Adams, Abigail Smith (1744-1818), was the wife of John Adams, who served as president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. She was the mother of John Quincy Adams, who also became president–serving from 1825 to 1829. Abigail Adams is known for writing many letters expressing her opinions about the society of the time. Her delightful letters to her husband during his absences from home are valued today for the picture they give of colonial times. She is also known as an early supporter of women’s rights.
Mrs. Adams was born on Nov. 22, 1744, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. (The date was November 11 by the calendar then in use.) Her maiden name was Abigail Smith. Her father, William Smith, was a Congregational minister who came from a prosperous family of merchants. Her mother, Elizabeth Quincy Smith, came from one of most prominent families of Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. Poor health kept Abigail from getting even the little schooling that was available to girls during colonial times. But her family had a large private library. Abigail read widely and became one of the best-informed women of her time.
Abigail Smith and John Adams married on Oct. 25, 1764. The couple had five children—Abigail, John Quincy, Susanna, Charles, and Thomas. See Adams, John , for details. See also Adams, John Quincy .
Mrs. Adams managed the family farm in Braintree while her husband served in the Continental Congress and as a diplomat in Europe during the 1770’s and 1780’s. Her support of women’s rights included calls for more schooling for girls. Writing to her husband in Philadelphia in 1776, she urged him to “remember the ladies” in the new nation’s laws. She also opposed slavery, which then existed in the country.
During the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783), Abigail Adams’s letters to her husband provided valuable information about British troops and ships in the Boston area. In November 1800, near the end of President Adams’s term, his family became the first occupants of the White House. At the time, the interior of the mansion was far from complete. Mrs. Adams often had the family wash hung to dry in the East Room of the White House because there was no other place she considered suitable. Abigail Adams died on Oct. 28, 1818.
