Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family

297 Pages·2019·20.6 MB·English

by  Sara Georgini

H G
OUSEHOLD ODS

HOUSEHOLD GODS

The Religious Lives of
the Adams Family

SARA GEORGINI
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Georgini, Sara, author.
Title: Household gods : the religious lives of the Adams family / Sara Georgini.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018027755 (print) | LCCN 2018048436 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190882594 (updf) | ISBN 9780190882600 (epub) |
ISBN 9780190882587 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Adams, John, 1735–1826—Family. | Adams, John,
1735–1826—Religion. | Adams family. | Massachusetts—Biography. |
Presidents—Religious life—United States—History. |
Christianity—United States—History. | Massachusetts—Religious life and customs. |
United States—Religious life and customs.
Classification: LCC E322.1 (ebook) | LCC E322.1 .G46 2019 (print) |
DDC 973.4/4092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018027755
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
This book is dedicated to Philip and Susan Georgini,
wise guides on the journey.

Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Providence of John and Abigail Adams 7
2. John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams at Prayer 41
3. Charles Francis Adams on Pilgrimage 82
4. The Cosmopolitan Christianity of Henry Adams 119
5. Higher Than a City upon a Hill 168
Epilogue 197
Appendix: The Adams Family Genealogy 205
Notes 207
Selected Bibliography 265
Index 275
vii

ACknowledgments

“Great necessities call out great virtues,” Abigail Adams wrote
to her son John Quincy in early 1780. Across oceans and over years,
I am deeply grateful to family, friends, and colleagues for their unwa-
vering support of my research adventure with the Adams clan. Recently
I unearthed an early graduate school relic, a computer file composed
of a single line: “history of one American family’s religion.” As that
project wraps up a decade later, I have many people and communities
to thank for its progress. Within the family circle, Philip and Susan
Georgini, Jenevra Georgini and Steve Macy, and Dorothy Korchinsky
were mainstays of moral strength who provided delicious care packages
and indulged my long- distance chats about fresh discoveries. As the
proud daughter of a social worker and an art historian, I appreciate their
knowledge in ways to look at the religious and aesthetic journeys of an
American family. At a key moment in this project’s early stages, my late
grandmother refined my analysis with Abigail-l ike acuity. Enduring my
whirlwind monologue on archival treasure, she smiled gently and said,
“Yes, but what’s it all about?” To her credit, I have asked that on every
project since, remembering that archival work plus synthesis can equal
good history.
At Boston University, Jon H. Roberts and Brooke L. Blower reviewed
chapter drafts and shepherded me through the intellectual and cultural
byways of American history. Their patience, expertise, and good humor
eased the challenge of a three-c entury subject. Jon, especially, served
as an invaluable mentor throughout my tenure as a graduate student,
ix