Adams Family Correspondence, volume 8
rs.Adams—
I beg you to inform Mrs. Smith, that I have forwarded to
Mr Mc.Connell enclosed in a
Letter to Miss Margaret Smith the Picture she requested me to send and have reced Information fm. Dr. Crosby of Mr. Mc.Connell's having recd. my
Letter—1 By Mr. Gorham who lately went to Philadelphia I sent Mr.
Adams's order on Hoñ Thos. Mc.Kean Esq, Mr Mc.Kean was
gone on the Circuits—and Mr Gorham failing of seeing him
brought it back— it lays on Hand for another Opportunity Mr.
Ty——r is somewhere I dont know where—whether at Braintree Boston, or Virginia where it
has been said some days since that He intended to settle—But I cant obtain any
Settlement from Him— Mr. Doane has repeatedly promised to
pay the Debt from his Fathers Estate—but neglects— Lamberts Debt is not yet paid I have
ordered the High Sheriff of the County of Lincoln to be sued in Case that Debt is not
immediately paid— Our Tender Act operates disagreably with respect to the recovery of
Debts—But we must have Patience—it is continued to Jany.
next— Great Complaints are made of the Want of Circulation of money & of Inability
to pay Taxes, yet our Stile of Living is not reduced to a State that will justify the
Complaint. New Houses, new & Large Bridges among which is Penney Ferry are dayly
encreasing, one also over Beverly Ferry is petitioned for—2 New Manufactures, revivals of old and New
Improvements in Agriculture & the Spirit of Husbandry encreasing these last are the
only remaining Symptoms (I had almost said) of Recovery that are to be seen amonst us— I
wrote to Mr. Adams by a Vessell that saild a few Days agone
for Bristol—acquainting him that Mr Cranch had been informed
by Mr. Borland that Mr Quincy
had given up the Thoughts of purchasing his Place and having agreed with Tyler to
relinquish his Claims he should wish to sell it— I took the earliest opportunity to give
this Information as I suspected from some Enquiries in your former Letters, that you had
in Contemplation the purchasing it should an Opportunity present— It is greatly out of
Repair—and been much abused by bad Tenants— it may however be purchased at a tolerable
good buy—by any Person that stands in Need of it—
I have executed Your order in Part respecting the purchase of public Securities, have
expended £100 sterling & upwards in several purchases of them—and shall proceed as
favorable Opportunities 101present but apprehend that Delay in this Business
can be no Detriment as the Prospect here is against their rising and greatly in favour
of sinking still lower— There is a Tract of Land adjoyning to yours, owned lately by one
Haden decd. laying upon the Hill in the Commons not far
distant from John Fields the Tanners—about 56 Acres which may be purchased @ 25s/ per
Acre. Mr Cranch has mentioned
it to me several Times and wishes to take a part of it—but whether Your Interest will be
advanced by further Purchases of Land You are best able to judge, knowing your own
future views & Designs &c3
It being Saturday & just proceeding for Weymouth, least Cushing should Sail before my Return, have wrote in Haste omitting sundry Matters which should have mentioned had Time permitted and Am / Your Affectionate Friend & H Ser
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs Abigail Adams.”
“The Picture” was a miniature
of AA2 that Tufts had retrieved from Royall Tyler. In January
AA2 had asked Tufts to send it to her sister-in-law, Margaret Smith, by
way of New York merchant Daniel McCormick (not McConnell).
Columbia College professor Ebenezer Crosby was an Adams family friend from Braintree
(vol. 7:441–442; vol. 6:231, note 18).
On 1 March the legislature
approved plans for a bridge over the Mystic River to connect Malden and Charlestown.
The 2,420-foot Malden Bridge opened later in the year and replaced a “penny ferry.”
Likewise, on 17 Nov. a bridge was approved to connect Beverly and Salem. That
1,484-foot span opened to travelers in Sept. 1788 (Mass., Acts and Laws
,
1786–1787, p. 216–219, 582–586; John Hayward, A Gazetteer of
Massachusetts, Boston, 1849, p. 192–193; James R. Newhall, The Essex Memorial for 1836: Embracing a Register of the
County, Salem, 1836, p. 257).
Neither JA nor Richard Cranch purchased the 56 acres offered by the
estate of Braintree housewright Henry Hayden (1750–1786). The estate sold the entire
lot for £70 on 2 July to Braintree cordwainer John Cleverly. John Field (1752–1826)
had removed from Braintree to New Hampshire in 1786 (Suffolk County Deeds, 164:26–27; Sprague, Braintree Families
,
p. 1669R, 2242, 2242R; John Resch, Suffering Soldiers:
Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early
Republic, Amherst, Mass., 1999, p. 54–55).