Abigail “Nabby” Adams Smith

Infobox Person
name= Abigail "Nabby" Adams Smith
dead=deceased
birth_date=July 14 1765
birth_place=Quincy, Massachusetts
spouse=William Stephens Smith
children= William, John, Thomas, Caroline
death_date=death date and age|1813|8|15|1765|7|14
death_place=Quincy, Massachusetts Abigail "Nabby" Adams Smith (July 14 1765 – August 15 1813) was the firstborn of Abigail and John Adams, founding father and second President of the United States. She was named for her mother. [(2006) "American Experience: John and Abigail Adams". PBS Paramount.]

Early life

Abigail "Nabby" Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. She was the favorite child, showered with attention by her mother, for whom she was named, and her father. By the age of 10 she was a mature girl and helped her mother with farm chores while her father and brother were away on diplomatic missions.

Romance and marriage

At the age of 18, Nabby met and fell in love with Royall Tyler. Her father thought she was too young to have a suitor, but he eventually accepted it. At one point the two were even engaged to be married. But John Adams, now the U.S. foreign minister to Great Britain, eagerly called for his wife and daughter to join him in London. Nabby maintained a long distance relationship with Tyler. But the engaged couple quarreled, and Nabby broke off the engagement. Shortly afterward she met Colonel William Stephens Smith, who was serving as her father's secretary and was 10 years her senior. They were married at the American minister's residence in London on June 12 1786.Nagel, Paul C. 1987. "The Adams women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, their sisters and daughters". New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195038746] Nabby's observations of European life and customs, and many of the distinguished statesmen of the day, were later published. Smith, Abigail Adams 1841. "Journal and correspondence of Miss Adams, daughter of John Adams, second president of the United States, written in France and England, in 1785." [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2750712 book] ]

Family life and issue

After their return from Europe, the Smiths bought land in what was then the countryside outside of New York City, and planned to build an estate, which they called Mount Vernon, in honor of George Washington. They never lived there, but a carriage house on the property was later converted to a hotel and is now operated as the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.

William was involved in a series of speculative ventures that led to financial and political difficulties. Nabby's parents used their influence when possible to obtain government jobs for William, but this did not keep their daughter from penury. Although William was in debt, Nabby was devoted to him, and the couple had four children, three of whom survived childhood. [ [http://www.mountalverniahs.org/Mahs/Hist-Lit10/Adams/Children.htm The Adams Children ] ]

Death

In 1803, Nabby was diagnosed with breast cancer. The gruesome details of the surgery and the remainder of Nabby's life can be found in [http://www.shsu.edu/~pin_www/T@S/2002/NabbyAdamsEssay.html Jim Olson's Essay on Nabby Adams] . The cancer continued to spread throughout her body, and she died, aged 48, on Sunday, August 15 1813. [Wead, Doug (2005). "The Raising of a President: The Mothers and Fathers of Our Nation's Leaders". Atria Books. ISBN 0-74-349726-0.]

References

External links

* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/NAGADX.html Nagel, Paul. "The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters." Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.]
* [http://www.mountalverniahs.org/Mahs/Hist-Lit10/Adams/Children.htm The Adams Children]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/adams/peopleevents/p_adamskids.html American Experience-John And Abigail Adams]
* [http://www.shsu.edu/~pin_www/T@S/2002/NabbyAdamsEssay.html Jim Olson's Essay on Nabby Adams]
* [http://www.masshist.org/adams/biographical.cfm#second Adams family biographies - Massachusetts Historical Society]