Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2
1786-08-19
Leonard White Came from Boston, and Cranch return'd from Braintree this day. Almost all the College, have got here now, and the new monitors,1 (who must always belong to the junior Class) took their Seats yesterday. They are Adams 2d.2 and Underwood, who is about 35 years old. I have done little or nothing this day. The first week is almost always loitered away.
Monitors were appointed by the college president to keep bills of absence and tardiness at devotional and other exercises (Benjamin Homer Hall, A Collection of College Words and Customs, Cambridge, 1856, p. 325–326).
Solomon Adams, a sophomore, was regarded as “Adams 1” by the college until the end of July 1786 when he became “Adams 2.” On the other hand, JQA, who entered late in his junior year, was first classified “Adams 3,” but he became “Adams 1” by the beginning of his senior year (MH-Ar: Faculty Records, 5:228, 233, 237–238).