Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2
1787-01-03
Dined at Mr. Hilliard's, in company with Mr. Stedman,1 Mr. Ware, Mr. Andrews, Freeman, and Bridge. Stedman is a student in Law; said to be a man of Sense. However that may be, he does not strike me, at first sight as a very exalted genius. We pass'd 146the evening, at the Professor's. Miss Jones display'd some of her satirical wit.
There was a total eclipse of the moon, between 6, and 9 in the evening; but the weather being cloudy, rendered it invisible, the greatest part of the Time.
William Stedman was completing his legal studies in Newburyport with Theophilus Parsons, with whom JQA would begin studying law in September (“Descendants of Gov. Bradstreet,”
NEHGR, 8:317, 318, 320 [Oct. 1854]).