Abigail Amelia ADAMS

Abigail Amelia ADAMS

Female 1765 - 1813  (48 years)

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  • Name Abigail Amelia ADAMS  [2, 3
    • Nabby Adams Smith was the eldest child and only surviving daughter of John and Abigail Adams and the sister of John Quincy Adams. She married William Stephens Smith in London on June 12, 1786 while her parents were in residence there but the marriage was not a happy one. Abandoned on numerous occasions while her husband went "seeking his fortune", Nabby showed herself to be a true child of her parents, strong-willed, uncomplaining and able to keep herself and her children together under one roof, earning the unstinting respect of John and Abigail and of John Quincy, who loved her dearly ... one of the few people he did love dearly.

      In October of 1811, Nabby discovered a lump in her breast and a mastectomy was performed without any anesthesia. Her parents were holding her hands during the brutal surgery and, according to John, she never cried out once. After recuperating at the Adams homestead in Quincy, she returned to her dreary life in New York. But the cancer proved too much for even Nabby's resilient spirit and, in the summer of 1813, in agony, she returned to her parents in Quincy and died in The Old Homestead. The elderly John Adams grieved in a letter to his old friend Thomas Jefferson: "Your friend, my only Daughter, expired, Yesterday Morning .... in the 49th Year of her age, 46 of which She was the healthiest and firmest of Us all: Since which, She has been a monument to Suffering and to Patience." It has been said that neither John nor Abigail ever truly recovered from her death.

      Cause of death: Breast cancer



      Posted on find A Grave created by: Kathleen [1]
    Nickname Nabby 
    Birth 14 Jul 1765  Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    Gender Female 
    Death 15 Aug 1813  [3
    Death 30 Aug 1813  Braintree, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Cause: breast cancer 
    Burial Hancock Cemetery, Quincy, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I01380  Main Tree
    Last Modified 17 Oct 2021 

    Father Pres. John ADAMS, Jr.,   b. 19 Oct 1735, Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 04 Jul 1826, Quincy, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 90 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Abigail SMITH,   b. 23 Nov 1744, Braintree, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Oct 1818, Quincy, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 73 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage 25 Oct 1764  Weymouth, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Family ID F10837  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Col. William Stephens SMITH,   b. 08 Nov 1755, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Jun 1816, Lebanon, Madison Co., New York Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 60 years) 
    Family ID F11151  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 Oct 2021 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 14 Jul 1765 - Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - Cause: breast cancer - 30 Aug 1813 - Braintree, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Abigail Amelia 'Nabby' Adams Smith
    Abigail Amelia "Nabby" Adams Smith
    Abigail A. is the daughter of John Adams and Abigail Smith.


    Photo added by: Jeff Roberts

    Headstones
    Abigail Amelia 'Nabby' Adams Smith Headstone
    Abigail Amelia "Nabby" Adams Smith Headstone
    Abigail A., daughter of John Adams and Abigail Smith, is the wife of William Stephens Smith. She is buried in the Hancock Cemetery in Quincy, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts.

    Created by: Kathleen
    Photo added by: Theron Rogers

  • Sources 
    1. [S12688] Find A Grave: Bio of Abigail Amelia "Nabby" Adams Smith.

    2. [S02329] Find A Grave Website.

    3. [S3931] Andrew N. Adams, A Genealogical History of Henry ADAMS of Braintree, Mass., and His Descendants; Also John ADAMS, of Cambridge, Mass., 1632-1897.

    4. [S5405] Gar Boyd Roberts, "Ancestors of American Presidents", (New England Historic Genealogical Society - 2009).