Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 5 October 1799 Adams, Abigail Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody

My dear sister Quincy october 5 1799

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

Abigail Adams

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.

Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, 5 October 1799 Adams, Abigail Warren, Mercy Otis

Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren

my Dear Madam Quincy October 5 1799

The pleasing Emotions excited by the sight of a Letter, in Your Hand writing, were similar to those we experience at Meeting long absent Friends doubly endeard to us, by the perils and Dangers1 through which they have past.2

I rejoice my dear Madam that you have recoverd so much Health, as to be able to assume your pen, and Such a portion of spirits, as to discover the same flow of soul which has So often enlivened your Friends, and communicated pleasure to your acquaintance.

I have enjoyed much more health, this Season than the last, but my constitution received such a shock, by the long debilitating Sickness of the last Summer, that I am very far from enjoying a confirmed state of Health. I am frequently reminded, that here I have no abiding place. I have collected Sufficient courage to enable me to follow my Friend to Philadelphia, and I shall commence my journey on Wednesday. Mr and Mrs otis, wait for me at Westtown I shall proceed in company with them as far as East Chester 20 miles on this side of N york, and there remain with my Daughter, untill the Pestilence subsides at the Seat of Government.

I shall always feel gratified by a Letter from You, and I will endeavour to overcome the reluctance I have felt at writing ever since my 5 Sickness— no other employment has So frequently injured me as sitting a short time at my pen. through want of Sleep, for weeks I have not been able to write at all; and tho I have in Some degree recoverd my Rest, I have frequent interruptions of it for whole Nights.

As I have an opportunity by the Leiut Govenour3 I send you a late publication by the Abbe Barruel, which will remove I presume all doubts from Your Mind, respecting the existance of such a person as wishaupt: when You have read the Books, you will oblige me by returning them to Judge Cranch’s— the Abbe was the writer of the History of the French Clergy. You will perceive that he is a Bigoted Catholick, but a Man of Science, and great industery. the system which he discloses freezes one with horror. it was reserved for wishaupt to put in practise, the Principles of Voltair, and the whole junto of French Phylosophers, aided by Frederic the Great as he is call’d.4

You will be so good as to present my Respects to the Gen’ll and to beleive me at all / Times your truly affectionate / Friend

Abigail Adams

RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Mrs Mercy Warren / Plymouth—”; endorsed: “Mrs Adams / Oct 1799.”; notation: “No: 22.” Dft (Adams Papers).

In the Dft, AA instead concluded this sentence, “escaped, and the permission allowd to each of us of a longer probation.”

Warren wrote to AA on 24 Aug., noting that she had partially recovered from an illness of more than thirteen months and inquiring about AA’s travel plans (Adams Papers).

In the Dft, AA added here: “who is to Breakast tomorrow Morg with me at Seven oclock.”

French Jesuit Abbé Augustin Barruel’s Memoirs, Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, transl. Robert Clifford, 4 vols., Hartford, Conn., 1799, Evans, Nos. 35153–35156. Barruel (1741–1820), who also authored The History of the Clergy during the French Revolution, Burlington, N.J., 1794, Evans, No. 26621, attributed the upheaval in France and attacks on Christianity to a conspiracy whose perpetrators included Voltaire, King Frederick II, and especially Adam Weishaupt (1747–1830), leader of the Bavarian Illuminati, which Barruel claimed was satanic (vol. 10:347; Richard S. Levy, ed., Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, 2 vols., Santa Barbara, Calif., 2005, 1:455–456).