Susanna Boylston


Susanna Boylston Adams Hall was a prominent early-American socialite, mother of the second U.S. President, John Adams and the paternal grandmother of the sixth President, John Quincy Adams.

Early life

Susanna was born in Brookline, Province of Massachusetts Bay, on March 5, 1708. Her parents were Peter Boylston and Anne Boylston. Her paternal grandparents were Dr. Thomas Boylston and Mary Boylston, and her maternal grandparents were Benjamin White and Susanna White.
The Boylstons were one of the most respectable families in New England and among her relatives was cousin Ward Nicholas Boylston, a benefactor of Harvard College, and uncle Zabdiel Boylston, the celebrated Physician who performed the first surgical operation by an American physician and was known for inoculating hundreds of people in Boston during a severe smallpox outbreak.

Personal life

In 1734, Susanna was married to John Adams Sr.. 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, in his memoirs, John Adams himself wrote that "as my parents were both fond of reading...I was very early taught to read at home," indicating that his mother likely possessed at least a basic level of literacy. Together, John and Susanna were parents of the following children:
Five years after the death of her first husband, she married Lt. John Hall on October 17, 1766. Reportedly, Lt. Hall did not get along with her grown children. Susanna died in Quincy, Massachusetts, on April 17, 1797, around a month into her son's presidency.