1. On 7 Nov. JA and Samuel Adams were voted a “leave of absence to visit their families” (JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 9:880). On the 11th they set off from York and proceeded by way of Lancaster, Reading, and Bethlehem to Easton, meeting Francis Dana, who was on his way to help fill up the depleted Massachusetts delegation, near Reading; their route from Easton home is at least partly indicated in JA’s fragmentary diary entries (Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 2:267–269). According to a letter he wrote James Lovell on 6 Dec. (LbC, Adams Papers), JA reached Braintree on 27 November.

2. This appears on the verso of JA’s letter, which is written on an irregularly shaped sheet. Paper was scarce, and, although there is no evidence that the letter from “Eustatia” was read in Congress, JA may have copied it before leaving York and then found the blank side of the sheet convenient for writing his note to AA.