Louisa Catherine Adams to Abigail Adams, 7 December 1803

Louisa Catherine Adams to Abigail Adams

Boston December 7th. 1803

I recieved your letter dear Madam and should have answer’d it had not the illness of the two children prevented me1 John was very sick cutting two teeth but is now perfectly recover’d and larger and fatter than ever George has been very ill owing to a severe cold which occasioned a smart fever for several days which reduced him very much he has not yet left his room but is nearly recover’d—

Mrs. Pain and Mrs. Morton are both here2 Mrs. P. looks charmingly and is very much admired Mrs. M. is not quite so much the fashion as last winter I have seen them both several times.— The arrival of Mr. & Mrs. Merry has afforded great satisfaction as they seem inclined to live in great stile and magnificence ~~and~~ which will enliven the society very much. they have taken the houses which my Mother and Mrs. Tom Peter lived in the two are to be thrown into one enclosed with a handsome railing and a large and elegant garden laid out at the back of the house this will certainly be a great advantage to the City.3

Mrs. Hellen is in a very ill state of health indeed we are extremely anxious on her account the loss she has sustained preys heavily on her spirits and the illness she suffered so immediately after redoubled her affliction and proved a severe shock to her constitution.4

The family all desire their best respects Mama looks very thin and Pale and has quite lost her spirits remember me affectionately to the president and Louisa and believe me dear Madam your affectionate

Louisa C. Adams

P. S. I left some Music in the Room I slept in I would thank Mr. Shaw to send it me if you can find it and half a dozen lb. of Shells and the same of Chocolate from Ticknors5 Mr. Whitcomb will pay for them.

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs Adams”; docketed: “L C A / to / A A / 1803.”

1. Not found.

2. Although LCA wrote Boston in her dateline, this letter was written from Washington, D.C., where Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton had accompanied her husband, Boston attorney Perez Morton, while he pursued claims on behalf of clients (Madison, Papers, Secretary of State Series description begins The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series, ed. Robert J. Brugger, Mary A. Hackett, David B. Mattern, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1986– . description ends , 5:192–195, 6:193–194; Emily Pendleton and Milton Ellis, Philenia: The Life and Works of Sarah Wentworth Morton, 1759–1846, Orono, Maine, 1931, p. 99).

3. George III appointed Anthony Merry (1756–1835) minister plenipotentiary to the United States on 16 September. He and his wife, Elizabeth Death Leathes (d. 1824), departed England on 25 Sept. and landed in Norfolk, Va., on 4 Nov., arriving in Washington, D.C., on the 26th. The minister presented his credentials to Secretary of State James Madison on 28 Nov. and was received by Thomas Jefferson the next day, for which see JQA to AA, 22 Dec., and note 1, below. The Merrys resided on K Street in Foggy Bottom, occupying two adjacent properties that had previously been home to Martha Parke Custis and Thomas Peter (vol. 13:89; LCA, D&A description begins Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams, ed. Judith S. Graham and others, Cambridge, 2013; 2 vols. description ends , 1:201; Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, and others, Princeton, N.J., 1950– . description ends , 41:387–388; Douglas E. Evelyn and Paul Dickson, On This Spot: Pinpointing the Past in Washington, D.C., 3d edn., Sterling, Va., 2008, p. 214).

4. Ann Johnson Hellen’s son Washington died on 19 Sept. at the age of seventeen months (LCA, D&A description begins Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams, ed. Judith S. Graham and others, Cambridge, 2013; 2 vols. description ends , 1:195–196).

5. Elisha Ticknor (1757–1821) was a Boston shopkeeper and educator who sold groceries from a shop at 42 Marlborough Street (Jefferson, Papers, Retirement Series description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, ed. J. Jefferson Looney and others, Princeton, N.J., 2004– . description ends , 8:584; Boston Directory, 1803 description begins Boston Directory [title varies], issued annually with varying imprints. description ends , p. 121, 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. 3862).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: Louisa Catherine Adams to Abigail Adams, 7 December 1803
Author: Adams, Louisa Catherine
Recipient: Adams, Abigail
Date: 7 December 1803

Reference

Cite as: “Louisa Catherine Adams to Abigail Adams, 7 December 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-15-02-0171. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 15, March 1801 – October 1804, ed. Hobson Woodward, Sara Martin, Christopher F. Minty, Neal E. Millikan, Gwen Fries, Amanda M. Norton, Sara Georgini, and R. M. Barlow. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021, pp. 307–309.]

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