John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

2. IV. Thursday.

I had devoted the day to the labours which I have assumed and promised myself large progress in the redemption of arrears in my last volume, but made very little. Jason Houghton a tax collector of the town of Milton brought me a tax bill, County and Town, of 75 cents, upon my 3 Acres of Penny-ferry Salt-marsh— My Son Charles came out from Boston with his daughter and dined with us— I gave him the portion of Coins and medals of which I had made out the list, but I found that this work was far from being finished— Immediately after dinner Mr Thomas L. M’Kenney of Philadelphia came in, and was desirous of seeing the monument and Tombs of my father and mother in and under the Meeting House— I went with him, and after a search at five or six different houses found the key to the cellar, and there after another long search found the keys of the interior of the house, but not of the vault where my father and mother lie buried— We went into the Meeting House and Mr M’Kenney read the monumental inscription upon the marble tablet, at the right hand of the pulpit as you go to it— Mr M’Kenney asked me for a copy of this Inscription, written, as the monument itself was erected by me— But as I take it for granted he will have no recollection of his request to-morrow, I told him I would send him a copy of it if he desired it— He saw the monument of Josiah Quincy the Patriot and of his wife in the burying yard, which led us into that abode of my fathers and my Sons— We went all over the yard and he viewed the marble monument of the Quincys, and the Granite Tombstones, erected by my father over the remains of his forefathers—Henry Adams, who died in 1647. Joseph Adams Senior who died in 1694. Joseph Adams junior who died in 1737 and John Adams Senior, who died in 1760— The original grave stones of Henry and the two Joseph’s still remain— The first is a granite stone, in which was inlaid a small square marble tablet bearing the obituary inscription, but that is gone—and so it is from every other stone of the same kind in the yard. about 1680 they began to use the Slate Stones with the Inscriptions cut into them— They have proved more durable, and those of Joseph Adams Senior and Abigail Baxter are still in a state of good preservation at the spot where they were deposited— But the marble slab inlaid in the granite tomb-stone of Henry Adams, erected by my father in 1817. is already broken, and there are some other marks of decay in one of the other tombstones, which will need to be repaired— The Quincy monument is also somewhat dilapidated— The marble pedestal is cracked, and one of the corners of the entablature is 32broken off. The Epitaph written by me in 1802 is scarcely legible— The frosts of winter contract the ground, which the excavations to receive the coffins make hollow. In time, the ground upon the surface caves in; and every Spring the melting of the frost heaves up the surface, and the burdens upon it— There are self-planted trees growing out of some of the graves, and these uproot the grave-stones— The vaults along the sides of the yard, are of modern invention—within the last twenty-five years, and they are without epitaphs, or inscription, except in some cases of the mere name— Coll. M’Kenney took some pencil-minutes from the tombstones— The key of the vault containing the remains of my father and mother were not to be found— It was about Sunset when Coll. M’Kenney left me to return over Milton-Hill to Boston— Charles was already gone—and so was my regular occupation—