Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
th[
1799]
I rejoice in the fine weather you have had. accounts from
N york & Philadelphia are rather unfavourable, but I hope Frosts will
make the city fit for Breathing by Nov’br
1 I shall sit out on Wednesday
the 9th for several reasons. in the first place, I shall avoid the parade of
the 10th which would be very inconvenient, as I wish to put my House in
order to leave it. in the next place Mr & Mrs otis will wait for me at
Westtown, where they go this week—& proposed leaving on Wednesday next.
it will be pleasenter to me to have some gentleman in company, and Mrs otis
is next to a Sister; So you need not feel anxious about me—2
The Leiut Goveneur is to
Breakfast with Me on monday morning on his way to Plimouth— o how Mortified
he was, that you was at westtown & he to know nothing of it untill you
were gone. he is much delighted with his Tour & his Reviews,
particuliarly in the counties of Berkshire which he speaks of in terms of
Rapture—3
I inclose Some Letters received Since your absence4 Love to William
yours affectionatly
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “President of United states / Trentown.”
The Boston Russell’s
Gazette, 3 Oct., reported nine recent yellow fever deaths in
New York and 55 in Philadelphia.
AA departed Quincy on 9 Oct. and
traveled in the company of Samuel Allyne Otis Sr. and Mary Smith Gray
Otis. After visiting AA2 in Eastchester, N.Y., she arrived
in Trenton, N.J., on 7 Nov. and on the 8th traveled to 3 Philadelphia with JA
(vol. 13:551;
AA to
JA, 13 Oct.; to Mary Smith Cranch, 15
Nov., both below; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 14 Nov.).
Lt. Gov. Moses Gill became the acting governor of
Massachusetts upon the death of Gov. Increase Sumner in June. Gill had
visited western Massachusetts as part of a statewide review of militias.
He continued with an 8 Oct. inspection of Plymouth County troops and, as
AA noted, a 10 Oct. militia review at Milton. On 10
Jan. 1800 Gill informed the Mass. General Court that the commonwealth’s
militias were in good order (vol. 13:xiv; Massachusetts
Spy, 9 Oct. 1799; New Bedford, Mass., Medley, 20 Sept.; Boston Columbian
Centinel, 9 Oct.; Mass., Acts and
Laws
, 1798–1799, p. 643–644).
Possibly TBA’s letter to JA of 26 Sept., for which see vol. 13:563–565, or letters to JA of the 26th from Oliver Ellsworth and Elbridge Gerry and of the 27th from Gen. James Wilkinson (all Adams Papers).
AA wrote JA a second letter from Quincy on 5 Oct., forwarding additional letters received by the morning post and reporting that servant James was ill (Adams Papers).
I sent by the stage to Haverhill some cloaths for the Children, a suit of their Grandfathers which may serve to cut up for them. I also sent a spotted cloth for to make them overalls for daily wear, and some spotted thickset for Sundays. these I hope will last them. I must depend upon you to get them made. I also Sent what shirts were done at that time. I now send by mr smith the remainder, which will make four a peice for them. as to Stockings, I must get You to see them supplied, and with fine yarn I think. I really do not know what they have— I inclose Ten dollors to you, and I shall write to mr Peabody and send 50 dollors in advance for their Board. I should be glad to hear more frequently from you, and from them. the greater the distance, the more anxious we are to hear from our Friends—
I received a Letter from my Son at Berlin of July 3d when they were all well, and mr Adams was
going to pass a few Months in travelling. From Thomas I heard as late as the
29th of sep’br he was at German-town, from mrs
smith last week.1 the col was
then gone to bring mrs Adams & children to east Chester, a person having
taken the fever and dyed in the House where she Boarded2
I received a Letter from your son dated Worster where he arrived with the President on twesday last.3 on Wednesday I sit of with my domesticks, and expect to meet mr & mrs otis at West Town, and go in company with them from thence—
Mr smith removes with his family into Boston this week, so that Quincy will be solitary.4 I think if you could make a visit here after the Vacancy it would benefit Your Health. I shall regreet that it could not be before your son left us—5 I hope Abbe will have her health 4 better this winter than the last my Love to her and compliments to miss Palmer
I hope you will not fail to write to your truly affectionate Sister
RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); addressed by Louisa
Catharine Smith: “Mrs: Elizabeth Peabody /
Atkinson”; endorsed: “October 5th 1799.”
For JQA’s letter of 3 July, see vol. 13:501–505. The letters from TBA and AA2 have not been found.
SSA and her daughters, Susanna Boylston
Adams and Abigail Louisa Smith Adams, arrived in Eastchester, N.Y., by 7
Oct. and on 4 Nov. returned home to 27 Beaver Street in New York City
(William Smith Shaw
to AA, 12 Oct.;
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, [4 Nov.], both below; New York Directory, 1799, p. 148, Evans, No.
35740).
Shaw’s letter of 1 Oct. has not been found; in a letter of 3 Oct. he reported that he and JA had made three stops between Worcester, Mass., and Hartford, Conn. (Adams Papers).
William and Hannah Carter Smith had been in Quincy since 27 July (vol. 13:533).
AA wrote to Peabody on 1 Oct., conveying Shaw’s regrets for departing without taking leave of his mother. JA and Shaw’s abrupt departure, AA reported, was due to “a Sudden call of the President to Trentown to consult with Ministers” (DLC:Shaw Family Papers). For the Trenton, N.J., meetings on the second mission to France, see TBA to Shaw, 23 Oct., and note 2, below.