Thomas Adams

THOMAS BOYLSTON ADAMS, third son and youngest child of John and Abigail (Smith) Adams, was born 15 September 1772, and baptized in the First (Congregational) or North Precinct Church in Quincy five days later. Named for his great-great-grandfather, young Thomas Boylston impressed the family with his early talent for Latin and what his aunt Elizabeth Smith Shaw called “a more martial, and intrepid Spirit.” Early on, she wrote to Abigail, Thomas Boylston showed “a love for Buisiness, and an excellent faculty in dispatching it. Indefatiguable in every-thing that shall render him a useful member of Society, and independant of the World” (Elizabeth Smith Shaw to AA, 18 March 1786, AFC 7:94). Another aunt, Mary Smith Cranch, described the teenager as a “fine shap’d youth” who closely resembled his mother, and had a real “Talant for satire” (Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 22 April 1787, AFC 8:16). Thomas Boyslton graduated from Harvard in 1790, and studied law with Jared Ingersoll in Philadelphia. He accompanied his brother John Quincy on his first diplomatic mission to Europe as secretary in 1794. The two brothers made excellent co-workers, and although he often suffered from bouts of acute rheumatism, Thomas Boylston found time for ice-skating, museum trips, and a steady whirl of social engagements during his brief diplomatic career. “He has ever been a faithful friend, and kind companion, as well as an industrious and valuable assistant to me,” John Quincy wrote of Thomas Boylston when his brother departed for America in 1798. Like many of the Adamses, Thomas Boylston faithfully kept a record of his experiences abroad, gathering impressions for what was later published as Berlin and the Prussian Court in 1798: Journal of Thomas Boylston Adams, Secretary to the United States Legation at Berlin (ed. Victor Hugo Paltsits, 1915).

Back in Philadelphia, Thomas Boylston continued to practice law, exchanging views on the profession with his father and eldest brother. He was greatly concerned with his prospects for success, given the lack of patronage and the “oppressing” expense of living in Philadelphia (TBA to JA, 22 Oct. 1799, Adams Papers). Then serving as president, John Adams advised a “total Sacrifice of Pleasures and Amusements” and an “an assiduous Attendance” to solidify his youngest son’s standing in the field of law (JA to TBA, 19 Oct. 1799, Adams Papers). Between 1802 and 1803, Thomas Boylston pursued his literary ambitions, secretly teaming with Joseph Dennie to edit the national magazine Port Folio and recruiting John Quincy as the main contributor. By 1805, Thomas Boylston’s professional success at the bar allowed him to support a family, and he married Ann (Nancy) Treat Harrod of Haverhill on 16 May 1805. They settled in Quincy, which he represented in the Massachusetts legislature from 1805 to 1806. They had four sons and three daughters, but none of them had children. Like the rest of his family, Thomas Boylston cultivated deep civic ties, variously serving as member of the Quincy town and school visiting committees, town treasurer, supervisor of schools, director of the Boylston Market Association, and trustee of Derby Academy in Hingham. In 1811 he was appointed chief justice of the circuit court of common pleas for the southern circuit of Massachusetts. Thomas Boylston’s plan to combine legal work and farming was largely unsuccessful, due to his frequent illness and struggles with alcoholism. He left Quincy with his family in the spring of 1829, but he remained involved in preserving the family legacy. From 1827 to 1830, he served as clerk, secretary, and chairman of the Adams Temple and School Fund Supervisors. Thomas Boylston Adams died on 13 March 1832, in Quincy.

https://www.masshist.org/adams/biographies#TBA I.S. 4/26/2018