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...
2Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 25 June 1795 (Adams Papers)
I yesterday received your Letter giving me an account of the distressd Situation of Sister Smith. I fear her disorder will terminate in a setled distraction Burrel Shall have the Room & bed Room for Mrs Smith at 12 Dollors a Year, but he shall have them only for her that is he shall not consider himself at Liberty to let them to any one else if she should not continue with him. I mention this...
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...
4Elizabeth 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...
5Abigail 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...
6Abigail 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...
7Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 25–29 March 1792 (Adams Papers)
I received your kind Letter of march eleventh yesterday. I wrote to you last week which was the first time I had been permitted to use my pen, or indeed was able too, for six weeks. I have not yet been out of my chamber. the weather has been very unfavourable this Month. I was to have tried the carriage to day but the weather is against me. I am so feeble & faint, if I move that I do not think...
8Abigail 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...
9Louisa 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...
10Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 5 February 1792 (Adams Papers)
I received your kind Letter of dec br and sincerely congratulate you and my Neice upon the Birth of a son, tho I could have wishd it had been a daughter. I have had the pleasure of having mrs smith and William on a visit to me for 5 weeks. the col has been part of the time here & Charles spent a fortnight with me. they expect to leave me in a week or ten days. this would be but a small matter...
11Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 18 December 1791 (Adams Papers)
I wrote to you on the 27 of Nov br but company comeing in call’d me from my pen, and I have not since had leisure to reassume it. I have so little Time that I can call my own whilst here that I think when I return to Braintree I ought without suffering from any reflections to be able to live retired. on Monday Evenings our House is open to all who please to visit me. on twesdays my domestick...
12Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 30 October 1791 (Adams Papers)
I wrote to you upon my journey whilst I was at Brookfield the sunday after I left you and was sorry to find by your Letter, that you had not received it. I wrote to you from N york but have been so engaged in moveing, & so embarressd with company in the midst of it, tho only a complimentary call, that I have had scarcly a moment that I could call my own. it was kind in you [to l]et mr Cranch...
13Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 17 October 1791 (Adams Papers)
I arrived here last Night. my first inquiry was for a Letter from you, which I was happy enough to find, and great relief did it afford to my anxious mind. I sent to the post office to see if I could get any further intelligence last evening but was dissapointed. I am ready however to attribute it more to your not getting an opportunity of conveyance than to any unfavourable circumstance, and...
14Abigail 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...
15Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 12 March 1791 (Adams Papers)
I was just going to set down to write to you, when I received your Letter of I am sensible I was much in Arrears to you, as well as to some other of my Friend’s Since the Recovery of Thomas we have had Health in our dwelling, for which I have great reason to be thankfull. I have been happy with my three sons round me, but a sigh of anxiety always hung about my Heart, for mrs smith who ought to...
16Abigail 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...
17Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 9 January 1791 (Adams Papers)
I received your kind Letter of December 12th with one from my Nephew inclosing 4 Portraits I instantly recognized my worthy Brother Cranch and my dear sister together with our venerable uncle Quincy. the other not one of us have skill enough to find out, by which I judge it is not a likness the three first are admirably executed and I have to request that the same hand would take my Mother and...
18Abigail 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...
19Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 25 October 1790 (Adams Papers)
After I had closed my Letter to you this day fortnight, I retired to my chamber, and was taken with a shaking fit which held me 2 Hours and was succeeded by a fever which lasted till near morning, attended with severe pain in my Head Back &c the next morning I took an Emetick which operated very kindly and proved to me the necessity of it. on tuesday I felt better and went below stairs, but...
20Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 10 October 1790 (Adams Papers)
I wrote to you last Sunday, and on Wednesday received your kind Letter. we have begun to pack up our furniture, and expect to get it on Board by the 20th perhaps we may make it later, but I hope not as the weather will every day become more & more uncomfortable. the Idea of going so much further from you is painfull to me, and would be more so if I did not hope to Spend the next summer with...
21Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 3 October 1790 (Adams Papers)
do you not pitty me my dear sister to be so soon all in a Bustle? and wary of Removing again, as much Boxing and casing, as if we were removing to Europe. our furniture may well be stiled movables . the expence attending the various removals would very handsomely furnish one House. I feel low spirited and Heartless. I am going amongst an other new set of company, to form new acquaintances to...
22Abigail 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...
23Abigail 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...
24Abigail 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,...
25Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 4 July 1790 (Adams Papers)
A Memorable day in our calender a Church beloning to the dutch congregation is this day to be opened and an oration deliverd. this Church was the scene of misiry & horrour, the Prison where our poor Countrymen were confined, crowded & starved during the War, & which the British afterwards destroyed. it has lately been rebuilt and this day is the first time that they have met in it. they have...
26Abigail 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...
27Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 30 May 1790 (Adams Papers)
your kind Letter of various dates came safe to Hand. I was allarmed at not hearing from you, & feard that you were all sick. the disorder termd the Influenza has prevaild with much voilence, & in many places been very mortal, particularly upon long Island. not a Creature has escaped in our Family except its Head, and I compounded to have a double share myself rather than he should have it at...
28Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 May 1790 (Adams Papers)
I wrote to you ten days ago and informd you that my Family were very sick. I did not then conceive it to be, what I have since found it the Influenza. I have got better, but my cough & some other complaints still hang about me. Polly Tailor is so bad with it, that if she is not soon relieved the concequences threaten to be fatal to her. Louissa is very sick confind to her chamber I keep a...
29Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 28 April 1790 (Adams Papers)
I designd to have written to you by the Monday Post, but I was so very ill on Sunday that I could not set up. I have had the severest attack of the Rhumatism attended with a voilent fever which I have experienced for several years. I have not yet left my chamber, tho I am much releived. the weather has been uncommonly wet and cold, Snow we have had in the course of this fortnight more than...
30Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 April 1790 (Adams Papers)
I received your two kind Letters of April 1 & 5 I am extreemly sorry to hear that mrs Norten is afflicted in the way that you write me she is, but tell her to keep up a good Heart. I can Sympathize in her Sufferings a Bath of Hot Herbs was the most salutary means made use for me. a poultice of Camomile flowers is also very good, but I hope she is relieved before this time. painfull experience...