Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2
1787-08-16
I went again this forenoon to see Miss Jones, and offered to call in the afternoon and take a letter for Miss Wigglesworth, but when we set out I entirely forgot my promise, and did not recollect it till I had got some way out of town. Mr. Thaxter arrived in town this morning, and dined at Mr. Tufts's.
In the forenoon I engaged a place where I am to board; which is at a Mrs. Leathers's.1 It is not so convenient as I should wish; but I must put up with it for a Time, and when I get here I shall be able to look out for myself.
Soon after dinner, I set off in company with Mr. Thaxter; stopp'd a few minutes at Mr. Dalton, where I found a large company from town, and arrived at Haverhill at about sun-set.
Mrs. Martha Leathers, widow of Newburyport shipwright Joseph Leathers, in whose house JQA lodged until September 1788. JQA described her as “a good old woman, who even an hundred years ago would have stood in no danger of being hang'd for witchcraft: she is however civil and obliging, and what is very much in her favour, uncommonly silent so that if I am deprived of the charms, I am also free from the impertinence of Conversation” (Currier, Newburyport
, 2:262–263; JQA to AA, 23 Dec., Adams Papers).