Abigail Amelia ADAMS

1765 - 1813  (48 years)

• 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   [2, 3]
  Gender	Female
  Death	15 Aug 1813  [3]
  Death	30 Aug 1813	Braintree, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts   [2]
  	Cause: breast cancer
  Burial	Hancock Cemetery, Quincy, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts   [2]
  Person ID	I01380	Main Tree
  Last Modified	17 Oct 2021

  
  

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

  
  

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

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 14 Jul 1765 - Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts Death - Cause: breast cancer - 30 Aug 1813 - Braintree, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos

  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 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

  [S12688] Find A Grave: Bio of Abigail Amelia "Nabby" Adams Smith. [S02329] Find A Grave Website. [S3931] Andrew N. Adams, A Genealogical History of Henry ADAMS of Braintree, Mass., and His Descendants; Also John ADAMS, of Cambridge, Mass., 1632-1897. [S5405] Gar Boyd Roberts, "Ancestors of American Presidents", (New England Historic Genealogical Society - 2009).