The Adams’ houses
RECAP: After I found out I’m related to Presidents Adams, my dear friend Michelle hatched a brilliant plan for us to go to Boston and see some sights with her best friend Tory. The fact that I’m presenting about John Quincy Adams in June made this an offer I couldn’t pass up. I’m still in shock how much of my little to-do list we made our way through in just two days.
Here’s a quick recap of our visit to the Adams’ homes. Very quick. Barely any tangents.
Revolutionary Farm at Penn’s Hill
John Adams and John Quincy Adams Birthplaces
John Adams was born in the house on the right; John Quincy Adams in the house on the left. I envisioned recreating this doodle as a photo when visiting their birthplaces.
Not quite possible with the roads and cars and other buildings. Nevertheless, it was pretty cool to walk through their homes.
I knew that Abigail Adams had worried “where shall we get a sufficient supply” of gun powder. Had no idea she made bullets. Here’s her bullet mold for musket balls (and the fireplace she maybe used):
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation, by Cokie Roberts; more doodles here
The Old House at Peace field
The Stone Library
Unnecessary clarification
Having just done a deep dive into my newly-discovered Stone side of the family, which I share with both the Adams family and Tory, I feel that I need to point out this library is made of stone. It’s not named after our collective ancestors. As far as I know.
This gorgeous structure houses four generations of books, beginning with John Adams’.
John Quincy Adams requested the library be both fireproof and separate from the house. Not surprising. I remember reading that he encouraged Bostonians to stop building wood houses and to turn “stubble into brick, clapboards and shingles into granite walls.”
The Old House
Four generations of Adams lived at The Old House at Peace field between 1788 - 1927.
Famed clockmaker (and my ancestor) Simon Willard visited John Quincy Adams when he was 85 and still active. I wasn’t sure who the “he” was in this doodle, but Willard was 14 years older and JQA died at 80 years old, so there we go. Math, saving me from my own lack of clarity.
In any case, the two men chatted about how John Adams bought Willard’s first clock. I don’t know of if the clock looked like this. Nor do I know if the clock at Peace field was the clock in question (I asked!) …
… but while trying to find the answer (with no success), I stumbled on something else.
When JQA was just 14 years old, he left Europe to be Francis Dana’s (1743-1811) translator when he was the Minister to Russia. His son, Francis Dana (1777-1853) married a Willard! Specifically Sophia Willard Dana (1775-1840), daughter of Joseph Willard … president of Harvard. I’m related to him, too, but haven’t the time right now to figure out exactly how.
John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life, by Paul C. Nagel
According to Finding Aid for the Dana Family Papers: Collected Manuscripts, Genealogies, and Research Material, 1661-1960:
“Francis Dana5 [Francis,4 Richard,3 Daniel,2 Richard1 ] was the second child of Francis Dana4 and Elizabeth (Ellery) Dana. He was born in Cambridge on May 14, 1777. He graduated from Harvard in 1796 and in 1802 married Sophia Willard, the daughter of Joseph Willard, president of Harvard and Mary (Sheafe) Willard. He was a merchant in Boston and a member of the state legislature in 1829. He died in Boston on December 28, 1853.”
I’ll have to add this to my family tree at some point.
The really poofy seat cushions? Those are to help women in their gigantic dresses sit down easier!
Charles Francis, Henry, and Brooks Adams also lived here. Doodles inspired by America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick, by Bob Crawford and The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, by Edward F. O’Keefe.
More to come!
I already shared about the three amazing cemeteries we visited, but I still have more to share about our trip. We sat in their church pew and hung out in their crypt. Plus, we stepped aboard the USS Constitution and stopped at the Bunker Hill Monument (designed by Solomon Willard; we both roll up to Major Simon Willard, 1605-1676).
Stay tuned.
More adventures
(field trips and/or genealogical exploits)
(and their gorgeous library)