Abigail Adams Reveals That She Named Her Son John Quincy at Her Mother’s Request

While assistant librarian at Harvard, William Allen published “The American Biographical and Historical Dictionary, the first work of general biography published in the United States. In addition to collecting information on early American personalities of note, he was a lexicographer and collected 10,000 words not contained in standard dictionaries, publishing them as a supplement to Webster’s Dictionary. He was chosen president of Dartmouth College in 1818 and in 1820 he went to Bowdoin College in Maine, over which institution he presided until 1839.

Norton and Elizabeth Quincy Smith were brother and sister, and Elizabeth’s daughter Abigail married John Adams. Norton was Abigail Adams’ favorite uncle. At 29 he had married Martha Salisbury, but she died within the first year of their marriage. His deep mourning turned him into a recluse for the rest of his life. Abigail and John did not forget him, visited him, and he is mentioned in their correspondence. Abigail’s sister Mary married William Cranch, who by 1806 had embarked on a long and successful career as a federal judge.

John Eliot was a member of the Corporation of Harvard College, and was instrumental in establishing the Massachusetts Historical Society. He was constantly collecting facts about the earlier New England worthies; and his Biographical Dictionary, published in 1809, is a monument of patient and accurate historical scholarship. Thus he and Allen were both doing research for biographical publications. He died on the 4th of February, 1813, at the age of fifty-nine, leaving the field to Allen.

Autograph letter signed, Quincy, July 11, 1813, to the Rev. William Allen at Pittsfield, seeking recognition for the Quincy family and begging to differ with the idea that the name of Quincy has died out in their branch of the family. “I transmit to you, a copy of a Letter written by my late Brother-in-Law, Judge Cranch, at the request of Dr. Eliot. It was received by him too late for insertion in his biography; and his death, will prevent a second edition of that work. In your biography, there is not any mention made of this Family. Presuming that any information respecting public Characters might be agreeable to you, I have taken the Liberty, although personally unknown to you, to make the communication. Judge Cranch observes that Mr. Norton Quincy, dying without issue, the Name of Quincy has ceased in that branch of the Family. I will record one fact.

“My eldest son, John Quincy Adams, now Minister at St. Petersburg in Russia, was born upon the Eleventh of July 1767. My grandfather the Honorable John Quincy, died upon the 18th of the same month and year. My mother being present, desired that the child might be named for him, which request was complied with.

“The respect which I entertain for your character induces me to ask your acceptance of two sermons; one of which was out of print, until two years since, when a few copies were printed by private subscription. It contains notes which may be valuable to a Historian or Biographer. The other is a sermon delivered at the funeral of my beloved Brother and Sister Cranch by the Rev’d Peter Whitney, my respected pastor. Confiding in the Liberality of your Character as my apology for these communications, I ask leave to subscribe myself your Humble Servant, Abigail Adams.” This letter is unpublished. We obtained it directly from the Allen heirs and it has never before been offered for sale.

In this very interesting and personal letter, Abigail Adams reveals that she named her son John Quincy Adams at her mother’s request, a fact we have not seen elsewhere. And here she hopes to correct two injustices. First, she hoped to garner for the Quincy family sufficient recognition from Allen, and second that by naming her son John Quincy Adams, her nuance was that the Quincy name in fact continued.