Browsing: Diary of John Adams, Volume 1

Water color in the second volume of Eliza Susan Quincy’s manuscript “Memoir.” The First or North Parish Church, built in 1732 and enlarged in 1805, dominates the scene. John Adams was baptized in this church by the Reverend John Hancock in 1735. On the right, Eliza Susan Quincy’s number 1, is the house of the Reverend Peter Whitney, minister of the First Church, 1800–1843. On the left, number 2, is the “former residence of Gov. Shirley.” Far in the distance, number 3, is the Germantown estate of Joseph Palmer, the glass manufacturer, where John Adams was frequently a visitor. Number 4 is the former residence of the Reverend Anthony Wibird, minister of the First Church, 1775–1800. It was here that John Adams spent a night in January 1759 “reading the Reflections on Courtship and Marriage”; see p. 72.