Diary of John Adams, volume 1
1769-08-11
Mr. Tudor came, for the first Time and attended the Office, all 340Day, and paid me £10 St.—In the Morning I went to take View of Mr. Copelys
Spent the Evening at Mr. Wm. Coopers, the Dr. came in and was very social.2 He came from a Meeting of the Overseers of the Colledge, at Cambridge, which was called to advise the Corporation to proceed to the Choice of a President.
Capt. Scott of the Boston Packet arrived on 10 Aug. and brought “A new Freight of curious Letters of Sir Francis Bernard of Nettleham, Bart. the Commissioners, &c. Boston Gazette, 14 Aug. 1769). Bernard had just sailed for England. These letters and papers, furnishing a narrative of the recent “Troubles of this Town” from a government point of view and explaining only too clearly the role of the customs commissioners in bringing the regiments of British troops to Boston, were soon published under the title Letters to the Ministry from Governor Bernard, General Gage, and Commodore Hood, and also Memorials to the Lords of the Treasury, from the Commissioners of the Customs, Boston, 1769
NEHGR
, 44 [1890]:156–57).
1769-08-12
Dined at Mr. Isaac Smiths and in the Evening went to Braintree.
1769-08-13
At Mr. Quincys.1 Here is Solitude and Retirement. Still, calm, and serene, cool, tranquil, and peaceful. The Cell of the Hermit. Out at one Window, you see Mount Wollaston, the first Seat of our Ancestors, and beyond that Stony field Hill,2 covered over with Corn and fruits.
At the other Window, an Orchard and beyond that the large Marsh called the broad Meadows. From the East Window of the opposite Chamber you see a fine Plain, covered with Corn and beyond that the whole Harbour and all the Islands. From the End Window of the East Chamber, you may see with a prospective Glass, every Ship, Sloop, Schooner, and Brigantine, that comes in, or goes out.
Heard Mr. Wibirt, Upon Resignation and Patience under Afflictions, in Imitation of the ancient Prophets and Apostles, a Sermon calculated for my Uncles family, whose Funeral was attended last Week. In the afternoon Elizabeth Adams the Widow of Micajah Adams lately deceased was baptized, and received into full Communion with the Church.3 She never knew that she was not baptized in her Infancy till since her Husbands Decease, when her Aunt came from Lynn and informed her. Mr. Wibirt prayed, that the Loss of her Husband might be sanctified to her, this she bore with some firmness, but when he 341came to pray that the Loss might be made up to her little fatherless Children, the Tears could no longer be restrained. Then the Congregation sang an Hymn upon Submission under Afflictions to the Tune of the funeral Thought. The whole together was a moving Scene, and left scarcely a dry Eye in the House. After Meeting I went to Coll. Quincys to wait on Mr. Fisk of Salem 79 Year Old.
This Mr. Fisk and his Sister Madam Marsh, the former born in the very Month of the Revolution under Sir Edmund Andros, and the latter 10 Years before that, made a very venerable Appearance.
Mount Wollaston Farm on the shore of Quincy Bay, the homestead of Norton Quincy, AA’s uncle.
The earliest name for what is now called Presidents Hill. JA later acquired this property and made it part of his homestead farm. In old age he occasionally dated letters from “Stony Field Hill.”
Geneal. Hist. of Henry Adams of Braintree
, p. 395, 401).