Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
th1799
I reachd this place yesterday about 11 oclock and found the Family all well the col with his Regiment gone to the Jersies— Mrs Smith and Nancy reachd here on fryday from Baltimore, the fever still so bad in N york, that it is not adviseable to go in. we had two very frosty nights upon our Journey, some fogs. I took some cold. mr otis a very Bad one. I left him & Family at mrs Hortens, about 7 miles from hence; our Journey to springfield was pleasent, with fine roads there.1 I was obliged to hire a Horse, as young Farmer became so very lame that he could proceed no further in a carriage James led him on untill we got to Webbs, when having a Horse of Webbs, we thought it best to blead Farmer in his feet take off his shoes & put him into a good pasture, and let him run a few days. I could not help feeling angry with Riggins for his obstinacy. the Horse is naturally lazy and deficient in spirit, which was the reason that he never would drive him if he could form any excuse. Favorite performd very well, stood the journey better than he ever did before. old Farmer very well & Ceasar Brislers purchase I am quite delighted with, steady & spirited as peacock without his rashness— Fille the Young Horse came on with James very well—
Brisler will be on this week. he will proceed to Trenton
there to take Your directions as to going into Philadelphia— I do not expect
we shall get in earlier than the 2d week in
November. I shall be for crosing the N river as early in the season as
possible. I am anxious to learn 22 if you
have got rid of Your cold. I found a Letter from you here; but it containd
more subject for distress of mind, than comfort.—2
as Your quarters are so small at Trenton, You will not wish for company. I will come however and Nurse You, and submit to any inconvenience if You do not soon get better. You must get some oxemal squills, and take two Teaspoon full in any tea drink of Hysop or sage, or Balm at [Bed] time.3 has william escaped a cold
Mrs Smith & Caroline send / Duty / Yours affectionatly
RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The President of the United States / Philadelphia”; notation: “New Rochelle / 21 oct” and “Free.”
Deborah Griffen Horton operated an inn in Mamaroneck,
N.Y. (Frank J. Doherty, The Settlers of the
Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York, 13 vols. to date,
Pleasant Valley, N.Y., 1990– , 6:673–674; William Parker Cutler and
Julia Perkins Cutler, Life, Journals, and
Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D., Cincinnati,
Ohio, 1888, p. 309; 1800 U.S. Census, N.Y., Mamaroneck, p. 635).
Probably JA’s letter of 12 Oct., above.
Oxymel of squill is an expectorant made from the bulb
of the Mediterranean squill plant macerated in vinegar and alcohol
(Graeme Tobyn, Alison Denham, and Margaret Whitelegg, The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of
Medicinal Plant Knowledge, London, 2011, p. 155, 160–161).
I have no line from you, Since the 13th at Brookfield. There has been So much rainy
Weather as to have made travelling impracticable for you, some part of the
time, and the roads disagreable at all times.— If your health fails not,
Patience will bear the rest.
We went to the Presbyterian Church Yesterday and heard
Mr Grant a young calvinistical Presbyterian
of a good style and fair hopes. Armstrong is Sick confined with the
Rheumatism as usual. Hunter and his Wife Mrs
Rush’s sister were at Church, I know not why, as his Church is but 4 miles
off, a Parish in this town.1
If this Day or Tomorrow does not bring me news of you, I
shall begin to be in the horrors. If the Mumps are not uncommonly long lived
on Brislers Children, he will be along immediately. it is high time.— Untill
I turned over I knew not that the Sheet was mutilated.—2 But still it will answer my End.
The People with you are all Lazy. Louisa is as lazy as a Nun.— Mr Otis is not much better. If you had People of
ordinary Alacrity about you, some One might write to me or William every
day. You are generally as industrious as you ought to be.
It is very fortunate however that you have Mr Otis in Company. 23 that family, besides his protecting
care, will render the Journey much less tedious. You can have no Ennui with
the little folks and the great folk about you.
Not one Word have you or any one else, Said to me of my farm Since I left it.— Not one hint of my Buildings Walls, Harvest Cyder or Manure &c &c &c.
I want to know how the fence against Mr Black went on—how the Buildings proceeded and
whether the Hill was Spread. I must have an Agricultural Correspondent.
Mean time / I am, most affectionately / yrs
RC (Adams Papers); internal address:
“Mrs A.”
Rev. Ebenezer Grant (1773–1821), Princeton M.A. 1796,
began a pastorate at the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury, N.J., in
November. Rev. James Francis Armstrong (1750–1816), Princeton A.M. 1781,
had been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N.J., since
1787 but suffered bouts of temporary paralysis due to a rheumatic
disorder contracted during the Revolutionary War. Several area clergymen
filled his pulpit in 1799, including Rev. Andrew Hunter Jr. (ca.
1750–1823), Princeton A.M. 1775, who in 1797 had retired to a Trenton
farm from parishes in Gloucester and Woodbury, N.J. Hunter’s wife was
Mary Stockton Hunter, sister of Julia Stockton Rush (Thomas Little,
“Biographies of Pastors and Stated Supplies, of the Presbyterian Church
of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, 1734–1914,” Journal
of the Presbyterian Historical Society, 8:60–61 [June 1915];
Princetonians
, 2:225, 227, 229,
263, 264–265; John Hall, History of the
Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J., N.Y., 1859, p. 339–341,
453).
The mutilated portion of the MS is no longer attached to the undamaged single quarto sheet used for the letter.