John Quincy Adams and Mary Frazier

At eighteen, John Quincy Adams returned to Massachusetts after eight years in Europe.

Young Man JQ:

His Harvard education suited him well. Classes were small and elite. Only the best and brightest. John Quincy Adams, who had hobnobbed with the crème de la crème in the great capitals, made new friends and colleagues with his peers and professors.

When he read law with Theophilus Parsons, a Newburyport attorney, he continued those friendships, and periodically joined his pals at the local taverns for wine, brandy, and even a few songs. By twenty-two or -three, he was coming out of his solitary and somewhat cranky persona and began attending the usual parties, card games and local social events.

Perhaps hard to believe, considering 250 years of the acerbic JQA personality known today, he was generally personable and popular. In an Adams fashion.

Mary Frazier, Young Maiden

Mary Frazier was somewhere around…