Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
Here I am at this
favorite spot, I sat out on Wednesday, but was detaind at west
Town on Thursday by Rain. We reachd here last Evening; and put up at
capt Drapers—1 we have
attended at Meeting twice this day—and conclude to remain here untill
tomorrow morning. I have heard of you, upon the Road, & but once
from you, which was from Worster.2 mr Hall I saw at westown, and
he informd me that you reachd East Chester on Monday last and that you
had a voilent cold.3 this
has made me uneasy and I request you to write to me, at East Chester
where I hope to get, by fryday, and let me know how you are, & how
you are accommodated:
Brisler bought me a pretty Horse for a leader, 4 years old. thin in flesh, but quiet, yet active & spirits enough, he will be a match for Traveller, but James would soon founder him, as he has most effectually Young Farmer. the first time after you left me, that he was put in the carriage I perceived he went lame. I desired John to examine him, & take him to the Blacksmith. his feet were perfectly sound and good, but one and all, pronounced him founderd from grain and So cripled is the poor animal that I know not how I Shall get on with him, as he goes like a Man with the goute. John gives him but little Grain, and says he will Blead him in his feet, as soon as we get to East Chester if we should be able to get so far with him. I hope you will put all the young Horses out to Winter in the country, or we Shall have them all ruind. the colt which James rides travels like an old Horse, and does not mind it at all. we go only 30 mils, and less pr day— I Support my journey very well and have slept tolerably, but miss my Luxurious Bed— You had a week of such fine weather, that I hoped you would have escaped a cold; yet it was a week which gave more colds to people than any this fall. The cook & Family with Peter were to go on Board a vessel this day for Philadelphia4 Brisler means to sit out this week if his Children get well enough through the Mumps. they were just comeing on upon them, when I came from Home—
I congratulate you upon the late News, as it May have a tendency to restore peace to the world—5
Regards to William, and to all / others who deserve them from Your
Mr and mrs otis desire to be rememberd—
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The
President of the United / States / Trenton”; endorsed: “Ansd Oct. 18 / 1799.”
Capt. Simeon Draper (1765–1848) operated the
Brookfield Tavern in Brookfield, Mass. (Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper, Bemis History and Genealogy, San Francisco,
1900, p. 126).
No letter from JA written from Worcester, Mass., has been found. AA was likely referring to a 1 Oct. letter she received from William Smith Shaw from that location, not found, which was mentioned in AA’s 5 Oct. letter to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, above.
Benjamin Hall Sr. (1731–1817), a merchant of Medford,
was a delegate to the convention that formed the Massachusetts
Constitution of 1780 and a 1796 presidential elector who supported
JA. Hall’s second wife, Mary Green Hall (ca.
1736–1829), sent letters to AA dated 14 Oct. 1799 and 28
Jan. 1800 (both Adams
Papers), seeking a patronage appointment for her stepson,
Fitch Hall, for whom see vol. 12:243, and inquiring after AA2
(David B. Hall, Halls of New England,
Albany, N.Y., 1883, p. 321; Helen T. Wild, “A Business Man of Long Ago,”
Medford Historical Register, 3:84, 90
[April 1900]; Vital Records of Medford,
Massachusetts, Boston, 1907, p. 389).
The Adams servants possibly traveled aboard the
schooner Nancy, Capt. Seth Doggett, which
advertised a mid-Oct. 1799 departure from Boston to Philadelphia (Boston
Columbian Centinel, 9 Oct.).
AA may have been alluding to reports of
the safe landing of an Anglo-Russian invasion force in the Netherlands,
a campaign in the War of the Second Coalition that lasted from 27 Aug.
to 18 October. Initially, the Anglo-Russian forces were successful in
pursuing their goals of neutralizing the Batavian fleet and promoting
efforts to restore the stad-holder, William V. The invasion faltered,
however, with French and Batavian victories at Bergen on 19 Sept., and
it terminated with an 18 Oct. capitulation agreement (Boston Columbian Centinel, 12 Oct.; Schama, Patriots and Liberators
, p.
390–396).
ng
Brookfield
I got to Westown on Wednesday by four oclock and was met two miles from Town by Mrs otis, accompanied by Mrs Marshall who insisted upon my putting up with them I accordingly went, and was very kindly and hospitably receivd by the col and his Family. the old Gentleman who is now more than 80 years, still retains much of the fire and sprightlyness of youth, he is very infirm in health, but delights in the company and Society of his Friends and acquaintance. Mrs Marshall you know. she is a charming woman: and strives to render the col comfortable and happy—1 thursday was so rainy, that we could not go out of the House. on fryday morning we set out, and got on 27 miles to Peases, which being a neat good house, and good Beds, we put up for the night,2 and yesterday proceeded to this place, where it has been my lot oftner to keep Sabbeth, than in any other Town upon the Road. we have renderd it more agreable to day, by attending public worship, and hearing two good sermons, and some delightfull Singing— tomorrow we hope to reach springfield, and get 10 along by degrees, but the Young Farmer whom James has founderd by giveing him grain, is very lame, and unpleasent travelling with— I heard of the President who got to East Chester on Monday last, almost sick with a voilent cold. I am very anxious about him. I pray you to write me how Brother Cranchs is. direct your Letters to me at East Chester. write by Brisler who will call upon me.
Remember me kindly to all Friends / Your affectionate Sister
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.”
Col. Thomas Marshall (1717–1800) commanded the 10th
Massachusetts Regiment during the Revolutionary War and served as a
witness in the Boston Massacre trials. Marshall wrote to AA
on 5 Oct. (Adams
Papers), inviting her to stay with him and his wife at their
home in Weston, on her way to Philadelphia. His third wife was Abigail
Williams Woodward Marshall (1730–1805), the widow of Rev. Samuel
Woodward (JA, Legal Papers
, 3:index; D.
Hamilton Hurd, comp., History of Middlesex
County, Massachusetts, 3 vols., Phila., 1890, 1:508; Stephen W.
Williams, Genealogy and History of the Family of
Williams, Greenfield, Mass., 1847, p. 99–100).
Capt. Levi Pease (1739–1824) was the proprietor of
Pease’s Tavern in Shrewsbury, Mass. (AA, New
Letters
, p. 107; Frederick S. Pease, “The Pease
Family,”
NEHGR
, 3:392 [Oct. 1849]).