Adams Papers Digital Edition

Diary of John Adams, volume 1

18 Thurdsday. JA

1756-03-18

 18 Thurdsday. Adams, John
18 Thurdsday.

A cloudy morning. Spent the afternoon at my Uncles,1 and part of the Evening at the Doctor’s.

 1.

Ebenezer Adams (1704–1769?), youngest brother of Deacon John Adams; his 16wife was Ann, sister of Susanna Boylston, JA’s mother; their daughter Ann was Mrs. Elisha Savil, mentioned in the preceding note ( Braintree Town Records , p. 685, 766, 815).

 19 Fryday. JA

1756-03-19

 19 Fryday. Adams, John
19 Fryday.

A rainy morning. Went down in the afternoon, to the Point. Spent the afternoon and Evening and lodged with my dear Friend Cranch, in the usuall social friendly Strain.1

1.

Richard Cranch (1726–1811), who in 1762 became AA’s brother-in-law before her marriage to JA. Cranch conducted a glass manufactory at a settlement called Germantown (from the German artisans who worked there), on a point of land forming Town River Bay in Braintree, now Quincy (Pattee, Old Braintree and Quincy , p. 490).

 20 Saturday. JA

1756-03-20

 20 Saturday. Adams, John
20 Saturday.

After breakfast, rode to my Uncle Hunts, dined there, came Home, went to see my Aunt Owen,1 drank Tea at Deacon Webbs with Mrs. Nabby Webb. Came home. Spent the evening at the Drs.

 1.

JA’s aunt Hannah Adams had married Benjamin Owen of Braintree, 1725; his aunt Bethiah Adams had married Ebenezer Hunt of Weymouth, 1737 (A. N. Adams, Geneal. Hist. of Henry Adams of Braintree , p. 395).

 21 Sunday. JA

1756-03-21

 21 Sunday. Adams, John
21 Sunday.

Vernal Equinox. Heard Mr. Wibird preach two excellent Discourses from Eccles. 9.12.1 Spent the Evening at Mr. Wibirds with Messrs. Quincy,2 Cranch, Savel, in Conversation upon the present Scituation of publick affairs. Mr. Quincy exerted his Talents in the most Eloquent Harrangue. Mr. Cranch quoted the bishop of Quebecks Letter concerning the french Missionaries among the Indians.3 Some, he says, are very good men.

 1.

Rev. Anthony Wibird (1729–1800), minister in the North Precinct of Braintree (afterward Quincy) from 1754 until his death.

 2.

Presumably the elder Josiah Quincy (1710–1784), more often referred to in this Diary as Colonel Quincy.

 3.

A confusing and perhaps confused reference. CFA’s explanation (JA, Works , 2:11, note) is not satisfactory, since “A Letter from Canada,” which he cites and which was printed in the Boston Evening Post, 8 Sept. 1755, was not written by the Bishop of Quebec and did not purport to be from his hand. (It is a transparent fabrication, designed to stir up anti-French and anti-Catholic feeling in New England.) But the discussion at Parson Wibird’s house no doubt related to the activities of such men as Le Loutre, the Bishop of Quebec’s vicar-general in maritime Canada. Le Loutre’s work among the French Neutrals, or Acadians, had led directly to their enforced exile from Nova Scotia in 1755. Shiploads of these unfortunate people were arriving at intervals in Boston Harbor during 1755–1756, and they were naturally the subject of frequent conversation. See Hutchinson, Massachusetts Bay, ed. Mayo, 3:28–31; Francis Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, Boston, 1907, vol. 1: 17chs. 4, 8; Lawrence H. Gipson, The British Empire before the American Revolution, Caldwell, Idaho, and N.Y., 1936– , vol. 6: chs. 8–10.