Susanna Boylston

Susanna Boylston Adams Hall (March 5, 1708 – April 17, 1797) was a prominent early-American socialite, mother of the second U.S. President, John Adams and grandmother of the sixth President, John Quincy Adams. Her parents were Peter Boylston (c1673-1743) and Anne White (1685-1772);^[1] her grandparents, Dr. Thomas Boylston (1644-1695) and Mary Gardner (1648-?) ^[2][3][4] and Benjamin White (?-1722) and Susanna Cogswell (1656-1701)^[5]

She married John Adams, Sr. in 1734.^[6] She is among the least well known of the famous Adams family, for her name appears infrequently in the large body of Adams writings. Historian David McCullough notes that no writings of hers survive, though it is known that others would often read to her, suggesting that she might have been illiterate. However, her son's diary reveals that she had a fiery temper.

John Adams and Susanna Boylston Adams had the following children:

• John Adams
• Peter Boylston Adams – farmer, militia captain of Braintree, Massachusetts.
• Elihu Adams – a company commander in the militia during the American Revolution; died from a dysentery.

Five years after the death of her first husband, she married Lt. John Hall, who apparently did not get along with her grown children. She died only six weeks after her son became President.

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