Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams. , Founding Mother and Patriot , The second first lady of the United States, Abigail Adams, is best remembered for her intelligence and devoted support of her husband, John Adams. Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Abigail Smith was the daughter of a Congregational minister, and although she did not receive a formal education, she learned to read and write from her father’s library., Abigail met her future husband, John Adams, when she was 15 years old, and the young couple married in 1764. Abigail gave birth to six children, four of whom reached adulthood. When her husband was away in Philadelphia for sessions of the Continental Congress, Abigail took care of the family home and farm. When the war came to Boston, Abigail refused to flee to safety with the children and witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston., During long periods of separation, John and Abigail kept up a prolific correspondence. Abigail was her husband’s closest confidante and his most trusted advisor on family and political matters. She famously enjoined him to “Remember the Ladies,” after he wrote to her describing the new government they were to create. After the war, Abigail joined John overseas when he served as a diplomat in Paris and later as an ambassador in London., When John Adams became president, the Adams family moved to Philadelphia, where Abigail often hosted gatherings at the President’s House. She later became the first in a long succession of first ladies to live in the White House after the capital moved to Washington, D.C. When John retired from public service, they returned to their home in Quincy, Massachusetts, where Abigail died of typhoid fever in 1818. Their son, John Quincy Adams, was elected the sixth president of the United States in 1825, giving Abigail the rare distinction of being both the wife and mother of a U.S. president, a distinction unmatched until Barbara Bush in 2001.