a few days, you may wish me to write rather oftener than usual, to convince you that I am not ill. The weather since the month of June has been generally more than commonly favorable for this climate— it still continues so, and we begin to flatter ourselves that the City may escape the afflicting scourge it has heretofore experienced. The mortality which lately...
19Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 26 July 1798 (Adams Papers)
I have already acknowledged your favors of March 18. April 4. since when, at different intervals I have received your kind letters of May 1. & 7.— My brother has one from you of June 12. in which the receipt of my letter of March 4 th: to my father is mentioned, and in a manner calculated to call forth all my gratitude, if not to excite some little emotion of self-applause. I have given way to...
20Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 17 May 1799 (Adams Papers)
I left Philadelphia the 9 th: inst t: and after passing a few days very pleasantly at Baltimore in the society of M r: Johnsons family & that of Mrs: John Smith, came to this place where I had the satisfaction to meet M r: Cranch in tolerable health & spirits. I have been received & treated with uncommon hospitality and politeness in both these places, from the first characters, and as no...
21Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
Our Supreme Court being in session, has occupied my time so much as to prevent answering your favors of the 10 th: & 13 th: inst ts: I have seen M rs: Kirkham since I got your letter, and given her the fresh order; she will prepare the articles & I shall send them as soon as I can. I have applied to two Coachmakers to ascertain what you desired; neither of them have any ready made coachees on...
22Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 5 October 1800 (Adams Papers)
I now enclose you my Brother’s letter of July the 10 th: which I promised to transmit by this day’s Mail; but being anxious to see a considerable portion of it in print, & solicited by M r: Dennie to furnish him a copy for the Gazette of the U.S. of Monday next, I could not complete the copy in time for sending, so that I am apprehensive you will not receive it until after the President’s...
23Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 18 June 1800 (Adams Papers)
This morning I had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 12 th: inst t: and am happy to learn your safe arrival at the hospitable mansion, where I fervently hope, you and my Father, may enjoy days & years of tranquil life. For my own sake & for the sake of all my family, it would, I believe, be a happy circumstance, if there should be no further occasion for either of my parents leaving...
24Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 15 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
Your favors of the 5 th: & 7 th: curr t came in course, and I am much indebted to you for the disposition you made of the letters, which arrived, after my father’s departure. I have lately rec d: several European letters & pamphlets & ought to have received another with the letter you enclosed me from M r: Pitcairn, in which he desires particular respects to you. He acknowledges the receipt of...
25Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 19 October 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favors of the 10 th: & 12 th: inst ts: and am highly gratified by their contents; excepting the bill of health, which is less cheering than I could wish it might have been. I have been so occupied with attendance upon Courts and writing to my correspondents in Europe, during the last ten days, that I have not found time to write you; & the expectation of William’s...
26Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 21 June 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have your favor of the 15 th: inst t: and thank you for your kind solicitude respecting my health, which is just passable and no more— The extremes of heat & cold have a sensible effect upon my Constitution, and though I am tolerably free from rheumatics and faintness, yet I have the old complexion, with a tinge of yellow less perhaps than when I left you. My feverish habit still hangs about...
27Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 January 1801 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letters of the 2 d: & 3 d: inst ts: and thank you for them— I shall agree with Fielding for the Coachee and attend to the conveniences you mention. I can suggest no method for your coming to this place, unless by taking a carriage from Washington, which might be sent back by Stage-horses. Barney, of Georgetown, would most probably contract with you for one— I am so...
28Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 24 July 1797 (Adams Papers)
The journey which I made to Paris, towards the last of April was performed so hastily, that it was out of my power to give you any satisfactory account of it from thence, and since my return, preparation for departure from Holland has engrossed most of my leisure hours, so that I have only found time to give an imperfect sketch to my Father of the most material occurrences of that tour. The...
29Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 1 March 1799 (Adams Papers)
My time has been so occupied between going to Boston to get my dinner and coming back to Quincy again, that I have written to you but once since my arrival. I should have considered these frequent visits as time lost to improvement, but that they have enabled me to attend the Session of the Supreme Court, which commenced on the 19 th: ult o. . Having now complied with all the necessary forms...
30Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 20 January 1801 (Adams Papers)
I have your favor of the 15 th: inst t: and am pleased to find in it an interpretation of the 6 th: Article of the Convention with France, which had escaped my reflection— Viewing it as a provision only to operate after the expiration of our treaty with G Britain, it may be both natural & proper, but as the time when it was to operate was not specified, many others, like myself, have supposed...
31Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 18 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
I received in course your favor of the 4 th: inst t: a pretty assiduous attendance at Court, during the whole of the last week prevented my making a sooner acknowledgment. Two causes of considerable moment were argued very elaborately, an outline of which may be found in the Gazette of the U.S. of the 16 th: — The question of war or no war, as it respects the relative situations of the United...
32Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 30 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favor of the 23 d: inst t: I hesitated for some days, whether I should enclose the paper containing the Number of Horatius, which was so ridiculously headed as that you refer to, but I finally concluded that the intention of the Author was good, and that an honest though deluded zeal, had transported him, like so many others, whom we have seen, to bolster up a cause,...
33Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 3 October 1797 (Adams Papers)
Since I came to this Country, two of your kind letters have reached me; one dated in June & the other in July; the latter came by Gen l: Marshall, but by some accident was not forwarded at the same time with your letter to my brother of the same date. It has only this day come to hand. Contrary to your expectation, as well as my own, your letters find me still in Europe, and about to embark in...
34Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 14 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
The letter from Gen l: Pinckney to Gen l: Marshall apprising him of the probable result of the South Carolina election, seems to be considered here as deciding the great political contest, which has excited so much interest, throughout the Continent, for some months past. The issue is like to be different from that which the federalists have, of late allowed themselves to anticipate, and their...
35Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 15 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
Your favor of the 12 th: instant came to hand this morning, and I am greatly obliged by the kind invitation it contains to join you & my cousin at Trenton, which it would give me great pleasure to do immediately, but for the desire I feel of procuring an office in to which I may enter immediately on my return to the City. The inhabitants are daily flocking to town, but I have not thought it...
36Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 28 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have received your affectionate & confidential favors of the 17 th: & 23 d: inst ts: and have conferred with M r: Ingersoll on the subject of their contents, so far as they concerned himself. He observed, that his communication with me, on the subject of his resignation of the office he now holds under government, was intended merely to afford an opportunity for filling the vacancy, which...
37Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 9 January 1801 (Adams Papers)
I have searched, in conformity to the request expressed in your favor of the 2 d: inst t: all the writers upon the law of Nature and Nations, which I have in my Office, for authorities to support & justify & explain, the Sixth article of the Convention with France. The extracts from Vattel in your letter are somewhat more explicit on the particular point in question, than his masters,...
38Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 1 November 1800 (Adams Papers)
The morning after you left this place, the Aurora was filled with five columns & an half, from T. Coxe; wherein he undertakes to detail another private conversation, which passed between him and M r: Dennie, during his last visit to the City, & while he lodged in the same house with Dennie & myself. It is hardly necessary to observe, that this, like all other details from the same source, is...
39Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 22 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favors of the 17 th: & 19 th: instants and take the first moment of leisure, that has occurred, since their receipt, to acknowledge gratefully these fresh instances of parental solicitude respecting my personal concerns. I shall reply without reserve to your last letter, which relates more immediately to my professional prospects. I have always been persuaded of the...
40Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 26 July 1800 (Adams Papers)
Your kind favor of the 14 th: has been some days in hand— I thank you for your tender solicitude for my health & success— As to the first I can say, with thankfulness that it is better than usual at this melting season— To the second, I can reply, that my professional success, is sufficient to keep me above despondency, though far short of my necessities. On Tuesday last I argued a cause of...
41Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 22 January 1801 (Adams Papers)
When I said, that I did not disagree with Manlius, in attributing the downfall of the federal cause, to the Mission to France, my meaning was, not, that the loss of the late election, was to be viewed, as the consequence of that Mission, for I believe with you Sir, that independent of that measure, the federal Candidate would have been almost universally deserted. But I meant to assert as my...
42Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 27 October 1798 (Adams Papers)
I wrote you soon after my arrival here that I expected to take passage with Captain Jenkins of the Ship America, bound to Newburypor[t.] I had in fact engaged to go with him, but as he said much to me of the uncomfortableness of his vessel and refused any compensation for taking me as a passenger, I thought best to look out for another opportunity, and upon the recommendation of Capt n:...
43Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 20 September 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favors of the 6 th. & 10 th: inst ts:— The little schism which took place among the federal people at their late meetings, & which was detailed in one of my late letters, has terminated to general satisfaction & from the turn it has taken will probably very much promote a union of interest & exertion. Every measure, which was pursued to modify the proceedings of the...
44Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 2 February 1801 (Adams Papers)
Your favors of the 24 th: & 27 th: ult o: are duly received. It seems not to be understood here, whether the proceedings, in Senate, relative to the Convention, are conclusive, as to the fate of that instrument, or whether, under any pretext, the discussion can be revived upon it. I am, myself, unable to solve the question, though I have some idea, that the rejection of the particular,...
45Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 1 February 1799 (Adams Papers)
The morning I left Philadelphia I had not an opportunity of making the necessary arrangement with the Secretary of State for the payment of my Brother’s salary, which the Secretary of the Treasury had promised to advance. I should be sorry that this circumstance should defeat my intention of subscribing to the Loan on behalf of my Brother, the sum of 4000 D ls: which each person who...
46Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 18 April 1799 (Adams Papers)
I arrived here safely yesterday forenoon, after an agreeable, though rather tardy passage from New-Port, which place we left on Sunday noon. During my stay at Newport, I visited fort Wolcott, being acquainted with Lieut t Ross of Pennsylvania who is stationed there. Major Toussard had the politeness to accompany me, and I was much pleased with the appearance of discipline & military decorum...
47Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 14 February 1799 (Adams Papers)
I arrived at Boston on Monday evening after a prosperous journey, and came out to this place the following afternoon in the Quincy Stage. I had the happiness to find my Mother in tolerable health, and shall be highly rejoyced, if my presence, should in any degree contribute to the continuance of that blessing. The rest of our friends are well, excepting Uncle Adams, who suffers much from a...
48Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 12 January 1799 (Adams Papers)
I arrived at this place yesterday afternoon, in the Ship Alexander Hamilton, after a passage of 46 days— The Season of the year will best explain what kind of weather we have experienced. I thank God that I tread once more the land of my Fathers. I shall wait only for my baggage to come on shore and then set out for Philadelphia—where I hope—to meet you in health. It gives me pain that I...
49Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 4 March 1798 (Adams Papers)
Since my residence at this place I have received your kind letter of October 25 th: written at East Chester, a few weeks previous to your return to the seat of Government, from your nothern excursion. I have been highly delighted by the accounts which reached us from various quarters of the cordial & dignified reception given by the people to their chief magistrate, both in his going from &...
50Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 26 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
Your very kind favor of the 14 th: inst t: has a claim upon my gratitude, not only for the obliging wish it conveys, that I should become one of your family, on your return to Philadelphia, but also for the flattering opinion, you are pleased to express, on the subject of my letters & classical taste. I shall make no scruple to accept the invitation to dwell under the same roof with my...