CEO of Adams Inc.

A fresh view of Abigail as not just a champion of gender equality but a shrewd investment manager

November 22, 2009|Paul C. Nagel, Globe Correspondent

On the Fourth of July 1956, trustees of the Adams Manuscript Trust gave the vast collection of family papers to the American people. At once, the Massachusetts Historical Society and Harvard University Press set out to microfilm and publish the numerous diaries, correspondence, and other documents. Since then, many scholars have studied the Adams Papers, as they are known, seeking fresh insights into the family’s brilliant but often anguished lives and careers.

Woody Holton’s new book stands as a prime example of the kind of riches still being mined from the collection. Holton’s subject is the one which biographers most often have chosen from the four generations of Adamses. This favorite has not been a male. It is Abigail Adams. The fascination with her arises from much more than her role as wife of John Adams or as the matriarch of distinguished descendants. Abigail’s presence in the papers attests to such talent and influence as to give her life a significance exceeding that of most of her contemporaries.

Now comes this splendid biography by Holton, a University of Richmond history professor. What gives Holton’s work fresh significance is that his perceptive scouring of the Adams Papers leads him to explore an aspect of Abigail’s life that other biographers either have overlooked or chosen to ignore. Holton presents an Abigail who is a financial manager, an investor, even a speculator. Furthermore, this activity was often carried on in the face of her spouse’s alarm and objection. Nevertheless, Abigail usually proceeded with her various enterprises. Among others, these included importing European merchandise for resale; speculating in Vermont acreage; and buying government securities at deep discount. In circumstances where she feared her name or her gender might hinder success, she employed a representative.

Alongside this discovery, Holton still manages to cover every part of Abigail’s story. At times, readers may be a bit confused by the author’s determination to honor Abigail’s campaign for gender equality. There are paragraphs in which both John and Abigail are referred to as “Adams,’’ leaving us momentarily to wonder which one Holton had in mind. This is only a small hazard, however, where every page is packed with detail about Abigail’s career. Her story is all here, beginning with young Abigail Smith setting out from Weymouth’s parsonage with her two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.