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Isaac Smith Sr. to John Adams
Docno: AFC01d246
Recipient: JA
Date: 1776-04-06
[dateline] Salem Aprill the 6 1776
[salute] Mr. Adams
I wrote you a post or two Ago, of being informd Mr. Gearey had wrote his brother to procure a Cargo or two of fish, to ship to Europe and had Applyed to me for some I have by me, but as I have sundry Vessells of my Own lying by should be glad to have them imployed,
{p. 373}
and iff the Congress wants to purchase I would let them have mine and would see to the loading of her and to follow there directions. Suppose I may have from 10 to 1200 Q[uintals] of good fish and a friend of mine 6 or 700 more, probable Enough to make up two fishing schooner Cargo's. I should be Oblidged to you to write me Answer by the retarn of this post iff you may not have done itt. Your Compliance will Oblidge Your frd. and hume. servt.,
[signed] Isaac Smith
Ps Commodore Manleys fleet has taken a brigantine bound to Halifax on board of which is Bill Jackson and all his Effects and itt's said she has a large quantity of the Stolen goods—and there is on board likewise One Greenbrush, receiver general of the stolen goods and has distinguisht himself in that way by demanding People's propaty from them. Itts said he came from Y[ork]
1 and itts said those Carpenters and runagarders from that way has behaved worse than any Others.2—A sloop is on shore at the Cape, beleive nothing very Valuable on board but itt Appears they (the inhabitants)3 went away in a most dismal Cituation, not haveing even Water sufficient and crowded and some sick with the small pox.
[dateline] the <7> 8th att Boston
Boston Doctr. Cooper Preacht Yesterday for the first time att the Old brick a sermon proper to the Occasion which hope will be printed. Preacht from 2 Saml. 7 Chap. 10 V.—sung the first part 9 Psalm, and 126.
The small pox being in Town and am Apt to think will spread as so many people and soilders are in Town, which will be a hindrance of the Inhabitants coming to tarry att present. We have two to have itt. Iff there should be liberty to Innoculate should Advise Mrs. Adams and the Children to come.
[salute] I am Yrs.,
[signed] IS
RC
Adams Papers
; addressed: “To the Honble. John Adams Esqr. Philadelphia”; postal marking: “Prov Free”; endorsed: “Mr. Smith,” with date of letter added in hand of William Gordon(?).
1. MS torn by seal. Smith undoubtedly meant New York.
2. The vessel taken by Manley's squadron was the Elizabeth, a straggler from the British fleet evacuating Boston. She was loaded with a great quantity of goods looted from Boston warehouses during the last days of the siege, and was brought into Portsmouth on 4 April (William Bell Clark, George Washington's Navy, Baton Rouge, 1960, p. 130–132, 137–138). Among the captives was the tory merchant William Jackson (d. 1810), who was brought to trial in Boston for misappropriation of patriot property. His statement in self-defense provides a vivid picture of events in Boston just before and during the evacuation (Jackson to the Mass. Council, 12 June 1776, contemporary copy, MHi: Hancock
{p. 374}
Papers). On Jackson and his misfortunes see also Isaac Smith to JA, 16 April 1776 (Adams Papers), and
Jones, Loyalists of Mass.
, p. 178. The captive mentioned by Smith as “Greenbrush” was Crean Brush, an Irish adventurer who was a member of the New York Assembly and whose daughter had married Ethan Allen. Appointed by Howe to superintend the removal of property and stores from Boston, Brush used strong-arm methods that made him quickly and thoroughly disliked. He was tried in Boston and imprisoned until Nov. 1777, when he escaped and made his way to New York, where he died the following year. See Rowe, Letters and Diary
, p. 301–302; Clark, as cited above; French, First Year
, p. 666–667, 672–673; Jones, Loyalists of Mass.
, p. 288 and note. For an anonymous tract by Crean Brush attacking the Continental Congress, see
T. R. Adams, “American Independence,” No. 154.
3. Parentheses supplied around two words written above the line in MS.
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/