Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 26 September 1800
Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Quincy Sepbr 26 1800
Dear Thomas
I received Yours of Sep’br 18th.1 I have Melancholy intelligence to communicate to you respecting poor B Adams. last week of an Evening he had put a Horse into a Waggon for the purpose of conveying three quarters of Beaf to a Neighbours. the Horse was restiff, and he gave him a whip upon which he started, threw him down, and the wheel went over one Side of his face so as to break the jaw bone, and across the neck So as to deprive him of his senses; he was taken up in that state and tho immediate assistance was had, he remains delirious and very little hopes remain to his Friend’s that he will Survive the [sh]ock— his poor Father is inconsolable. all of us are greatly distrest he was a Most Worthy Young Man, and the support and comfort of his Father, a kind and affectionate Brother. I have every reason to fear that my next Letter must inform you of his Death— Mrs Foster lost her Baby last week, a little more than a year old, by the Dysentery2 I never knew Quincy so sickly as it has been for the summer past. more than 30 persons have been down with a slow Billious fever—some have lain six and seven weeks— it has not proved mortal in any instance. it originated in the Neighbourhood of Newcombs & Baxters Slaughter Houses, and has been generally confined there—
Your Father will leave me for the federal city in the course of ten days. Brisler sits out on Wednesday next— he will call upon you as he passes—3 I inclose to You the money paid by you for the wine.4 present your Bill to mr shaw for further Charges when he passes—
Decius has closed with a farewell to his Enemies and
Friend’s— His last Number is a sausy insolent overbearing, dictatorial usurpation upon the understanding of
his readers—5 he is followd
by a Massasoit, and by Junius Americanus—in a stile and Manner, which will
make the little frog Swell to an ox—not with Vanity, but Ire.—6 as the Gazzett of the united
states has published Decius, “and no Jealous Rival,” it would be but
consistant to with his avowed
impartiality to publish Junius— but your printers are all soulless, and
nerveless, since the Death of poor Fenno—whose asshes Would not rest in
Peace, did he know what a Varlet his Boy is— this Chap You recollect
undertook to abuse the Marine society of Boston last winter—a society
composed of many respectable Merchants as well as literary Characters, a
society who had raised from their own purses a thousand Dollors for the
benifit of Mr Fennos Family upon the Death of his Father— Mr Charles
Sigourney, a kind and benificent Friend to the family, sent on to J W Fenno
a list of the names of the Gentleman who had been the benefactors to the
Family and the sums Subscribed by them, after he read the Wanton abuse of
the Marine Society. Yet did not the insolent Boy Blush—or make the least
acknowledgment.7 these
are facts and May be depended upon. mr sigourney related them to your
Father—
I have not heard from N york Since I wrote you last—
Remember me kindly to all inquiring Friends—
William will send the papers
your ever / affectionate
A A—
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 26 Septr: 1800 / 3 Octr: Recd: / Do Answd:.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
1. Not found.
2. Charles F. Foster, the first child of Elizabeth Smith and James Hiller Foster, died on 19 Sept. (vol. 13:562).
3. JA departed Quincy on 13 Oct. for Washington, D.C. After stopping in Philadelphia to visit TBA, he arrived in the federal city on 1 Nov. (Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 Oct.; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 27 Oct.; Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 3 Nov.).
4. See TBA to AA, 1 June, above.
5. The final installment of Decius’ “Jeffersoniad” appeared in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 20 September. In a section directed to his enemies, he claimed that “no political writer ever experienced abuse in nature and degree, more violent, more contradictory, or more unremitted” and labeled his published critics “the blind herd of Jefferson’s followers.” To his friends he urged that they take up his cause, proclaiming, “This is a duty which you owe to yourselves—to your children—to your country, and to your God!”
6. Massasoit published a second essay in the Boston Russell’s Gazette, 22 Sept., which criticized the “Jeffersoniad” essays and commented on the split in the Federalist Party between supporters of JA and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Junius Americanus’ final essay in the Boston Russell’s Gazette, 25 Sept., also criticized Decius’ essays, claiming their goal was “to run Mr. Adams fairly out of office.” AA was referring to Aesop’s fable “The Frog and the Ox,” the moral of which is, “Men are ruined by attempting a greatness to which they have no claim.”
7. The Boston Marine Society was established in 1754 to improve sailors’ safety and provide assistance to ships’ captains and their families. Charles Sigourney (1748–1806) was a Boston merchant and sometime partner in the Amsterdam mercantile firm of Sigourney, Ingraham & Bromfield (William A. Baker, A History of the Boston Marine Society 1742– 1967, Boston, 1968, p. 5, 11; Henry H. W. Sigourney, Genealogy of the Sigourney Family, Boston, 1857, p. 10; , 1:76).