31Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 3 November 1789 (Adams Papers)
I did not receive your Letter dated 25 untill sunday Evening which made it too late to write by the last post in replie to it. I do not know any thing that I wisht more for than to have past the winter at my own House for a summer situation this place is delightfull & the House convenient, and except its being Bleak and perhaps difficult of access in some parts of a severe winter, it is more...
32Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 13 June 1790 (Adams Papers)
I received your Letter of May 16. and was very happy to find that you were all upon the recovery. we have daily mercies to be thankfull for, tho no state is exempt from trouble and vexation. the one which at present Torments me is the apprehension of a Removal from a very delightfull situation, to I know not where, and I am too short sighted, or too much blinded, to see any real advantage from...
33Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 12–14 December 1790 (Adams Papers)
I have received your two kind Letters one dated in october the 30 day I think & the 14 of Nov br as the last came by a private Hand it did not reach me till last Evening. you will suppose that I might have written to you long e’er this, but as my letters would only have been a detail of grivences and troubles I was reluctant at taking my pen, and put it of from day to day. I reachd this city...
34Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 20–21 March 1792 (Adams Papers)
I have obliged Louissa, much against her judgment, to give me a pen Ink and paper, that I might mak an effort however feeble to write a few lines to my dear sister Tis now the sixth week since I have been out of the door of this Chamber, or moved in a larger circle than from my Bed to the chair I was taken six weeks ago very ill with an Inflamitory Rhumatism and tho it did not totally deprive...
35Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 27 July 1790 (Adams Papers)
I received your kind Letter of july 4 th the articles sent by captain Barnard all arrived in good order, and I have to acknowledg mr Cranchs kind care in attending to them. you have got through commencment and I hope have not been made sick with the trouble and fatigue. we had a pleasent day here, not over Hot and I pleasd, myself with the hope that it was so with you. We got Thursdays paper,...
36Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 18 April 1791 (Adams Papers)
This day fortnight the 2 of May we propose to set out on our journey to Braintree. it will be the middle of May I presume before we arrive there if we meet with no accident, So that I will thank you to attend a little to my Garden have Some sallid sewn and what ever else you think proper I wrote to you not long since requesting you to let me know what you thought I might want. you will not...
37Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 February 1790 (Adams Papers)
I yesterday received a Letter from dr Tufts and an other from Thomas informing me of the death of Mrs Palmer. the good old Lady is gone to rest, happily for her I doubt not, but what will become of her daughters Heaven only knows, Polly in particular. I feel very unhappy for them, and you I am sure must be still more so. I suppose you was too heavily loaded with care, and affliction to write...
38Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 August 1790 (Adams Papers)
I have the pleasure to inform you that last Night mrs Smith got to Bed with an other fine Boy. We could have all wisht it had been a Girl, but rest satisfied with the sex as it a very fine large handsome Boy and both mother and child are well. She spent the day with me on fryday, and I urged her as I had Several times before, to accept a Room here, and lie in here, as the house in which she is...
39Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 29 August 1790 (Adams Papers)
I last Night received your Letter which I have long expected, dated 9 th of August, and thank you for your account of commencment, as well as your care. I have written to you a number of times and wonderd much at not hearing from you. by dr Jeffries I wrote you an account of mrs Smiths getting well to Bed. She is very cleverly and has been once out to see me tho only three weeks last Night...
40Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 April 1792 (Adams Papers)
I have just received your kind Letter as I was about to write to you to inform you that we proposed Sitting out on our journey on monday or twesday next. the weather has been so rainy that I have not been able to ride So often as I wishd in order to prepare myself for my journey, and how I shall stand it, I know not. this everlasting fever still hangs about me & prevents my intire recovery. a...
41Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 29 April 1792 (Adams Papers)
I left Philadelphia on twesday Noon the 24 of April. my first stage was only twenty miles. I bore it better than I expected. the next day rode only 18. Rain came on & the Roads were Miry indeed. we did not get to this place till fryday Evening. here I find a vacancy which cannot be supplied, tho all my Friends are good & kind. the first being who welcomed me to the House, and met me at the...
42Elizabeth Smith Shaw to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 April 1793 (Adams Papers)
I have been exceedingly grieved at hearing of our dear Sister Adams’s Illness— She was so well in the winter, that I hoped she would have escaped any inconvenience from the return of the fever & ague— When it gets such fast hold of a Constitution, it appears to be a very formidable Disorder, & is attended with very disagreeable Consequences— I have heard she was growing better, & hope by this...
Justice & judgment are the habitation of thy throne, O my God! but thy mercy endureth forever— In the depths of Sorrow, I have lifted up mine Eyes, & felt some ray of comfort, when I saw this thy darling Attribute shining with distinguished lustre—“many, very many were the virtues of my Friend”— feign would I hope, they were such as would more than ballance his failings— feign would I hope...
I believe in one of my Letters I told you I had troubles of various kinds— I need to be possessed of more wisdom than the Serpent, joined to the innocence of the Dove, more meekness than Moses, more patience than Job—& to abound richly in the fruits of the Spirit— In one word our people have been very Jealous of me, they were conscious they had not used Mr Shaw well, & thought it imposible for...
45Abigail Adams Smith to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 February 1791 (Adams Papers)
your kind attention my Dear Aunt demands an early acknowledgement, you judge very right that it would contribute greatly to my happiness could I be indulged with the society of my friends in your part of the world— I often do most ardently wish for it—but fate has ordered it otherwise—[and] I must submit— the removeall of my Mamma and her family from this place has deprived me of a very great...
46Louisa Catharine Smith to Mary Smith Cranch, 18 March 1792 (Adams Papers)
Excuse my intrudeing upon you a moment with a recital of a line from your Niece, Who is authorised from the feelings of her own heart And from a desire of her Aunts to gratify a request which she anxiously solicited me to comply with, I cannot object to the request altho it is a painful one, to informe you how extreemly sick my Aunt has been, I fear you have been anxiously distressed to hear...