Susanna Boylston Adams Hall (March 5, 1708 – April 17, 1797) was a prominent early-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

, mother of the second

U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

and the paternal grandmother of the sixth president,

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...

Early life

Susanna was born in

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri * Brookline, New Hampshire * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookline, Vermont See ...

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...

, on March 5, 1708. Her parents were Peter Boylston (c. 1673–1743) and Anne (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

White) Boylston (1685–1772). Her paternal grandparents were Dr.

Thomas Boylston Thomas Boylston (January 26, 1644-1695) was a prominent early-American doctor and patriarch of the influential Boylston family of Massachusetts. Thomas Boylston was born in 1644 in Watertown, Massachusetts to Thomas Boylston Sr. He became a sur ...

and Mary (née Gardner) Boylston, and her maternal grandparents were Benjamin White and Susanna (née Cogswell) White. The Boylstons were one of the most respectable families in New England and among her relatives was cousin

Ward Nicholas Boylston Ward Nicholas Boylston (1747–1828; born Ward Hallowell), a descendant of the physician Zabdiel Boylston, was an American merchant, a philanthropist, and benefactor of Harvard University. He was a brother of Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew, ...

, a benefactor of Harvard College, and uncle

Zabdiel Boylston Zabdiel Boylston, FRS (March 9, 1679 – March 1, 1766) was a physician in the Boston area. As the first medical school in North America was not founded until 1765, Boylston apprenticed with his father, an English-born surgeon named Thomas Boyls ...

, the celebrated Physician who performed the first surgical operation by an American physician and was known for inoculating hundreds of people in Boston during a severe

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

outbreak. Cousin Mary Boylston was mother of Mary Hallowell, wife of Chief Justice of Upper Canada

John Elmsley John Elmsley (1762 – April 29, 1805) was Chief Justice of Upper Canada and afterwards Lower Canada. In both of the Canadas he served as President of the Executive Council and Speaker of the Legislative Council. During the Hunter administr ...

Personal life

In 1734, Susanna was married to John Adams Sr. (1691–1761). She is among the least well known of the famous Adams family, for her name appears infrequently in the large body of Adams writings. Historian

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States ...

notes that no writings of hers survive, though it is known that others would often read to her, suggesting that she might have been illiterate. However, in his memoirs, John Adams himself wrote that "as my parents were both fond of reading...I was very early taught to read at home," indicating that his mother likely possessed at least a basic level of literacy.Autobiography of John Adams,
Parents and schooling
" p. 2. Together, John and Susanna were parents of the following children: *

(1735–1826), the 2nd president of the United States. * Peter Boylston Adams (1738–1823), a farmer, militia captain of

Braintree, Massachusetts Braintree (), officially the Town of Braintree, is a municipality in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a towBraintree is a city, with a mayor-council government, mayor-council form of government, and i ...

. *

Elihu Adams Elihu Adams (May 29, 1741 – August 10, 1775) was a farmer and soldier in the Massachusetts Militia during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in Braintree to John Adams, Sr. and Susanna Boylston; his elder brothers were John Adams, the ...

(1741–1775), a company commander in the militia during the American Revolution who died from

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

. Five years after the death of her first husband, she married Lt. John Hall (1698–1780) on October 17, 1766. Reportedly, Lt. Hall did not get along with her grown children. Susanna died in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

, on April 17, 1797, around a month into her son's presidency.

References

External links

* Adams political family People from Quincy, Massachusetts People from Brookline, Massachusetts 1708 births 1797 deaths Burials in Massachusetts Mothers of presidents of the United States Mothers of vice presidents of the United States People of colonial Massachusetts {{US-poli-bio-stub