John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

23. IV:30. Thursday.

At half past four I rose again, and going into the bed-chamber where my Son lay, found Mr Frye, closing his eyes— He had just ceased to breathe— May God in his infinite mercy have received him to the joys of Heaven! Of the day from that time I have no distinct recollection— In a state between stupefaction, and a nervous irritation aggravated by the exertion to suppress it, the effort of my Soul was a deep, and earnest and unceasing supplication to God, for the Spirit and the will to fulfil all the duties devolving upon me, by this event; and for the blessing of Almighty God upon this purpose— Mr Frye, whose devotion to my dear child, during all his illness has been unbounded, undertook to make all the necessary arrangements for the funeral— My dear Son had been in a declining and drooping state of health more than three years— Several times afflicted with severe and acute disease; often so far recovered as to be out—able to travel and attend to business but never well— I left him here on the 5th. of last July with earnest intreaty that he would come with his family, and spend the Summer at Quincy— He did make arrangements to go in September, when first his wife and then himself were successively taken down with intermittent fevers— His case did not however present symptoms of danger, till Sunday the 12th. of this Month, from which time, there has been no rational hope of his recovery— Mrs Frye wrote to my dear wife to apprize us of his danger on Wednesday the 15th. Walter Hellen the next day— Mr T. B. Johnson the day after, and Mr Frye last Sunday to me— Walter’s Letter was the first received, and upon the receipt of that I came on— His disease was rapidly proceeding to its fatal termination—last Friday, being in perfect possession of his mind, and distinctly foreseeing 427the event, he dictated to Mr Frye, in the presence of Mrs Good, various dispositions relating to his property, and his persons— He particularly desired that his body might be only be deposited here, until it can be transported to Quincy— Conformably to this desire Mr Frye applied to Coll. George Bomford the proprietor of Kalorama, for permission temporarily to deposit the remains in the vault at that place to which he readily agreed— Mr Frye wrote notes also to William A Bradley, P. R. Fendall William Ramsay, H. L. Randall, W. W. Seaton and Benjamin O. Tayloe inviting them to attend the funeral as Pall bearers at 3 O’Clock on Saturday afternoon— They all accepted, but Mr Bradley who is obliged to be absent at Baltimore on that day— His brother Joseph H. Bradley was invited in his place and accepted— Mr Frye applied also to Mr William Hawley, Rector of St. John’s Church, and the Revd. Edward Smith Pastor of the second Presbyterian Church, requesting them to officiate as Clergymen, at the interment which both promised to do— I was desirous of inviting also Mr Cazneau Palfrey the Pastor of the unitarian church here to unite in the Solemnities, but on consulting with the two other Clergymen we thought it most advisable to assign the religious performances only to them— The ordinary funeral arrangements were referred to the Undertaker Kripps—and a short obituary notice was sent to the Offices of the National Intelligencer, the Telegraph and the Globe— It was published in the Telegraph of this afternoon— I wrote to my beloved wife, and to my only surviving Son, communicating to them this heavy dispensation of the Providence of God. I controuled as far as I was able the unutterable anguish of my own Soul, endeavouring to sooth the yet more aggravated affliction of his widowed wife— Reduced and emaciated by sickness herself, she suffers in body and in mind; above all at her own inability to render to her beloved and affectionate husband in the extremes of his last illness the tender attentions and good Offices which smooth the pillow of death— Johnson Hellen called here in the course of the day—and William C. Greenleaf— Walter Hellen went to his mother at Alexandria, with promise to return tomorrow— Mr and Mrs Frye remained here the whole day, and he will pass here the Night— He also wrote at my request to my Son Charles.