The information presented in this post is taken from the following sources:
Corcoran, S.J. "Charles Adams (1770-1800)". Find a Grave Memorial (www.findagrave.com, added: August 3, 2007.)
Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution. (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999.)
McCullough, David. John Adams. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001.)
No Name. "The Adams Children". (www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience, 1996-2019.)
Wikipedia. "Charles Adams (1770-1800)". (en.wikipedia.org, last edited - February 16, 2019.)
The position of "boy" on board the frigate South Carolina was occupied by a few individuals - eight individuals to be exact. The post concerning them is entitled "Other Enlisted Ranks on board the Frigate South Carolina - Landsmen and Boys" and was posted on "01/20/2015". This "position" of "boy" was the lowest "position" that was ranked on board an 18th century ship-of-war. The lack of precision in recording even the full names of these young members of the crew of the frigate South Carolina indicates the low regard for their role on board the frigate. But, as will be seen in this post, there was another youthful individual who also traveled on board the patriot frigate, though technically not as a member of the actual crew and marines of this ship-of-war. Indeed, he was potentially the most influential individual on board the patriot frigate during her maiden voyage from Holland to America due to his lineage. This was Charles Adams, second son of American delegate and envoy to France and future second President of the United States of America, John Adams. Charles Adams's story takes some unusual and odd turns in it's progression and is strange and ultimately tragic as he died at the early age of thirty years old, disowned and renounced by his father and family.
For being born the second son of the man who would become the second President of the United States of America as well as being the younger brother of the man who would become the fifth President of the United States of America, there is remarkably little information regarding the early life of Charles Adams. Several of the sources do not even record his date of birth, only that he was born in 1770. Almost vicariously, the "Find a Grave Memorial" site for "Charles Adams, (1770-1800)", which provides this sort of personal information, states that he was born on May 29, 1770 in the town of Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. This, and the brief citation of the birth and death dates contained in the Wikipedia article, "Charles Adams (1770-1800)", are literally the only sources encountered by the writer of this blog that contain the exact birth date of Charles Adams.
There is likewise not much information on the early life of Charles Adams. The "American Experience" article, "The Adams Children", page 3, simply states that "...he spent his early years with his mother and siblings on their Braintree farm.". All that is stated in McCullough's thorough biographical work, John Adams, page 68, is that "...a second son, Charles, was born that summer of 1770...". None of the other sources cited above mention any bit of information regarding the early years of the life of Charles Adams.
It would seem that the "real" life of Charles Adams began several years after his birth while he was still a child. Unlike the almost total lack of personal information regarding the youth of Charles Adams, almost all of the above cited sources relate that at the tender age of nine years old, Charles Adams would accompany his father, John Adams, and older brother, John Quincy Adams, to Europe. The "American Experience" article, "The Adams Children" page 3, states that '...in 1779, at the age of nine, he accompanied his father and elder brother, John Quincy, to Paris and Amsterdam, where [John] Adams was negotiating the loans and treaties that enabled the Americans to continue their fight for independence from the British.". The Wikipedia article, "Charles Adams (1770-1800)", page 1, states:
"..at the age of nine, he [Charles Adams] traveled with this father and older brother John Quincy to Europe, studied briefly in Passy, Amsterdam, and Leiden. He matriculated in Leiden on January 29, 1781.".
Corcoran's article, "Find a Grave Memorial: Charles Adams (1770-1800)", page 1, asserts that "...Charles' early life was adventuresome, as he traveled abroad with his father and older brother John Quincy, even returning on his own and becoming "lost" for a period of time.". It is well-documented that Charles Adams did indeed return to America "on his own" but, not without a chaperone. After all, he was only nine years old at the time and more mature, responsible adults would have been given charge over his well-being as they journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean. But, the final eight-word phrase - "...and becoming 'lost' for a period of time..." - is rather cryptic in nature. There was a lengthy period of time in which the whereabouts of the frigate South Carolina, and thus her crew and passengers on board, were unknown and for John Adams, an anxious father back in France, this must have been nerve-wracking. Thus, in this sense his whereabouts were unknown and he was technically 'lost'. Or, possibly does this phrase refer to the latter period of his short and tragic life when he declined into alcoholism and despair and was disowned by his father? Or, does it possibly refer to both periods of his life, while he was still young and travelling back to his family in America and later in his life in New York City?
Of all the periods of Charles Adams's short life, it is the period of time in Holland and his time on board the frigate South Carolina that seem to be the most recorded. These records have survived until now and form the basis of our knowledge of his early life. Charles Adams's name appears on the roster of the patriot frigate as she set sail for American shores. In Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", page 135, the following entry appears:
Name: Position:
Charles Adams Passenger
(Note: there is absolutely no further information given on this particular "passenger" in this roster of the crew and marines of the frigate South Carolina. No indication that he was a adolescent at the time, a second son of the American envoy to the Court of Louis XVI of France who would go on the become the future second President of the United States of America, or a brother of the future fifth President of the United States of America. This individual is simply cited as above indicated.)
Numerous secondary sources - such as Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, and McCullough's work, John Adams - make reference to the presence of Charles Adams on board the frigate South Carolina. But, there also has come down to us even more numerous pieces of primary source materials in the form of personal correspondence written between members of the Adams family and personal friends of the family. These letters are all collected in the National Archives and a few of them are cited as follows:
- "Abigail Adams to Charles Adams, January 19, 1780", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- "Abigail Adams to John Quincy and Charles Adams, February 26, 1780", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- "Abigail Adams to Charles and John Quincy Adams, July 22, 1780", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- Journal Entries of John Quincy Adams for August 1780, (Founders Online, National Archives, no version information cited.)
- "John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 25, 1780", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- "Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams and Charles Adams, February 8, 1781", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- "Abigail Adams to Charles Adams, May 26, 1781", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- "William Jackson to John Adams, September 26, 1781", (Founders Online, National Archives, last modified
October 5, 2016.)
- "To John Adams from William Jackson, November 12, 1781", (Founders Online, National Archives, last modified
October 5, 2016.)
- "John Adams to Abigail Adams, December 18, 1781", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
- "John Adams to Abigail Adams, January 4, 1782", (Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.)
All of these letters make reference to the presence of Charles Adams in France and Holland. These are usually letters that passed between John and Abigail Adams and touched upon the health and well-being of both of their sons who had accompanied John Adams on his mission to France and The Netherlands. Yet, the letters dated in September and November 1781 make direct reference to his presence on board the frigate South Carolina. In fact the letters are all brief and written by William Jackson to John Adams. These letters were all written after the frigate South Carolina had put into the Spanish port city of Corunna, Spain on September 24, 1781 and after it had put into its next port-of-call, St. Croix de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, which the patriot frigate put into on November 2, 1781. In both cases though, these letters were drafted and sent to John Adams prior to the departure of the frigate from those two European ports-of-call.