your good grandchildren are just gone to repose in the arms of sweet Sleep, soothed by the consciousness of having endeavoured I trust to perform their duty to one of the best of Parents—I was so pleased with their coming to see us, that I could not bear to deprive myself of one moment of their company till they had retired to their bed—And now I embrace one moment, to assure you, of my...
You will now have no occasion to wish for more Snow, if at Quincy you are favoured with as much as we are in Atkinson—I find it adds much to the coldness of the Atmosphere, though it has made it better travelling—I hope I feel grateful to Heaven for preserving us as yet, in so much better health than we had in our family last winter— The spotted fever, I see by the papers, has again commenced...
It has been a cold backward Spring, & Abby could not get abroad as I wished, she has a great deal of pain in her side yet, but I think her feverish habit abates, if her appetite was but good I should be greatly encouraged, & hope she would soon be as well as ever—I am rejoiced to hear Mrs Foster has a Daughter, & comfortable, from what you wrote, I was greatly concerned about her. Mrs Norton &...
54From William Stephens Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 7 December 1812 (Adams Papers)
I send you another paper with the second proclamation of Genera l Smyth, with observations on it—these proclamations produce a very great sensation thro’ the whole of this state—the allusion Scored in the paper came thus scored from Albany—I suppose by the Editor—But if the people at the election succeed in their votes for W:S.S. I think he had better go to Washington than to an ill arranged...
55From Elizabeth Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 19 May 1812 (Adams Papers)
To Correct an error has been Considerd as proof of a Candid Mind—Will you then permit me my much respected friend to express to you,— And by thus doing obtain your forgiveness ,—if I have in the least wounded your feelings by any expressions derogatory to that respect & esteem at all times due to one so much my Superior, and to whom I Consider myself under great Obligations.—I know the...
56From Elizabeth Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 3 July 1813 (Adams Papers)
Altho’ I did not Accept of your kind invitation for yesterday, it was then my intention to have been with you to day but alas we know not what a day will bring forth My good Brother is unexpectedly remov’d from Office and it has thrown us all into such Consternation that with my present feelings I could not partake of that pleasure—which I have ever receivd & had anticipated the ensuing...
Last week I went to Newburyport to accompany Capt Peabody, when I returned a Letter from my Sister Cranch was handed me, which announced the joyful tidings of the birth of your Grandchild—Most sincerely I congratulate you, & the Parents, who by this circumstance I suppose, are made completely happy—I long to clasp my dear Thomas & Nancys little Bantling to my bosom, I hope it will live, and be...
58From Sarah Smith Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 20 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letter favour of the 20th Instant enclosing Mr Clarks letter and your reply—My Daughter has been with you from her Infantcy—you made me exacted a promise that I would never take her from you while you lived—I have however painful the relinquishment—adheared to my promis—you are now going to resign her to the protection of a stranger—If your heart sanctions the...
None but an affectionate Sister, can tell how much I was gratified, to recognize your well known hand, & to find you able to offer a tribute of gratitude, in the congregation of the living, to that Being, who has so kindly raised you from sickness, & restored you to the dear companion of your youth, the Children of your Love, & the anxious trembling friends of your Heart. You say, you were...
By Mrs Welsh, who spent the afternoon with us, I was informed that Your dear Grandson was going to Russia. He will be an agreeable, interesting Companion, for he is possessed of singular strength of Mind—And if he goes, may the Angel of Mercy, be commissioned be to smooth his Passage, & waft him in safty over the briny Ocean, with prosperous Gales, & conduct him to the embraces of parental...
By your Letter I was glad to find it was only the agitation occasioned by extraordinary, & unexpected events which prevented your usual kindness of writing, & not your own; or family’s Sickness—We were brought almost to the depths of dispair respecting Peace, & the sudden assurance of it, was like the blaze of meridian day, without the twilight— My fears now are that, like Jeshuran we shall...
I hope my Dear Sister’s Fibres are not so relaxed by the late intense heat of the weather, as not to be able to hold a Pen, & by her communications inform, comfort, & eddify her anxious Sister, & Friends—I was agreeably supprized by receiving two very kind letters from our good Brother Cranch, since my return to Atkinson—They gave me a very gratifying account of our dear Sister’s gradual...
I am rejoiced to hear that you, & my niece got home safe. Such little excursions are really advantageous to our Health—We require some relief from the same round of cares, & objects. Though I have often found myself fatigued at the time, yet the Friendship & cordiality of my Friends, has proved the balm of Life, & very beneficial to my health & spirits— To your kind enquiries after my Abbys...
64From Elizabeth Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 14 March 1812 (Adams Papers)
It would be injustice in me not to return an immediate Answer to your letter, and its important Contents.—Your Opinion upon every Subject I have ever highly respected, but pardon me if I say upon this One you have err’d.—The Gentleman mentioned I esteem for his own personal Merit,—and as the chosen friend of my much lov’d Cousin I shall Continue to regard him.—And I fervently wish his future...
65From William Stephens Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 June 1813 (Adams Papers)
I was much instructed by the letters you were so good as to forward me from Russia, I wish the writer of them was nearer to us, our great men, however great they are, want aid, they want vigour and decission, the war has assumed a Character that they appear not to have calculated upon—here are laying 140 peices of heavy artillery and not a carriage to mount them upon—this place is totally void...
Thanks be to kind Providence we are all alive though the cold Tuesday our blood seemed congealing, & it was hard for me to respire—I do not know as I ever felt more thankful, than when the rigor of the weather abated—but we have still severe cold of long continuance—as the quantity of Snow makes the air more pungent; I suppose we feel the cold much more than you at Quincy for the Snow is over...
Yesterdays mail conveyed me your kind Letter, which convinced me you had experienced those solid pleasures in your late visit to your early Friends, which I had anticipated for you. How happy, & how pleasant, when the Lamp of Life, holds out to burn, even to four score years, that the mind retains its Vigor, & is the brightest Luminary!—In such a case, “Old-age is desirable,” & grey Hairs, is...
68From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 26 November 1816 (Adams Papers)
Last week I sent you a number of the Monthly Theological Repository, containing some Speculations of Mr Van der Kemp and Mr Jefferson—With this Letter I enclose to my Father the numbers just published of the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews—Presuming that you know the History and Character of those Publications from Cobbett, you will sufficiently understand them to be in the Nature of Lawyer’s...
69From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
Not one word have I heard from you my dear Friend since your kind letter, saying that you was but just leaving the chamber, after a long confinement. I hope & pray that you soon regained your usual health though that at best is delicate. Various circumstances have prevented my being with you ere this. Three weeks since I was called to Plymouth, to sympathize with my beloved Mrs Hammatt for the...
70From Richard Rush to Abigail Smith Adams, 3 June 1815 (Adams Papers)
I had the honor of your favor of the 14th of last month enclosed to me by Mr Smith, and upon this, as on all other occasions, was gratified at the receipt of it. There was also one for Mrs Madison, which I will take great pleasure in presenting to her, as soon as she returns to Washington. She is now expected in the course of a few days. I most sincerely hope, that the wishes of Mr John Adams...
71From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 September 1816 (Adams Papers)
Our Sons John and Charles are come home from school this morning, to spend the Michaelmas Holidays, and have brought one of their schoolmates with them, to whom John has taken a great liking and who is nearly of his age. He was already here, part of the Summer Holidays, and is a very intelligent and well behaved boy. These Holidays come so often that I am not at all partial to them; but those...
72From John Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 17 August 1803 (Adams Papers)
Know all Men by these Presents, that We John Adams of Quincy in the County of Norfolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Esquire, and Abigail Adams his Wife, In consideration of one Dollar to each of us paid by John Quincy Adams of Boston in the County of Suffolk & Commonwealth of Massachusetts aforesaid Esquire, the Receipt whereof We do hereby acknowledge and for diverse other good and...
73From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 23 April 1816 (Adams Papers)
I wrote you last week by Captain Bronson, and sent you a Volume of Letters from the Continent, about the Battle of Waterloo and the like, by the Poet Walter Scott—I now send you a Newspaper in which you will find certain effusions of another personage, who is not only a Poet but a Lord—He has been married little more than a year, and is already separated from his wife—Partly, as his verses...
We have been under the necessity of delaying our journey a few days on account of the marriage of Harriet which took place on thursday evening at eight o’clock since which I have been so much engaged with company and preparations for my departure It has not been in my power to write you untill this morning—We propose leaving this place on Tuesday morning and shall probably reach Quincy in...
75From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 5 May 1814 (Adams Papers)
It is so long a time my beloved Friend since I have had the satisfaction of hearing from you, that I am induced notwithstanding the weakne ss of my eyes to write a few lines to ask after your welfare, with other Friends at Quincy & to offer my thanks for an affectionate letter written in a sick chamber, where I regreted much it was not in my power to have been with you. I took some cold on...
76From William Cranch to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 November 1811 (Adams Papers)
I have not words, my dear Aunt, to express my gratitude for your kind and consoling letter of the 25th. ulto.—It was, as I wished, minute and particular respecting the last moments of my dear and venerable parents. Mr. Norton’s letters having been directed to George town remain’d there some days, so that your letter was contain’d the first information I received of the death of my mother,...
I found your note this morning on my plate when I enterred the breakfast room and hasten to offer you my congratulations on the birth of your Little Grandson for whose happiness and welfare in this world of trouble I most sincerely pray may he prove a joy and blessing to his Parents. Mr. Adams has been afflicted with an inflamation in his eyes which terminated in an Abcess in the under-lid of...
As Mr. & Mrs. Johnson intend leaving us this evening I write you a few lines to assure you of our health and that of the charming family with whom we now are. Caroline and her children are quite well and happy and gave us the cheering welcome of an old and affectionate friend— The situation of Mrs. de Wirts house is beautiful but you have heard too much of it to need any description from me....
79From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 27 October 1807 (Adams Papers)
I wrote a line to my father, from New-York, enclosing a letter for Mr: Shaw, and informing you of our safe arrival thus far, upon our Journey.—We stopp’d at New-York two days, and then proceeded with as much expedition as we found practicable, untill we reached Baltimore. We stopp’d only one Night at Philadelphia, and had no opportunity to visit any of our acquaintance there—We came on in the...
Unexpectedly I found myself once mor honoured with a few lines and well in a Season—in which the Severity of the weather might prevent any other—besides your Ladyship to bestow Similar favours: It cheered indeed my nearly benumbed Spirits; but—what enhanced the value of this gratification—was your courtesy in permitting me the perusal of a gift—intended by the Embassador for his favoured...
We propose leaving this place tomorrow my dear Madam and expect to arrive at Quincy either Sunday or Monday you must prepare to find us all much altered since we last saw you and I have lost all my good looks and all my flesh on the voyage in consequence of a bad miscarriage at Sea added to the usual inconveniences attending the passage I am however past recovering my health and strength and...
Mrs: Cruft has arrived here and it is with much pleasure I observe she has derived benefit from her journey—Her looks are very promising but in her complaint it is difficult to ascertain her real state through so treacherous as in her a medium; as in her complaints good looks are acknowledged to be false guides and frequently delude us into hope when in reality hope ought to be the least...
I received your Kind letter of the 8th. inst. and was extremely sorry to hear of the indisposition of the President and your Son Your own health is I trust considerably mended and that you will soon be enabled to return to your usual avocations I am sorry to repeat what I said in my last regarding Mr. Adams’s health I have not it continues very bad and I am very apprehensive it will end in a...
Did I not foster Such an exalted opinion of John Quincy Adams, then yet I might deem it a becoming courtesy to address his excellent Parents on this Solemn occasion—But now I will indulge the irresisteble impulse, of allowing my Self the exquisiste gratification, which not often can be offered, in congratulating his Mother with the certainty—that the highest office—in the gift of the...
85From Richard Rush to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 December 1814 (Adams Papers)
If I have detained the enclosed letter longer than was proper, I beg it may be ascribed, not to any insensibility to the favor done me in being allowed its perusal, but to a desire to turn it to the uses that it appeared to me to deserve. After showing it to the President, I took the liberty of reading parts of it to two of the members of his cabinet, that sentiments so important, coming from...
86From Hendrick W Gordon to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 August 1817 (Adams Papers)
I congratulate you, my illustrious friend the President, and all your family on the safe arrival of your son His Excellency John Quincy Adams to the country of his love, and of his fathers. I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Adams, If I had I would not trouble you with what I am about to ask, though he probably remembers the many letters he received from you through my...
87From Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Smith Adams, 13 October 1813 (Adams Papers)
I cannot express to my dear Mrs. Adams the ardent desire I feel that we might at least have one more personal interview, before we are either of us called to leave the passing scenes of pleasure and pain, that have so long danced before us and vanished as the vapour of the morn. I long to have you by my side in my retired mansion at Plymouth, where we might indulge the feelings of the heart...
88From James Monroe to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 April 1813 (Adams Papers)
I fear that the pressure of much business, and an anxiety to avail myself of a moment of leisuir, to write to Mr Adams in reply to his kind letter, made me delay it longer than I ought to have done. I now return you the letter—which he had the goodness to submit to my perusal, and with many thanks to him for it. The sentiments which it conveys do honor to the head & the heart of the author—....
89From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 8 March 1809 (Adams Papers)
I had heard of your illness with extreme concern, from my wife, and also through Mr: Cranch and Mrs. Quincy—The sight of your hand-writing again, has given me the purest joy, though allayed by the evident weakness in which you wrote—I believe there is in the sentence I have just written there is something which might be called a bull —But my feelings both of pleasure and pain at the idea of...
90From Henry Warren to Abigail Smith Adams, 19 October 1814 (Adams Papers)
The friendships of early youth never cease but with the dying breath.—“Tell my Dear Mrs: Adams to write me or see me very soon, else we only meet in Heaven”—was one of the last expressions of your departed friend & my ever to be respected mother.—Her constant, ardent, almost sisterly affection imposes it on me as an earliest duty to inform you that death has made another inroad on your...
91From Katherine Dexter to Abigail Smith Adams, 14 June 1816 (Adams Papers)
I lament that indisposition should have obliged me to defer so long acknowledging your kind letter; it was received with a deep sense of gratitude, with a mixture of feeling only to be produced by so generous a sympathy in a loss so severe as I have been called to meet. You have offered me Dear Madam, all that a wounded heart can ask—the sympathy of friendship; and to the departed the best...
92From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 13 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
A long time my beloved Friend has elapsed since we have seen each other or even conversed by letters. My eyes are so affected by the fire in winter, that I do not attempt to write. It was my intention when at Quincy to have spent the winter at Scituate; but as soon as dear Sister Bowers relinquished the idea of being there also; I was decided at once to pass it here; A spot rendered very dear...
93From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 13 February 1807 (Adams Papers)
I have received your kind letter of January; and shall particularly attend to your directions at Philadelphia, respecting the flour—It is at present my intention to leave this place the 4th: of next month; but the winter and the roads are now breaking up; so that I know not whether the roads will at that time be passable The termination of this Congress will leave our public affairs in a...
94From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 21 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
The seventy-ninth day since our departure from Boston, and not yet in Petersburg—But we are on land, within twenty miles of it, and at the end of our voyage in the ship Horace.—We have indeed had a very long passage, and it has not been without its interesting incidents, had I but the time of narrating them—But to you as well as to us, the most interesting of them is, that we are all, thanks...
95From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 April 1806 (Adams Papers)
We are again permitted to return home in good health, after having passed as pleasant a winter as the times would permit. Mr Cushing was confined to his room three weeks with a great cold, attended with a slight fever, but his spirits were good even at that time, & he saw company every day. He attended Court 19th. Feby & on the 22nd. sat near seven hours without once leaving the bench, with as...
As another opportunity offers my dear Mother which I am told is a very safe one I cannot refrain from writing a few lines to assure you of the health of the family in general and to entreat you will write by every opportunity. we have only heard three times from you since we left you and you who have been placed in the same situation know how much frequent intelligence of your health and would...
97From John Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 31 August 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letter of the 31st of August by Captain Brownson. I saw in an American Paper that Grandpapa has been on board the Seventy four which is in the command of Commadore Bainbrige and thought it a very fine Ship and and am in hopes of having a great many more by my return. I do not like England near so well as America nor do I think I should like any country so well as my native...
98From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 20 December 1816 (Adams Papers)
I mentioned to you in a former Letter, the visit that I had received from Mr Frend, and Mr Aspland, the Minister of the Unitarian Congregation at Hackney—Since then I have dined with Mr Frend, who is a Unitarian, and Astronomer, and Actuary , of an Insurance Company. There I met again Mr Aspland, who afterwards made me a present of several of his own publications, and from Dr Disney a copy of...
99From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 5 May 1812 (Adams Papers)
Accept my Dear Friend of my sympathy for the loss of your lovely grand Daughter. For Mrs Charles Adams I can most sensibly feel for her bereavment, having so recently like her been deprived of a good Mother. May we all apply to the Great Physician of Soul & body, to pour the balm of consolation—into our wounded bosoms. I desire to rejoice greatly that you my Friend have escaped a seated Fever,...
100From Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Smith Adams, 29 June 1813 (Adams Papers)
I am myself, my dear Madam, in great trouble—since my date of yesterday, my amiable son the Collector, unaccompanied by any man, was followed on the street by a ruffian neighbour, who after several scurrilous epithets of abuse, lifted his vulgar fist & gave him such a blow in his right eye that it appears doubtful whether he will again have the use of it.—This man, one Joseph Bartlett has been...