Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
th[7] 17981
Last Evening was marrid at the Seat of the President of the united states, by the Revd mr Weld mr Ebeneazer Harmon to miss Abigail Hunt.2 please to inform miss Rebecca Tirril of this auspicious Event. as I am a great friend to Matrimony, and always like to promote it, where there is a prospect of happiness & comfort, and as Nabby had lived with me—and was about to marry the Brother of mrs Porter, I gave her the offer of being married in my Family— which she thankfully accepted. there was present mr Harmon the Father—a very respectable old Man, & 14 Brothers and sisters, which with my own Family made up a Room full.3 after the ceremony was over, I regaled them with a Glass of wine, & some cake and Cheese, which having partaken of they retired to the Farm House, where mrs Porter had prepared a supper of what was intended for her thanksgiving faire. after supper, mr Richard tuned up, & they closed with a dance. how long they kept it up, I do not know, for I retired to rest at about nine, and with the pleasurable reflection of having made Several honest families happy & pleasd I enjoyd a comfortable nights repose
I received your Letter of the 25 and was diverted with the Govenours Zeal & sorry for his dissapointment, for as I was not of the party, I should not have regreted an exhibition of the warm attachment of the state of Pensilvana to the President & the Goverment I 299 believe there is much more of it in reality than formerly but none to spair—if all had been shown which was real
you will have received a Letter from me before this, and I hope Richard will also have arrived.4 your mother has written for Betsy Palmer & I suppose she will soon go.5 she writes me that Abbes arm was much Strengthend by Hughes ointment. I presume you had a numerous Levee on twesday. you inquire for the card plate. it is upon the shelve behind the door in my writing Room—
I believe some cards with it— I have no News to relate. no event to amuse you I have not been further from Home than Milton, and feel a want of courage for enterprize of any kind— these two or there cold days I have felt better, but all depends upon a Suppression of the fever, and good rest. you must write me as often as you can, & let me know what is passing
I am your affectionate
RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); addressed: “Mr William S Shaw / Philadelphia”;
endorsed: “Mrs Adams / answered.”; docketed: “1798 / Decr
9.”
AA misdated this letter; 7 Dec. fell on a Friday.
Ebenezer Harmon (1769–1853), a Braintree farmer, married Nabby
Hunt on 6 Dec. (Artemas C. Harmon, ed. and comp., The Harmon
Genealogy Comprising All Branches in New England, Washington, D.C., 1920, p.
252; Sprague, Braintree Families
).
Lt. William Harmon (1735–1807) was a farmer and cordwainer who
served as a fire warden, surveyor of highways, and tithingman in Braintree. In
addition to Ebenezer and Lydia Harmon Porter, Harmon had six other living children,
five of whom were married (Sprague,
Braintree Families
; The
Harmon Genealogy, p. 252).
AA to Shaw, 18 Nov., above.
Elizabeth Palmer (ca. 1777–1853) was the third child of Elizabeth
Hunt and Joseph Pearse Palmer and a grandniece of Richard Cranch. She had previously
lived with the Cranches and had also served as a shop clerk and nurse in Boston during
the summer of 1798 before falling ill and returning to Quincy. Mary Smith Cranch
suggested Palmer enter domestic service with Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, where she
also developed her teaching and literary talents, earning the sobriquet “walking
dictionary.” Palmer later published poetry in the Haverhill
Federal Gazette, for which see Peabody to Shaw, 20 March 1799, and note 4, below (Megan Marshall, The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American
Romanticism, Boston, 2005, p. xii, 17, 39–47, 465–466).
th1798
I received yours of 28th of Nov’br I have not faild of writing to you once a week ever since
you left me, and I believe twice, tho the Letters may not reach you, so regularly as I
wish.1 I have kept you informd of our
Movements. mr Porter & French compleated last night getting Home the whole of our
Timber, Boards, and shingles of the Boards there are more than 30 thousand, and near
50 thousand 300 shingles— all agree better stuff was never
brought. the Boards remain to be stuck. we have a prospect of winter enough, and long
Enough. it began snowing yesterday & continues to increase this day, Sunday, with
increased voilence. it bids fair for a very deep snow, and this at the commenement of
December. we must now look to getting our wood, and sleding the manure upon the Hill
we have made great slaughter with our English Hay working our cattle So hard, &
keeping Frenchs, both whilst building the wall & carting the Timber, for we had no
feed for a long time before you went away. I bought a load of straw for the Horses, so
that Michial does not use Hay, nor do I let him be so lavish with oats as James used
to be, for the horses are so little used that they do not require them, and Michial is
of opinion that Favorites feet have been injured by giving him too many. he was lame
before the Coachman went away, and has been so ever Since. his feet are constantly
oild and I have had them examined by more than one Blacksmith, both of whom agree that
he has the worst feet they have met with. I have now had his shoes taken of, and some
old ones slightly put on and have orderd that he shall have only two qrts oats a day.
be so good as to speak to mr Brisler respecting the Blacksmith employd by the
Coachman, & let him order the Horses shod by the one whom he formerly employd the
last did not do justice to the Horses—
Brother Cranch seems something better tho he swells very much. Boylstone Adams was here & dined with me, the last week. I think his fever is leaving him & his cough has done so in a great measure but he is very thin & very feeble— I think he will not get out soon— for myself, I have not been so sick since you left me as to be confined to my Chamber, and tho my spirits and health are in proportion to the rest I get, my sleepless nights are fewer, and my rest better. I have had but one without sleep for a week, and I hope if the snow does not bank too much to be able to use more excercise—
I sent Richard Dexter by way of Providence.2 I do not know what luck he has had in getting on. if you like him as I think you will, I would have him to attend particuliarly upon you, that you may have a Servant whom you can understand he appeard very desirious of pleasing and he wishes to spend his leisure, if any he has, in learning to write and spell. cousin William will do well to assist him in this
Genll Lincoln has been leading me
into temptation. I think it best to give you suitable information of it. He has told
me that he expects to go to Philadelphia in Jan’ry if the
sleying should prove fine, 301 and that he will
take charge of me & go just as I can bear, as he shall be in no Hurry, and that we
may get on—so charmingly if I should find my Health—sufficiently confirmd by that
time. but I know not whether I shall have courage to attempt it, unless I should hear
that you were unwell, and then no difficulty shall stop me short of sickness on my
part. I find the cold weather strengthen me, but you will see in a little time how you
make out. I would not upon any account come to be the trouble I have been both to
myself and Friends—nor attempt a journey without feeling myself able to encounter
it
I see by last Evenings centinal that Russel has republishd the Letter with some of his own observations upon it. I should like to know how it sits at P— the part which Logan, and his Employers have acted cannot be too fully known & exposed. I scarcly knew how to believe the News paper reports, that Logan dared give himself out as invested with Authority. Jefferson is handled in our Papers without much mercy—and will be still more execrated.3 he will however find his supporters we have news from Dominico whether to be relied upon I know not—4 we wait for the speech with some anxiety, perhaps none more so than / your
Be so kind as to Frank and forward the inclosed Letters
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. / Dec. 10
98.”
JA’s letter to AA of 28 Nov. reported that her presence in Philadelphia was “much desired by every body” but cautioned her against departing Quincy too soon: “The thought of your attempting it without consulting your Friends and Physicians, distresses and terrifies me least it should prove fatal to a Life that is dear to me beyond all Expression” (Adams Papers).
Richard Dexter did not arrive in Philadelphia until 22 Dec., prompting William Smith Shaw to write: “It would have been better had he concluded to come the whole way by the stage” (Shaw to AA, 22 Dec., Adams Papers).
In early December New England newspapers criticized Thomas
Jefferson and Democratic-Republican support for the French Revolution. The Boston Russell’s Gazette, 6 Dec., reprinted an article from the
Portland, Maine, Gazette, 26 Nov., that linked Jefferson
with Dr. George Logan and Philip Mazzei and cautioned readers against “the philosophy
of Jefferson, the patriotism of Monroe, and the friendship of France!” Another article
in the same issue of Russell’s Gazette stated, “If the
regular course of the wheel of government, is checked by the Lyons, the Gallatins, and the Jeffersons, the whole force of the well disposed part of the
community must be turned out to suppress these miscreants,” and in the 10 Dec.
issue Democratic-Republicans were described as “a notorious set” that would “leave
ADAMS and WASHINGTON, Liberty and Property, a prey to the French.”
The Boston Russell’s Gazette, 10
Dec., also reported that Britain endorsed St. Domingue’s independence from France. The
article speculated that the movement for independence was driven by a desire to
establish a commercial relationship with the United States but also raised the concern
that independence “might embolden the black citizens of our southern states to attempt
erecting a democratical republic, after the moddle of Mr. Jefferson, and other friends
to the rights of Negro Men.”