Adams Papers
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Mary Smith Gray Otis to Abigail Adams, 23 April 1802

Mary Smith Gray Otis to Abigail Adams

Washington April 23d 1802

Indolence shall no longer prevent my acknowledging, the pleasure I felt (my dear Mrs Adams) from your kind & affectionate letter which I received some time ago.1

Your sentiments on the subject of friends are so congenial with my own, that I wish by every means in my power, to cherish with the warmest affection, the few that are spared to me.

The last respects were paid to our friend Mrs Stodart, the day after receiving your letter, I saw her about a fortnight before her death, she inquired with much anxiety after your health, & desired to be perticularly remembered to you.

It gives me great pleasure to hear that my Sister S—— has so surprisingly recovered from your account of her & Betsy’s the first of the winter, I was very apprehensive that I should never see her face any more; but I now anticipate the pleasure of seeing her & all my other friends, in six or eight weeks. It is not quite certain when Congress will adjourn, for you know, there are many who would spin out business till mid summer, rather than relinquish 6 Dll. There have been a number of ladies belonging to Congress here this winter, but I assure you, the Jews have but little dealings with the Samaritans.2

We are pleased with the prospect, of the Sun of fedaralism’s rising again in the east, and allso, that your Son is comeing forward in his political career.3

Mrs Daltons & Mrs Cranch’s family’s are well, the measles have been universial, but Mary has not taken them, for which I am sorry, as she is at a good age.4 Mrs Bayard is the only one in our house that has taken them, and she had them very favourably.5

I regret the loss which Mr Johnson’s family have sustained, I am told they intend remaining in Fredrick.6

Please to remember me to Mrs Cranch & Louisa. Mr O with Harriet & Mary join their best respects to you, & your Friend with / Your Affectionate

M: Otis

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Madam Adams / Quincy / Massachusett”; endorsed: “Mrs Otis / 1802.”

1AA to Otis, [post 15 Dec. 1801], above.

2John, 4:9.

3The Washington Federalist, 19 April 1802, reprinted an article from the New York Evening Post, 12 April, titled “The Sun of Federalism Once More,” reporting on the successes of Federalist candidates in the Massachusetts election. JQA’s election to the state senate was reported, along with JA’s vote for “his expatriot,” Gov. Caleb Strong.

4That is, Otis’ daughter Mary Ann, who was then seven years old.

5Ann Bassett Bayard (1777–1854) was the wife of James Asheton Bayard and the daughter of former Delaware governor Richard Bassett. Both the Bayards and the Otises lodged at Stelle’s Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch, A History and Genealogy of the Families of Bayard, Houstoun of Georgia, and the Descent of the Bolton Family, Washington, D.C., 1919, p. 12, 63; Biog. Dir. Cong.; List of Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, with their Places of Abode, [Washington, D.C., 1801,], p. 2, Shaw-Shoemaker description begins Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker, American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819, New York, 1958–1966; 22 vols.; supplemental edn., Early American Imprints, www.readex.com. description ends , No. 1507).

6For Joshua Johnson’s death, see JQA to Walter Hellen, 28 April, and note 1, below.

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