1From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 December 1826 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 26th. ulto. with one from President Kirkland enclosed in it, and your answer were received yesterday—I suppose the genealogical narrative in your Letter, contains all the information that he may desire—It comprizes as much of the family history as we have to tell for a century preceding the birth of your father—The short and simple annals of the poor—If I had leisure, I...
I should like to subjoin in a note to the discourse I delivered on your father—the genealogical notices which are proper relating to your father & mother.— I quoted your father’s diary or memorandum upon the visit of Messrs Gridley & Otis—late in 1765 when he was asked to join them in resisting the stamped paper.—If this document be at your house & not in the bank, I should like when I call to...
This morning I did See in a N.Y. paper—the announced death of your Revered Father—my beloved and respected Frend—during more than forty years—alas! He is no more—I am nearly left alone—and fostered—in vain—the hope, that I Should See Him once more! You with your Dear Lady and family enjoy’d this happiness, and rendered Him by your unrelenting attentions—in his last moments—thankful to His God....
4From Levi Lincoln to Thomas Boylston Adams, 5 July 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received, with deep sympathy of feeling, the melancholly intelligence of the decease of your venerated Father, and beg to offer my sincere condolences to the afflicted family on this mournful occasion—Full of years, rich in all the honors which virtue and patriotism can deserve, and a grateful country should bestow, Secure of a precious remembrance by Posterity, to the latest generation...
5From Thomas S. Winthrop to Thomas Boylston Adams, 5 July 1826 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of this Morning, announcing the death of your venerable Father, was just now delivered to me. I beg leave to offer to you, & to the family, my most sincere sympathy & condolence on this mournful occasion. Frankly to your request I will do myself the honour to assist, as a Pallbearer, in the funeral obsequies to be performed on Friday Evening next. With great respect, I am, / Sir, /...
6From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 24 June 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 17th. with deep concern at the purport of its contents—I will endeavour towards the close of the next, or the beginning of then succeeding month to visit you and our ever honoured Parent—In the mean time should any thing further occur to make it necessary for me still more to anticipate the period of my journey, I rely upon your attention and affection to...
7From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 2 July 1825 (Adams Papers)
In compliance with your letters of 2d and 23d ulto. I have executed a deed of my share of Land in Salem Vermont, which as soon as I can get it acknowledged, I will forward to Mr Baxter at Brownington I am not certain whether you intended to advise that I should buy out the rights of the heirs of Norton Quincy to the Wood Lot which you mention. If you do I shall readily consent to the purchase;...
8From John A. Shaw to Thomas Boylston Adams, 27 June 1825 (Adams Papers)
I wish you would have the goodness to speak to your Brother concerning my tending the Light on Owlshead in Thomaston as it is near don & as I live near By & can tend it cheaper than any other Person if you will attend to this you will, Obb / Yours With Respect. NB if your Brother is not at Quincy I wish you would Wright him MHi : Adams Papers.
9From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 19 March 1825 (Adams Papers)
I have received your kind Letter of congratulation with the very appropriate passage from Machiavel’s an author, with whose works I have never been familiar, and whose reputation as a political writer is problematical—The Sentiment which you have quoted from him is perhaps correct in its first part—certainly in its second. The congratulations of all my friends are entitled to my gratitude....
10From William Eustis to Thomas Boylston Adams, 31 January 1825 (Adams Papers)
I have been so much gratified by the mail of to day as to induce me to continue the mail as far as Quincy. I was somewhat prepared for this recount—its conformation from such a source is truely gratifying. With my best respects to your father You will with the return of the letter have the goodness to let me know how he is. Yrs MHi : Adams Papers.
11From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 January 1825 (Adams Papers)
The Laws of descent, & of devisee of intestate are so intricately involved in the case stated by your letter of the 9th. instt. & it may be so much affected by Statutes of the Commonwealth passed since I was in the practice of the Law, that I can only say that I will sanction any act of my father which can dispose of my eventual title to a portion of the estate So far as I understand your...
12From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 27 November 1824 (Adams Papers)
I return with thanks, Mr Jarvis’s Letter, enclosed in your’s of the 6th.—The sense of the People, throughout New. England, as signified by their suffrages in the choice of Electors, has been very gratifying to me—If in other parts of the Union it has been less favourable, I have in almost every part of it been honoured with a support for which I ought to be grateful—The opposition in...
13From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 May 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have recieved your letter of the 26 ulto. If the proposition which you say has been made to you, is the express desire of my father & it was by his direction that you made it me; & if on the receipt of this letter, he continues to desire that the house should be painted white, I authorize you to comply with his wishes; provided it can be done without inconvenience to the tenant of the house;...
14From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 March 1824 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters of 29. Decr. (enclosing your annual account) and of 4. February last have been duly received, but I have not had, and have not yet time to examine or remark upon them. I must rely upon your discretion for the management of those concerns of mine in your hands to which it is impossible for me now to attend— My present object is to transmit the enclosed Letter from the Secretary of...
15From John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 29 March 1823 (Adams Papers)
I am much pleased with your letters, to your Parents and to your Sisters, as well as those to me, and I advice you to write as many as you can, but have a care not to write in too much haste, acquire a habit of care and attention not only to the beauty and distinctness and legibility of your hand writing but to the correctness of your Grammar, spelling and even punctuation by this habit, you...
16From John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 1822 (Adams Papers)
Received Quincy April 3d 1822 of Thomas B Adams Esqr— the sum of Seventy-two Dollars in full for a semiannual dividend on my shares in the Massachusetts Bank— Also Twenty-Dollars as a dividend on my shares in the Boston Bank— 72 20 92 MHi : Cutts-Madison Collection.
17From George Washington Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 25 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I am enabled to reply to your last favour somewhat earlier than to the two which preceded it and hope that as my large file of unanswered letters is at last wholly disposed of I shall have it in my power to keep pace with my correspondents in future. There are moments in the life of every man when it is exceedingly difficult to bend the attention to business and those who allot special hours...
18From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 January 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have mentioned to the Secretary of War, your wish that your Son Thomas may be admitted at the Military Academy at West–Point—His name will accordingly be placed upon the list of Candidates, and his admission may be expected in March 1824—But Mr Calhoun advises that he may be placed in the meantime at some School or Academy, where he may be kept to the most assiduous application of...
19From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 October 1821 (Adams Papers)
List of Keys, left at Quincy by J. Q. Adams—with T. B. A. 1. Padlock large French trunk— marked J. Q. A. 2. Chest—not painted do 3. Chest do do 4. Mahogany box— 5. Small black trunk 6. Trunk de la Volaille 7. Large Hair Trunk. MHi : Adams Papers.
20From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 12 September 1820 (Adams Papers)
I have to reply to at least three Letters to you, the reason of which I will tell you hereafter, if it please God—At present I only write to give you full power to do with my Penn’s Hill farm and both the Houses as you think best.—The same with that at Mount Wollaston—except that you must not strip the latter of any good wood—And beware of running me too much in debt for repairs. I was much...
21From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 4 November 1819 (Adams Papers)
On the 7th. of last Month, I left at the Branch Bank, Boston, a Check payable to you, requesting it might be passed to your credit, as my agent, which was no doubt accordingly done, and which as you recollect was to be reserved to pay for the timber, for which you had agreed, for building the Barn upon the Mount Wollaston farm, and for the work and other expenses of building it—The check was...
22From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 28 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
It is only within these very few days that I have found a moment of time to examine the particulars of your account with me for the year 1818 which you transmitted to me last January, upon which, I find occasion to make very few, and unimportant remarks—Under date of 20. June it gives credit for $550.. Dividend from the Fire and Marine Insurance Office, instead of which it should be the...
Your Letter of the 6th was brought to me yesterday and made me laugh heartily—I congratulate you on having so happily terminated a day so laborious as the 24 Feby. which however appears to have been productive of considerable pleasure to you.—But am sorry that my epistle should have added to your burthen—I am most thankful to you for what you did in regard to my Shares—I had taken a fancy to...
24From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 February 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter N. 12 of the 14th. instant is before me—I approve of every thing which can contribute to the comfort of my father’s life: and of every thing which may at the same time contribute to your welfare and that of your family—Though I do not fully perceive in what manner my assistance can be required for your removal to his house, I am not aware of any manner in which, I shall hesitate to...
Accept my sincere thanks for your very kind Letter, and your still more kind wishes on the return of the Season of congratulation, which are reciprocated by us all with the utmost pleasure—Many, many years of unmixed felicity I trust are yet in store for you, to be enjoyed in the bosom of your family—I am sorry my Sister has been so long unwell; but these colds attended with Sore Throats have...
26From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 18 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letters of 29th. Novbr.—4 and 5 Decemr. 6th. and 7th. December—numbered 5. 6. 8. 9. with the correspondence between you and the Society for the suppression of Intemperance at Hanover enclosed in number 6 and the copy of your Letter to Mr Rush, enclosed in number 9 which copy conformably to your request I herewith return.— Before receiving these last two Letters I had...
27From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
Since writing my last, I have received your Letters of the 10th. and 15th. with the papers enclosed in them. The obituary notice of our dear and excellent Mother, which I mentioned to you as having been published in the Baltimore Newspapers was as I had supposed, written by Mr Colman—You have doubtless seen it. A short notice has also appeared in the Alexandria Gazette, written by Judge...
28From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the first instant did not come to hand until last Monday—That of the 9h. enclosing Mr. Whitney’s Sermon upon the decease of our dear and ever to be lamented Mother, for which I beg you to thank him in my name, reached me yesterday, together with a Letter from my Son George—I am yet almost without any account of the particulars of her illness—A line from Harriet Welsh, received...
29From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 15 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the first instant did not come to hand until last Monday, that of the 9th: enclosing Mr Whitney’s funeral sermon, upon the decease of our dear & ever-to-be lamented Mother, (for which I beg you to thank him in my name,) reached me yesterday, together with a letter from my son George. I am yet almost without any account of the particulars of her illness. A line from Hariet Welsh,...
30From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
They have at length found on the Books of the Bank, the dividend of 24 dollars due to your father, and have given me for it the check on the Branch Bank at Boston which is herewith enclosed—I shall pass over to the proper office in the War Department, the Affidavit in behalf of William Oliphant, and as soon as I can get information of what has been done in the case of Peter Ellins will inform...
31From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 8 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 25 last Month; contains some particulars relating to my property the condition of my Estate in Boston, which as you anticipated, were not altogether welcome None however that gave me so much concern, as your declining ill management of it for the future.—Yet as it is so essential to your happiness to be relieved from it I cannot insist upon your retaining it any longer; and...
32From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 18 May 1818 (Adams Papers)
On examining the Register which you sent me, I find that your Court sits at Nantucket the second and at Edgar Town the third Monday in May—This Letter may therefore find you, upon your return home—At the same time I trust you may will also receive the Register just published here, and also the Intelligencers containing the five Letters on Amelia Island. You must give me more particular...
33From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 April 1818 (Adams Papers)
I thank you, for giving the necessary Bonds for the entrance of my Son George at the University and am very glad he is there—Market Projects, have lost most of their attractions for me—I desire to have nothing to do with that which is in contemplation, till something comes in the shape of returns from the other. I yesterday received a Letter from Messrs: R. P. & C. Williams of Boston,...
34From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 9 March 1818 (Adams Papers)
You have here enclosed, a draft on the United States Branch Bank at Boston to the order of Charles Newcomb, for 172 dollars 54 Cents, being the amount of dividends on the six and three per Cent Stocks due to him standing on the Books here, and for which I have signed receipts as his Attorney. The payment comes down to the second Quarter of 1816—inclusive—Upon the subject of the other...
35From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 February 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of 5 Feby. has been received.—I shall attend to its contents as it regards Mr S. Codman, if the Bankrupt Law should pass—But I recommend no kinsman of mine for any thing—I think the proposed Bill for making national Justices of the Peace will not be adopted but if it should, and your name should be proposed as a Candidate there will be opposition—You know I presume that there is a...
36From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 February 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letters of 13 and 17 Jany, the Letter numbered 7. and enclosing your account to the close of the year—The other two Powers of Attorney, both of which I am obliged to return to you re infecta . Mr. Cutting’s Letter will explain to you the state of things with regard to the Land-Claims, and you must ascertain whether you can furnish the proof required As to the Stock, the...
37From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 19 January 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your N. 5. of 2. and 4. January has been duly received As I have but little time to think of my own affairs, I have every thing of mine in your hands, at your discretion—In the way of advice only, I think it best not to purchase Armstrong’s land—With Homer, and Spear, and all other tenants you must do as you think proper, and for the Rent of the house in which you dwell, fix it at your own...
38From Abigail Smith Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 30 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
enclosed is Harriets account which I wish you to Settle when you go to Town. I have had it some time She received 15 dollers of you—Your Father has a Bill to pay to mr Cary—and the marble chimney peice is to be included—Both amount to 28 dollars.—I have his Bill. I beleive there is some money due in B office I presume there is also something due in Philadelphia, and as we can get flower here...
39From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 5 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
Yours of the 24th. ulto. with the draft on the Branch Bank for 3000 Dollars in received.—Messrs: Payne and Co wrote me lately mentioning the opinion of our friend Mr. Jos: Stall Senior, that there would be no dividend upon the Canal Shares next January.—I immediately answered them that if that was now their own opinion, I wished them to suspend further purchases on my account.—I say the same...
40From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 10 September 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have placed to your credit as my Agent the sum of ten thousand Dollars, in the United States Branch Bank, which you are to employ as follows, and in no other manner without express authority from me hereafter. I have authorized Messers: Payne and Co. to purchase for me, Middlesex Canal Shares at 330 Dollars a share, all assessments paid—or at 250 dollars with the last Assessment to pay—If...
41From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 23 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
Since my last letter to you, which was of 28 February I have received yours of 6 and 12 Feby both numbered 24. of 19 Feby. N 25. & of 13 april N. 26 with all their enclosures. Mr Ogdens Bill for £877.10. has also been duly received and paid. I am now so much hurried by the preparations for my departure that I have no time to trouble you with observations upon my affairs. The only instruction I...