Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
From Lovejoys at stratford We fixed off Mr shaw with a part of the Baggage by the stage for East Chester. Mrs Smith and
the fair Caroline came with me to Norwalk to dinner at Gregories, where We were very
comfortable. We rode in gentle snow & rain all day and Arrived at Webbs at Night,
where We put up till Monday.1 My Horses
want a day of rest. From Quincy to stanford, within 22 miles of East Chester in Six days
is too much for Horses So fat as ours.
Mr Davenport came in and drank Tea with
Us and was very conversible.2
Madam Gregory, Yesterday told Us how much she had been disappointed in our not stopping there as We went home, and took pains to convince Us that she was not attached to the French.
The News Arrived at New York by the Way of Greenock in Scotland,
from the Supplement to the Redacteur and the other french Papers of the 14. 15. & 16
of September, are some corroboration of the News arrived at Boston last Sunday: But
there is something very unaccountable, in the total Want of official Information3 I have not 281 recd any Account from you since my Daughter left you—
Indeed I could not expect any.
I am as ever
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”;
endorsed: “J A / Nov’br 18 / 1798.”
Jabez Gregory (1741–1824) and Mercy St. John Gregory (1739–1839)
kept an inn in Norwalk, Conn. David Webb operated a hotel in Stamford, Conn. (Grant
Gregory, comp., Ancestors and Descendants of Henry
Gregory, Rutland, Vt., 1938, p. 98; Bonnie K. Bull, Images of Stamford, Charleston, S.C., 1997, p. 30).
That is, John Davenport (1752–1830), for whom see JQA, Diary
, 1:306.
The ship Adventure, Capt. Berry,
arrived in New York City from Greenock, Scotland, on 13 Nov., carrying news of
Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of the Nile, which was quickly reported by the New
York City press, including translated extracts of the Paris Le
rédacteur, 14 Sept., and news from “Paris papers till 17th.” Much of it
repeated reports in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 10, 14
Nov. (New-York Gazette, 14 Nov.; New York Commercial Advertiser, 14 Nov.; New York Argus, 15 Nov.).
Thursday Evening
24 I believe [22] of Nov. 17981
We Spent Sunday at Stanford at Webbs went to Meeting forenoon and
afternon, and on Monday went to Dinner at East Chester. Tuesday in a Violent Snow storm
went into New York, dined & Slept at Charles’s. Wednesday crossed the Ferry and went
to Elizabeth Town. This day We came five and thirty miles to this Place. From New York
our poor Horses have waded and dragged the Carriage through Snow banks and Mud, till I
have dreaded their failure. They have Supported the fatigue however a mervaille and even
Sloven as lean as a lath has brought along Frank in the Saddle very well. We have yet
five and thirty miles to Phyladelphia. I hope to reach McElroys tomorrow and go into the City on Saturday. Mr
Shaw has been very good and the Coachman and Footman or Horseman have done their duty
with great Care and Fidelity.
I have heard nothing from you Since Mrs
Smith left you, and I have Anxieties enough on your Account, as you may easily
imagine.
I have no news from Brisler and know not the Condition of the House, but I shall alight at the Door on Saturday.
All Ideas of the Fever both at New York and Phyladelphia, are lost and nobody Speaks of it now.
We had Scarcely become warm at our Fireside, when Mr and Mrs Liston and Lord Henry Steuart came in travelling also to
282 Phyladelphia.2 They used a Slay for the first time of their
Lives to day. Very polite Inquiries after your health.
You cannot be thankful enough that you did not Attempt to come on.
Adieu, my Dear Friend— Make yourself as happy as you can: And take every possible care of your health.
Mr Shaw Sends his Duty. I am as /
ever
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”;
endorsed: “J A, Nov’br / 28th / 1798.”
JA misdated this letter: 22 Nov. fell on a Thursday while the 24th was a Saturday.
Sir Robert Liston and Henrietta Marchant Liston left Philadelphia
in August to escape yellow fever. They spent three months touring New York and New
England and left New York in late November on their return to Philadelphia.
Accompanying them was Lord Henry Petty Stuart (1777–1809), who after completing his
education served as Liston’s private secretary (The Travel
Journal of Henrietta Marchant Liston: North America & Lower Canada,
1796–1800, ed. Louise V. North, Lanham, Md., 2014, p. 14, 15, 50, 51, 104;
Bradford Perkins, “A Diplomat’s Wife in Philadelphia: Letters of Henrietta Liston,
1796–1800,”
WMQ
, 11:619–621 [Oct. 1954]).