Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 1

Titlepage

2. VIII.

January. 1820. Saturday. 1. VIII.<a xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" href="#DCA01d004n1" class="note" id="DCA01d004n1a">1</a> Washington. CFA

1820-01-01

January. 1820. Saturday. 1. VIII. Washington. CFA
January. 1820. Saturday. 1. VIII.1 Washington.

No School.2 Horace Dawes, letter.3 President’s drawing room, family, cold weather, dinner, Mr. Forbes.4

1.

It was CFA’s practice, following his father’s custom in his Diary, to indicate the time of his arising with a roman numeral for the hour and arabic numbers for minutes. Thus he arose at 8 A.M. this day.

2.

After attending the Boston Latin School, CFA had rejoined his parents in 1819 and was enrolled at the Washington Literary Institution, a private school run by Dr. George E. Ironside. Established in 1817 and affiliated with St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, the school was located on F Street, just east of the church. Contrary to most accounts, the school probably survived until February 1821, when it was turned over to the Jesuits; CFA went off to Harvard that year. (Duberman, CFA , p. 15–16; Bryan, Hist. of the National Capital , 2:207.)

When JQA became Secretary of State under Monroe in 1817, he rented a house for his family from Daniel Brent, the Chief Clerk of the State Department. The structure stood on the northeast corner of 4 1/2 Street and F Street, N.E., later John Marshall Place. A mile from the Capitol Building and a mile and a quarter from the State Department, the house was let for $650 a year. In April 1820 JQA bought a house on F Street, lots 8 and 16, square 253, 1333–5 F Street, N.W., and he built a coachhouse and stable. In later years, when he was a Member of Congress, JQA returned to this house, and it remained in the possession of the Adams family until 1884. As late as 1949 it was the site of a clothing store. (Bemis, JQA , 1:274–275.)

3.

Missing. Horace Dawes was the son of Thomas Dawes (1757–1825), who served as a judge on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 1792 to 1803, as judge of the Boston municipal court from 1803 to 1823, and as judge of the probate court until his death ( Appletons’ Cyclo. Amer. Biog. ; JQA, Diary, 1 May 1829).

4.

John Murray Forbes (1771–1831), a Harvard classmate whom JQA appointed in 1820 special agent, and in 1824 chargé d’affaires, at Buenos Aires ( DAB ).