I address you jointly and congratulate you upon the fine weather we have had since you commenced your journey I hope e’er this day, you have reached washington in safety , with your dear little Boy; for whose Safety, I was not a little anxious through so long and fatigueing a journey. We had the pleasure to receive a Letter from you, informing us of your arrival at New york— The week after you...
2From Orchard Cook to John Quincy Adams, 1 January 1809 (Adams Papers)
Mr. & Mrs. Cook ask leave to present to Mr. & Mrs. Adams the Compts. of the Season— Your Letters do much good, are treated with very great respect indeed —I think you have now more influence than when here—not mere opinions in which you deal very sparingly but the excellent Arguments & reasons you give for every conclusion— As I flatter myself with the Hope of more of your Favours embracing an...
3From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 29 November 1805 (Adams Papers)
The reason that you did not receive a Letter from me when you arrived at Philadelphia, was oweing to my being so sick that I could not write. I got your Brother to write, but not so soon as I should, if I had been able. as soon as I could hold my pen I wrote you a few lines, since which I have received your Letter from Newyork; I have rejoiced in the fine weather which has followed you ever...
I received yesterday your Letter of Novbr 27th. and was rejoiced to learn that you and the Children were well. I was just contemplating writing a Letter to my son to chide him for not writing to inform me, how George was grown, and improved, what he said when he saw his pappa again, and how mister John came on, whether he is as grave as his Brother George was how Master Georges socks fitted...
It is sometimes said that suspense is worse than the certainty of evil—But it is a hard relief from suspense to be informed of evils worse than were apprehended. From the length of time which had pass’d without bringing me a letter from you, I felt great anxiety; but it was principally for the dear child, whom I had left so unwell—Your letter when it came, announced to me not only the child...
I have received only one letter from you—that of 25. Novr: since I left you—And none from any of my other friends—Though I accustom myself to Patience in the expectation of Letters I begin to feel extremely anxious; lest some of you should be ill—The Mails have been interrupted by the obstructions in the Roads, and I have imputed the delay of your letters to this as long as I could—But we have...
I have nothing new to tell you from this place. I have no letter from you of later date than 25. Novr:—My purpose now besides enquiring how you and the children, are is to enclose the within from Kitty to Caroline. Our weather for some days past has been very bad—Snow-Hail-Rain and Sleet have followed one another in uninterrupted succession—It was so bad last Evening that the Ladies could not...
Your letter of the 16th: brought me consolation and hope in the information that you were all getting well—My anxiety on account of my mother has been extreme; having heard through Mr: Cranch & Mr: Quincy, that she had been very dangerously ill—I learn also that George is at Mr. Cranch’s I am still waiting for my Cause to be called in Court—It was called again the day before yesterday; but Mr:...
I now enclose you the two bills, together with an order upon the Bank at Boston for their amount—which I hope will reach you by Christmas—You will see that the order is made payable to Mr: Shaw, who will receive and pay you the money.—I will thank you to get receipts upon the bills and forward them to me; as Mr: Hellen must have them. The party at Mr: Madison’s yesterday was almost entirely...
Last Evening I received your’s of the 14th: which makes me anxious to hear from you again—Your sore throat and George’s cough will keep me upon thorns untill I hear better tidings of you—I am perhaps the more susceptible on this subject from the heavy calamity so recently befallen the family here.—It is vain to lament or to anticipate—and would be vain to attempt expressing what I feel. The...
Your Letter of Jan’ry 6 I received last Evening. your Children are very well, and very well taken care of. so do not give yourself any anxious solisitude about them. I believe they are much better off than they could have been at any boarding House in washington, where they must have been confined in some degree; or have mixd with improper persons; with respect to John, the Child enjoys...
I wrote you from Cambridge last Tuesday, and then promised that my next should be from this place—Yesterday morning I walked from Cambridge into Boston, intending to come here in the Stage—My Passage was engaged, and I waited from four O’Clock in the afternoon, at Whitcomb’s untill Six expecting the Stage to call for me; but he came away and left me—having previously engaged as many passengers...
I wrote you last Sunday, the day after my arrival at Quincy and gave you an account of the progress and termination of my journey from New-York. On Tuesday I went with my father to Cambridge to attend the inauguration of the new President of the College, Mr: Webber.—The ceremonies of the day were sufficiently dull—The performances mostly in Latin, with a comfortable proportion of English in...
The latest letter I have from you is dated the 14th: when you were very unwell with a sore throat and George with a very bad cough—I wait every Evening with the hope of a line from you of a more cheering nature —not unmingled with an apprehension of having in its stead, addition of anxiety—My hopes and my fears must be postponed from day to day and the state of Suspense still hangs over me....
I have as little faith in presentiments as yourself—but the anxiety which I have felt for this whole week on your account has been such, that on receiving this morning your two letters of the 19th: and 21st:—I opened them with a trembling hand and heart—I lay this morning an hour before day-light, torturing myself with the fancy that some calamity of fire had befallen you or the children; and...
The enclosed lines were written as a tribute of my affectionate remembrance, of your birth-day—But though begun upon that day they were not finished untill the next, and the necessity of copying them fair, has delayed their transmission, untill this time. I have not heard from you of a later date than the 1st: of this month; nor have I later letters from any of my friends at Quincy—We have had...
17From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 4 May 1806 (Adams Papers)
The first pen I put to paper after reaching my journey’s end must be to inform you, my dearest friend, of that Event—I left New-York, at four O’Clock of the afternoon of the first of this Month; the same day that my last Letter to you was written—My Sister concluded to remain there with the Coll: at least for the present—Her prospects and those of her family, are of a gloomy cast, but I can...
I received yesterday your letter of the 15th: and this morning that of the 17th: enclosing in the former a letter from to your Mamma, and in the latter, one to Mrs: Boyd—We are now at the last days of the Session, and you know how much we are oppress’d with public business at such times—This will give you my excuse for the shortness of this letter—It is not yet certain whether the members of...
From your letter of the 20th: which I have just received, I am in doubt whether even this letter will not reach New-York, too late to meet you—I wrote you last Thursday a letter directed to Washington enclosing one hundred Dollars for defraying the expences of your Journey—I hope you have left such directions, that the letter will be transmitted safely to you— The house which I expected to...
I have just received your letter of 24. Decr: and lament that the expression of my anxiety to hear from you should in any respect have been understood by you as implying any idea of complaint as if you had been negligent in writing—I never had such intention, and have always been convinced of your attention in writing regularly. It gives me great pain to find by your letter that your health &...
My project of coming from Washington to this place, by the way of Annapolis was disappointed, by the badness of the roads, which prevented the arrival of the Stage from Annapolis in Season for us to take it the 4th:—so I took my passage on the usual way to Baltimore, Thursday and arrived here by the new line of Packets last Evening—To-morrow, I shall pursue my journey to New-York, where I...
I expected to have this letter from Quincy, where it was my intention to have gone yesterday in the Stage— But it was to have called for me at Whitcomb’s where I still lodge, and by some mistake went away and left me. It was the cause of no small disappointment, as I had flattered myself with seeing our two darlings, for whom I had got a little book and a toy to give them from their Mama— But...
I received yesterday your letter of Decr: 28th: with the enclosures to Mr: & Mrs: Hellen, and to your Mamma—I enclosed to you last Evening a letter from her to yourself, and one for Caroline, but not having received them untill my return from the Capitol which was late, I was obliged, to save the last Evening’s Mail to defer answering your letter untill this morning— I take in kind part your...
I wrote you this day week, last Sunday that I intended to return to Boston the next morning—But, I did not go untill Tuesday. I have been chiefly there untill yesterday afternoon when I came out in the Stage, and found the family here all well; and particularly both the children—The first thing John said to me was to enquire whether I had sent a kiss for him to Mamma—I cannot stay many days...
Yesterday was the first Saturday since I arrived here, which passed over without bringing me a letter from you; and although I am willing to hope that it may be owing to some delay at the Post-Office, or to some accident which prevented your writing at the usual time, I cannot help feeling some degree of uneasiness least the omission should have been caused by the state of your health—Indeed...
The last Letter I have received from you was that of the 1st: instt: which I answered last week—I then mentioned to you that I had written some lines to Mrs: Hellen, in consequence of your observations in a preceding letter—and that I would send you a copy of them—They are accordingly now enclosed—Of their merit or demerit, a part belongs to yourself, as they were instigated by your remarks;...
27From Thomas Jefferson to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 8 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your letter of the 28th. of July expressing a wish that your brother could find some emploiment in New Orleans in which his knolege of the French & Spanish languages might be made useful. it would have been pleasing to me to have been able to point out such an emploiment, & more so to add that any such was within my powers of appointment. but the only appointments I make...
On leaving Boston I had formed the Resolution of travelling only in the day-time, but at the close of the second day, arriving at Hartford, I found I should be four days more in getting to New York, unless I proceeded that same Evening, about forty miles to New-Haven—The roads were excellent for sleighing; I was alone in the Stage, and there was a moon bright almost as the morning—I therefore...
I have just this morning received your kind favour of the 2d: instt: which at once confirmed my apprehensions, and in some degree relieved my anxiety—From the time that the Saturday pass’d over untill now I have had an aching heart, and although I learn from your letter that you had been very ill, yet to know you were on the recovery, and had pass’d what I had long looked forward to as a very...
The day after I wrote you from Baltimore, that is to say on Thursday, I came to this place; though in the Night at Baltimore I was taken so ill, that I was afraid I should be obliged to postpone for a day or two the completion of my journey—I am however now as well as usual. The expedition with which I travell’d has given me two days more here than I expected when I left you—But they have been...