Isaac, Jr Smith to Abigail Adams, October 30, 1787

[ 30 October 1787 ]

my dear Mrs Adams

The last year I acquainted you with the death of my mother, & I am sorry that I
have now to inform you of that of my father, an event which has renewed my griefs, &
will again excite your sympathetic feelings.

If any person bid fair for length of years, I thought this was the Case with my late
valuable parent, but heaven it seems, to whose decisions it becomes us always humbly to
submit, as wise & fit, had determined that he should not long survive my dear
mother, sorrow for the loss of whom, accompained with much inward anxiety for the
welfare of his family, which he knew he should not leave in such easy & happy
circumstances, as he wished to do, & as he once supposed it was in his power to have
done, preyed upon his vitals & proved the means of bringing his days to a period, I
ought not to say too soon, but sooner than I had flatter’d myself they would have ended,
& sooner than the good wishes of his friends in general would have extended them. He had lived long enough to answer the great purposes of
life; with the partner of his cares, with your own excellent & kind parents, whom I
consider’d too in some sort as mine, & with other of our dear relatives &
friends, who have been taken from us, in your absence, he is gone to rest, & may it
be my concern to follow him.

I feel thankful, that I am not an infidel. When we once part with the Consolations of
the Gospel, what support have we left, worthy to be mentioned, in such circumstances as
those in which I am now placed? The idea of annihilation I Can never adopt. How pleasing
the prospect of a revival, & how fond should we be of cherishing the thought of a
reunion with our friends, with those among them more especially whom we have most highly
esteemed, & of our being permitted to enjoy infinitely greater pleasure &
satisfaction in the company of each other hereafter, than is possible here, where our
happiness is so often liable to interruption, & is never free from some mixture of
alloy. It was with the highest relish I read Dr Price’s dissertation on this subject
some years ago, & as you frequently see this goodman, if you think it worth while to
do so, I beg you will give my respects to him. 1 With very different views of the probable
Consequences of a revolution in America, from what he, & many others, whom I have
known & respected, on both sides of the water, possest, I have yet at the same
entertained the sincerest veneration for him. A vol. of his sermons has lately been
received & read here with much approbation. 2 I have not myself as yet been gratified with the
perusal of them.—

Of our political situation at present, you will hear eno’ from other quarters, &
will therefore not expect any thing from me[.] We are on the eve I hope of a change for
the better, b[ut I] would not undertake to say what events, the jealousy [. . .]
ignorance, ambition, or restless disposition of individual [. . .] may produce in the
course of a few months, the evils arising from which it may not be in the power of the
wisest counsels to prevent.—

If my father’s affairs are settled in such a manner, as to prevent the loss of it to
his family, my brother, who is connected in marriage with a partner that makes us all
happy, will take the house, & my sister Betsey will live with him. As to me, the
College to which I have returned the third time, will be my home.— 3 Mr Otis goes the next week to Congress, &
leaves Mrs O. in a situation, in which she stands in need of comfort— 4 Mr & mrs Atkinson with their little family
have gone to New York— Cha s. Storer is a resident at Passamaquoddy, & his sister Polly is with him
either there, or in Nova Scotia.— You will please to remember me to Mr Adams, & Mrs
Smith. I am, my dear Mrs A., with the greatest affection, Yours,

I Smith