Adams Family Correspondence, volume 10
I have this morning recd your kind Letters of 10 & 11th. of May.— You mention Land bought by Dr Phipps which you had mentioned to me: but I have not recd any Letter from you which hinted at any Land— By this I fear I lost a Letter last monday by some fault in the Post.— however I want no more land at present.
A Pew I should like to have, and a double one too if possible.— I shall leave you & my Brother to continue the Business as well as you can.
The Weather is at least as dry here as with you— The Seasons of Rain seem to be past. such a Succession of dry Years, no man remembers.
My honoured Mother, I fear, will not Stay with Us long. Dr Welsh writes me discouragingly about her.1 My Duty to her.—
The Joke about V. Presidency is but a Joke, I believe— The Man was tickled with his Pro temship, but I dont credit the other Insinuation— He has not been so Steady however this session, as usual.2
My Brother will not vote for War, I hope before it is necessary as well as just. Great is the Guilt of unnecessary War.
I have not a doubt but the farm has been well governed.— I wish the State and the Nation may be as well conducted.
I cannot expect with any Confidence to see you before the 10th. of June.— I will sooner if I can.
I lament the Death of a promising, ingenious Youth in Dr Bracket: My Uncle Howard was a shock of Corn fully ripe.— My Aunt and my Mother must soon be gathered.— and then there will be no body before me.
The World is a Riddle, which Death, I hope will unravel.— Amidst all the Tryals I have gone through I have much to be grateful for— good Parents, an excellent Wife, and promising Children—tolerable Health upon the whole and competent fortune.— Success, almost without Example, in a dangerous dreadful Revolution, and Still hopes of better Times.—
I am most earnestly yours
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”; endorsed: “May 19th / 1794.”
Thomas Welsh wrote to JA on 6 May primarily to discuss the recent Massachusetts elections. He concluded by observing, “I saw Mrs Hall your aged Mother and I fear she 186 will not tarry with us through the Summer I saw her when she was taken in Feby I then thought she might reconst. but it appears to me that her Lungs are materially affected and that her Complaints are hectic. her understanding remains uninjured by the Malady” (Adams Papers).
See AA to JA, 10 May, and note 4, above.
th:May 1794—
I was a little disappointed in not finding a letter for me in the Post Office of this place upon my arrival here yesterday— The arrangement, of the Posts is rather inconvenient in all the towns I have yet visited where there is any— In West Chester there is none, in York & Lancaster there is but one Mail Pr Week, as also in this place— the Mail arrived here yesterday from Philadelphia & another will not arrive till monday next— By this arrangement I fear I shall miss another letter— Your’s directed to me at York—I recd: yesterday by a Gentn from that place—1
There was much business done by the Court at Lancaster during the last week—no trials of any great consequence, if the value of the property in dispute alone is estimated—but the length of time that many of them had been upon the Docquet & the expence of the parties made it a considerable object to have them swept off— Lancaster is said to be the largest inland town in America— I believe it is—2 the people are industrious, & of course wealthy— The richness of the land in this County affords ample compensation for any labor that is bestowed upon it— It must be a great advantage to Philadelphia to have so large a town dependent upon it for every article of foreign Growth;—
The farmers have heared that the Embargoe is not to be continued, & the price of flour in the City; this has put them upon the move with their Flour, & I presume we did not meet less than 50 waggons heavily loaded on their way thither—many of them from this side of the Susquehannah— Our ride from Lancaster to this place, about 53 miles, was the pleasantest part of my journey— The people have got into the practice of raising Rye within a few years, instead of wheat— with this they feed their horses and make whiskey; It seems to me no very favorable symptom; & I think the change, much for the worse—3 We crossed the River about three miles below Harrisburg— The town was visible from the Ferry, but not distinctly. The Country for 14 or 15 miles on this side the River is beautiful beyond description— within the distance of 8 or 10 miles
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from each other, there are very considerable streams of water, which turn a great number of mills of all kinds—
Lands on this side of the River 15 years ago sold for £5 Pr Acre— they now sell for £15 tho it must be the best kind of land to command this price; Round Carlisle good land [may?] be bought for £7–10—
My next remove will be to Reading, nearly seventy miles from this; If convenient, I shall be pleased at finding a letter for me there upon my arrival which I expect will be on Monday next—
I am / sir / your son
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The Vice President of the United States / Philadelphia”; internal address: “VP, U S,”; endorsed: “TB Adams 1794”; notations: “Carlisle / May 23d” and “Free.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
Not found.
According to the 1790 U.S. census Lancaster (town and borough) had a population of 4,070 (U.S. Census, 1790, Penn., p. 10).
Farmers in central and western Pennsylvania increasingly grew corn and/or rye instead of wheat. Soil exhaustion from wheat production was one factor leading to this shift. Another was the ability to ferment corn and rye into whiskey, which could be more easily transported and sold for cash (Stevenson Whitcomb Fletcher, Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country Life 1640–1840, Harrisburg, Penn., 1950, p. 143–144, 151; William Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America’s Newfound Sovereignty, N.Y., 2006, p. 65–67).