Book Report: Abigail Adams
By Rebekah Cox
Abigail Smith was born on November 11, 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Her parents were, Reverend William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith. Abigail was the second of four children and affectionately nicknamed “Nabby.” Abigail’s parents did not name her until she was baptized. Her family did not believe that she would live, so they took her, on that cold November night, to the meetinghouse to be Christened. The water in the baptismal front was frozen, so an Indian friend attending the ceremony, took his tomahawk and broke the ice! After that, Abigail’s father was able to proceed with the ceremony. To the surprise of her family, Abigail lived.
As a child, Abigail was still sickly, so her parents did not put her in the local school. Instead, Abigail obtained a considerable amount of education from her father’s teaching in the family’s large, private library. God gave Abigail a very quick and intelligent mind. Growing up, she was always ready to give her opinion during political discussions and other matters, which her family often had. Abigail learned a great many things from her mother, and one of them was to have a “patient submission” to wherever her path in life took her.
When Abigail was 15, she first met John Adams; he by no means liked or enjoyed her, her sisters or her father. He thought her father was a “crafty and designing man.” In 1762, Abigail and John met again, and with a better result. By the end of their second meeting, John was wholly in love with Abigail Smith. John Adams’ father died the spring of 1760, and with his fathers death he inherited the family farm. It contained, the family’s house and barn, ten acres of land, and thirty acres of woodland, orchard, and pasture. This would be a new and good start for the soon-to-be couple.
On October 25, 1764 John Adams and Abigail Smith were married, and Abigail’s father performed the service. Nine months later John and Abigail’s first child was born, a girl, whom they named Abigail and nicknamed, Nabby, like her mother. Abigail had five children: Abigail Amelia, born 1765, died 1813; John Quincy, born 1767, died 1848; Susanna, born 1768, died 1770; Charles, born 1770, died 1800; Thomas Boylston, born 1772, died 1832. Abigail taught her children how to farm and cook, and she also taught them Latin after teaching herself first.
John’s father influenced him greatly toward public service, saying; “ never forget this nation…stand by the Law, the Constitution, and the real Welfare and Freedom of this Nation vs. all Temptations.” As a result of this, Abigail and John were often apart for long periods of time. They found the parting very hard, but Abigail never stopped writing and encouraging her husband in his faith and work. Once he was gone for five years, working in several countries for America. While John was abroad serving America, Abigail stayed at home to run the family farm. John Adams became better off with Abigail’s help than he would have been, if he had left the work to another. One thing that kept Abigail and John’s love alive was writing each other.
In these letters, Abigail wrote about personal matters, like the Smallpox that their children had, as well as other matters of interest. In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, John and Abigail would write back and forth giving accounts of the war. Abigail would tell John all she knew of the war and what was going on around them.
Abigail wrote about the epidemic that broke out in Quincy, Massachusetts. Abigail told him that his brother and her mother had both died in the terrible epidemic, “The desolation of war is not so distressing as the havoc made by the pestilence…some families are wholly stripped of every member.”
Minutemen would often come to Abigail’s home to eat and sleep. She would also give them large portions of her pewter (used for bullets) when they asked. In one of her letters to John she wrote: “To the houseless child of want, our doors are open still; and though our portions be but scant, we give them with good will.”
In 1775 Abigail Adams urged her husband to: “…support American Independence,” then later “…to back more education for woman and the abolition of slavery.” She also wrote: “…in the new code of laws… remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors…”
July 4, 1777 the thirteen colonies were joined together and became the United States of America. Many times Abigail would pray with her children, but on the day a letter arrived from John bearing the good news of Independence, Abigail rejoiced with her children, and together they joined hands in thanksgiving to God.
In 1789 John Adams was elected the First Vice President of the United States of America, under President George Washington. Abigail would, when they ate with the Washington’s, be sure to sit next to the presidents wife, Martha Washington, not for her own benefit, but to remind others of her husbands position
On March 4, 1797 John Adams was elected the Second President of the United States.
(To be continued next month)