An intimate testament of affection and residential, written and signed by founding father John Adams, sold for $40,000 on Wednesday by Raab Collection auction house.
A candid letter from the then-old president to a teenage bride-to-be has been kept in a personal family collection for nearly 200 years.
Its existence was unknown to scientists, who spent greater than two centuries poring over extensive letters from the large of world political history to gain insights into the founding of america of America.
“I look forward to the close association of the family of my excellent friend, Judge Peters, and his great lady, Miss Robinson, whom I’ll remember with affectionate esteem so long as I live,” Adams wrote to neighbor Ellen Maria Brackett on December 14, 1824.
He added: “With my most sincere wishes that you just be accompanied by all success throughout your life, I sign myself as your sincere friend.”
The president was 89 years old and spent the last days of his life at Peacefield, his country estate in Quincy, Massachusetts, near Boston, when he wrote his marriage wishes.
Its jagged signature betrays the struggles of age; it lacked the graceful strokes Adams had utilized in his signature on the Declaration of Independence 48 years earlier.
![John Adams](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/John-Adams-8.jpg?w=1024)
Brackett, a neighbor from a distinguished local family, was 19 and on the verge of marrying Thomas Robinson.
The “Miss Robinson” referred to within the letter is believed to be the longer term groom’s sister.
Justice Richard Peters, also cited, was a federal judge for the District of Pennsylvania appointed by President George Washington, for whom Adams served two terms as vice chairman before becoming the nation’s second president.
Brackett apparently asked her famous neighbor for a will to accompany her memento.
The letter is a component of a bigger leather-bound “friendship album” that contained greater than 50 different memorabilia from the couple’s lives.
![Ellen Maria Brackett](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/John-Adams-6-1.jpg?w=803)
The autographed letter from the Founding Father and former president is undoubtedly the Most worthy artifact.
The album was launched on Tuesday and sold to an unnamed buyer the subsequent day.
“We have never seen a previous letter from the president in a documentary like this,” auctioneer Nathan Raab of the Raab Collection told Fox News Digital.
“It’s amazing to imagine the elder John Adams sitting there sharing his thoughts with this young woman. It’s touching to see a private connection.”
Adams was one in all the leading instigators of the American Revolution and the architect of the constitutional government known throughout the world today.
He wrote extensively during his lifetime, providing history with remarkable details of the exertions of nation-building.
His most notable works got here from a lifelong correspondence together with his wife Abigail, in addition to a lengthy correspondence with fellow Founding Father and former President Thomas Jefferson.
The Adams letters are a big primary source of knowledge in regards to the founding of america and have been the topic of intense scholarly study for nearly 250 years.
Despite his fame as an excessively mental and militant revolutionary, Adams displayed a romantic streak throughout his life – especially in his letters to his wife.
“For a similar reason that the bearer of this document sat with you last night,” Adams wrote of himself to Abigail, wooing her in 1762 at any time he pleases, and charging them to my account.
The invention of recent words of affection from a distinguished figure within the American narrative provides additional insight into his life and worldview.
![Portraits of John and Abagail Adams](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/John-Adams-1.jpg?w=1024)
The president’s letter in the marriage album includes an earnest plea to Brackett never to forget her roots as she prepared to move to Philadelphia along with her future husband.
“You might be descended from one in all Braintree and Haven’s oldest and most respected residents [passed] your life on this part now called Quincy, where you may have achieved your nice achievements, I hope you’ll carry with you wherever you go a fond memory of your birthplace and the worthy character of your fellow residents.”
These Quincy “fellow residents” of “dignified character” included Adams’ devoted and patriotic wife, Abigail; childhood buddy and fellow revolutionary John Hancock; and his own son, President John Quincy Adams.
More recently, notable figures in america community include retirees Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2015-2019; and current Army Chief of Staff James McConville.
“There’s something special about this community that comes from the inspiration of the Addams family,” Quincy Mayor Tom Koch told Fox Latest Digital.
“Despite being a global figure, he [John Adams] he remained firmly rooted in his hometown. He called it “this extraordinary place” in his letters, even when he was traveling in Europe.
The town is working to open the Adams Presidential Center in 2026, which the mayor said will “tell the story of the American Revolution through the eyes of Latest England.”
Bride Ellen Brackett died in Philadelphia on the age of 39.
The album had been passed down the generations of girls in her family before its contents, including a historic letter from Adams, were released to the general public this week.