Wife of President John Adams, and mother of John Quincy Adams; the daughter of Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, MA, where she was born on the 23rd of November 1744. By her mother, also, she was of sturdy Puritan stock. Her childhood and youth, owing to a delicate physical constitution, gave little promise of the remarkable woman that she was destined to become. In 1764 she married John Adams; and in 1784–85 accompanied her husband to France and England. In London, as the wife of the minister of the United States, at a period when the loss of the colonies still rankled in the minds of the Tories, she experienced with patient dignity thinly veiled hostility and open sneers. Returning to the United States, she resided with her husband at the seat of government for twelve years, whence she returned to Braintree. Her letters, published by her grandson, Charles Francis Adams, in 1840, contain a graphic portrayal of eighteenth century manners. She died at Quincy, MA, on the 28th of October 1818. See also “Letters—To her Husband,” “Ladies in Rebellion,” “A Glimpse of Madame Helvetius,” etc.
