Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 3
1829-09-04
An accidental circumstance which deprived me of this Book at the proper Season for continuing my Journal in course, has carried me through two other Books with as many Years and it is only now as a Married man that I resume my record of events here. The occurrence gradually brings to mind the passage of the intervening time, in which I have enjoyed much and suffered much, in which my life has passed away rather in pleasure than in profit. The waste of time has been considerable but I am still gratified with the idea that it has not been without good purposes and pure thoughts, and that I can now lay claim with reason to being both a wiser and better man than formerly.
This morning found me established as a married man in Boston—Hopes, fears, dread and every thing else merged in the actual event. I arose rather early and after breakfast went to the Office where I occupied myself the larger part of the morning.2 My father came in from Medford with Thomas B. Adams,3 and called at my Office. I took the opportunity to speak to him of Mr. Degrand’s proposition in relation to a Mortgage, but he did not seem disposed to listen to it. He is a singular man with regard to the management of his property. Investments with him are Chance things.
Edward Blake called to see me with some disposition to quiz but I did not allow it much.4 I went to the House and found Abby alone.5 She had seen a number of persons today, principally of the family however. My father had been there and had been kind. He certainly has made amends now for the unfortunate difference of last year.6 Now is not a time to recollect. I passed the afternoon at home with Abby, as I was indolent, and also fearful she would be dull.7 But Mrs. P. C. Brooks came in with Miss Carter and Miss Gorham and passed the Afternoon.8 The evening at home alone with Abby. I wrote a Letter to my Mother,9 just notifying her of our condition—Happy indeed. My course of existence has been today an unclouded one, it has been what I suppose I may fairly say the summit of human enjoyment. I have been favoured wonderfully, and on my knees I thank the 2divine being for having so bountifully filled out my measure, even to so unworthy a servant.
The following entries through 16 May 1830 derive from the second (and last) part of the volume of his diaries which CFA designated as No. 2, but which in the Adams Papers serial listing is No. 5 (D/CFA/5; Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 59). CFA had earlier used the volume for entries beginning 18 June 1826 and ending 27
CFA, since the death of his brother George in May 1829, had occupied George’s former office at 23 Court Street; see vol. 2:373, 382, 383. The building stood on land which had been bought by JA in 1772, by JQA from him in 1793, and was the site of JA’s law office and of JQA’s for a time. See JA, Diary and Autobiography
, 2:63–64. It had a frontage of 221/2 feet on the north side of Court Street and a depth of 160 feet (Nathaniel I. Bowditch, “Records of Land Titles,” 26 [1834–1835]: 153, 160, Bowditch MSS, MHi). In 1829, Prentiss Whitney occupied the first-floor store and the house at the rear (M/CFA/3 and
Boston Directory, 1829–1830). Above, were at least two floors of offices. CFA’s office and a smaller room opening from it, unrented at this time, were on the first of these (vol. 2:385, and below, entry for 17 Oct.). The other offices were occupied by attorneys also, currently George Gay, D. A. Simmons, and Thomas Welsh Jr. (M/CFA/3 and
Boston Directory, 1829–1830).
Thomas Boylston Adams Jr. (1809–1837), JQA’s nephew and a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was currently on furlough from military duties and aiding his uncle at Quincy as amanuensis; see vol. 1:5; 2:406; Bemis, JQA
, 2:186; Adams Genealogy.
Edward Blake, Harvard 1824, a college friend and an attorney, had been CFA’s “first groomsman” at his wedding the day before (vol. 1:206, 2:425).
After their wedding in Medford on 3 Sept., CFA and his bride Abigail Brooks (“Abby”) had returned to Boston to occupy the house at 3 Hancock Avenue which her father, Peter Chardon Brooks, had purchased in May for their use (vol. 2:376, 378–379, 432). They would remain in it until 1842.
Hancock Avenue, “under the shadow of Boston State House, turning its back on the house of John Hancock, ” was a short street or “little passage” running “from Beacon Street, skirting the State House grounds, to Mount Vernon Street, on the summit of Beacon Hill” (HA, Education
, p. 3). Its situation is suggested in the view of the State House reproduced in the present volume. Opened in 1825, Hancock Avenue was obliterated in 1915 in preparation for the construction of the West Wing of the State House (
Boston Streets &c., 1910, p. 227; Chamberlain, Beacon Hill
, p. 151). No. 3, “one of that pretty row of houses by the side of the State House” (Charlotte Everett to Edward Everett, 1 July 1829, Everett MSS, MHi), was the third house from the corner of Mount Vernon Place on a lot with 25 feet frontage, 69 feet in depth. Cornelius Coolidge, who owned the land and had recently built the row, sold No. 3 to Brooks for $11,000 (Brooks, Waste Book, 1 June 1829).
CFA customarily uses “dull” in the sense of “depressed” or “melancholy”; e.g. see vol. 2:422, and below, entries for 9, 15 September.
Mrs. P. C. Brooks Jr., ABA’s sister-in-law, was the former Susan Oliver Heard (vol. 2:153–154 and Adams Genealogy). Anne Carter and Julia Gor-3ham were ABA’s closest friends; Anne was one of her bridesmaids; Julia had not been at the wedding, perhaps because of the recent death of her father, Dr. John Gorham. See vol. 2:158, 167, 186, 360, 432.
Letter missing. Because of ill health, Mrs. Adams (LCA) had been forced to remain in Washington at the time of CFA’s wedding (vol. 2:388–389).