2 A New Family

Chapter 2 A New Family Abigail's mother and father didn't think John Adams was good enough for Abigail. They didn't like that he came from a family of farmers. But when Abigail was almost twenty and John was almost twenty-nine, Abigail's parents changed their minds and let them marry in the Smith family home. After the ceremony they rode to their first home in nearby Braintree.

It was a small saltbox house and farm right next door to where John had been born and raised. Their house was called a "saltbox" because it looked like a type of wooden box used to store salt in those days. The house had a sloping roof with two stories in the front and only one story in the back.

Though John was a lawyer, he loved farming. Abigail loved being a farm wife: cooking, sewing, spinning, churning butter, smoking meats, gardening, and caring for the sheep, chickens, and cows.

Soon Abigail was a mother, too. Nabby (Abigail) was born in 1765. Two years later, John Quincy was born. The Adamses hired help, but the days were still full for Abigail. She also managed to get up early or stay up late to write letters to friends and family. Even as a young girl,

Abigail had loved writing letters to people close to her. One of the few times in her life when she stopped writing was in 1770, when their baby girl, Susanna, died. John often had to be away from home. His law practice took him all over New England. He was also speaking out against British taxes that Americans had to pay. Most of all, colonists like

John Adams were furious over the Stamp Act, which was a tax on most printed materials. With John away, Abigail was left home to take charge, and she did it very well. But she was lonely. In 1768, the Adams family moved to Boston so John could be nearer to his work. They had a little girl, Susanna, who, sadly, died in 1770. She was only a year old. Both John and Abigail were broken hearted. That same year their son Charles was born, and in 1772 they had another son, Thomas.