Abigail Adams

Abigail Smith was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1744. When Abigail was born she was very delicate and weak. Her father baptised her when it was freezing so they had to bundle her up in clothes. She looked bigger when she had all those clothes on. When she was young her family called her Nabby because her older sister couldn't say Abigail or Abby so everybody called her Nabby. Her father was a Congregational minister. Abigail lacked education, but her curosity helped her intelligence. Abigail's father had to tutor her because she was sick. Her father would make her read books and they had a big library. Abigail got better when she was older, but anytime she got sick they wold keep her home. Sometimes she had to miss going out even with one cough, and so she missed school a lot. Once she went to a building with her father that had guns and gun powder. Outside there were some boys shooting guns. Her sister and brother were watching too and one of the boys said that they needed more gun powder. Her brother told them where they could get some and they planned to get some at night. Abigail was worried that the boys would get killed if lightning got to the gunpowder and exploded the tower. So that night Abigail scared the boys away and they figured out that the tower was on fire. They were so happy that they weren't in there. Everybody came and the Smiths had to make room for everybody in the house, Abigail's mom thought that she might catch something so she sent her off to her grandmother's.

When Abigail's parents were gone she was hanging out with Phoebe who was bundled upstairs because her back was hurting badly. It was about to snow and she heard a noise. It was the cows mooing because they knew there was a bad storm ahead so she and her dog Rover were going to herd the cows into the barn for safety before the storm. She wore warm clothes and she herded the cows in and it was pretty deep snow. Then she remembered about the sheep so she and Rover walked to get the sheep. Once she found them she took them in the barn. Abigail then walked back with Rover. Every step she took the snow got deeper and then she couldn't see anything so Rover led her to the house. Finally, she got close to the house and hit a wall. When she got into the house, Phoebe was walking down stairs ready to go out to find her. Abigail was surprised that she was downstairs. Phoebe said that she was so worried that Abigail would be freezing and stuck in the snow storm. Then her parents got home and her dad was so happy and amazed that she did that in a snow storm.

On the day of Abigail's birthday she was cleaning like crazy. It was her twelth birthday and they were going to have a knitting contest for a gold needle for sewing. Actually it was a sewing kit. There was one girl named Silence and she was really good but Nabby (Abigail) got better because she was sick for a long time, so she got a lot of practice. Silence made a rule that if you went to school you could do the contest. So that week they did not see Silence. Abigail's sister would win the competition. When it was time for Abigail's party she was so excited. The girls and their moms came in the house. After everybody was there, they were going to start the contest but Silence came in with her mom and everybody was surprised. Her mom said that she faked being sick and she stayed home to practice for the contest. She was about to join in the contest and Abigail said that she could not join in because she had made up a rule that nobody could play if they skipped school that week. Silence forgot about that and she and her mom left to go back home. Abigail felt sad for her so she ran after Silence and she said that Silence could play and she was so happy. When they got inside, Silence's mother said that she wouldn't let Silence do it unless Abigail could do it. Abigail and Silence tied and luckily her grandmother had two kits. One kit was for the winner and one was for Abigail's birthday present so they both got the same kit. Abigail had her name engraved in her needle. Abigail had a great party and was really happy. Once when Abigail went to her grandmother's house she was able to listen to interesting conversations and her grandmother taught her how to be like a lady and know how to do tea parties.

Then Abigail met John Adams. The Smith family didn't really think much about John Adams when he came to the parsonage often with Richard Cranch. Richard was courting Mary. They were frequent visitors. By the time Mary was married, John asked permission to court Abigail. Her family had expected Abigail to make a brilliant marriage. Mary was marrying an outstanding man. The Adamses were hard working farmers. John Adams was beginning to be known in Boston. John was one of the best students in his class at Harvard. His father left him a house next to the Adams homestead and it was over nine acres of land. John had been working really hard for Abigail to come with him. The Smiths and the Quincys agreed that Abigail was marrying beneath her. John courted Abigail for three years. In the fall of 1764, when Abigail was twenty and John was twenty-seven, Parson Smith married them in a little church at Weymouth. It was a quiet wedding and after the ceremony they went to live in their house in Braintree. They did not have a big house but John made it snug and cozy and Abigail liked it.

In the later years she would live in Boston, New york, London, Phliadelphia and Washington. John and Abigail had four children; John Quincy, Abigail, Charles and young baby Tommy. Abigail and John Quincy watched a war in which the British lost about 1,000 soldiers, the Americans lost 145 soldiers and about 300 prisoners and wounded. John wrote to her that he was on the committee with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence. Abigail met the Queen of England, but she did not really like her. Then her husband became Vice President. Finally, he became president and she became the first First Lady to have kids married to a president. Her son, John Quincy, became the sixth president of the United States. I chose Abigail Adams to be my hero because she believed in women's rights and was nice to everybody.