1. From a MS designated as M/AA/r (Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 197), described in note 1 on the entry of 20 June 1784 in AA’s Diary, above. Though AA, JA, and AA2 all kept journals at times during their excursion to the west of England, the results, even when combined, are meager and leave numerous gaps. JA’s few fragmentary notes have been placed after AA’s journal entries, which cover only the first nine days of a month’s trip of some 600 miles. AA2’s record is longer than either her mother’s or her father’s, but since the MS has not been found and the text as published (AA2 Jour. and Corr. description begins Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams, ... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841–1842; 2 vols. description ends , 1:84–94) is not trustworthy, it has not been included in the present edition, though it has been occasionally quoted or cited in editorial notes.

The excursion had been recommended by the Adamses’ physician, Dr. John Jeffries, because AA’s health had been poor throughout the winter and spring (AA to Mrs. Cranch, 16 July 1787, owned by Dr. Eugene F. DuBois, N.Y. City, 1957). JA and AA had also been warmly and repeatedly urged by John Cranch of Axminster, nephew of AA’s brother-in-law, Richard Cranch, to visit Devon, the county from which the Cranches and Palmers of Braintree, Mass., had emigrated. JA having completed the second volume of his Defence for the printer (though only just in time), and WSS being absent on a mis­sion for Congress to the Queen of Portugal, the moment was opportune for a family excursion. (On WSS’s mission to Portugal, April–Aug. 1787, see his report to Jay, 12 Sept., with enclosures; Dipl. Corr., 1783–1789 description begins [William A. Weaver, ed.,] The Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States of America, from ... 1783, to ... 1789, Washington, 1837 [actually 1855]; 3 vols. description ends , 3:69–84.)