Key: Better American Families 



31 



to perish, and only one of a thousand 

 were to survive and retain his Hberty." 

 Thus spoke the temper of the man who 

 originated the Colonial Congress, and 

 was the earliest advocate of a Continen- 

 tal Congress. He signed the Declara- 

 tion of Independence was a leading 

 member of the convention to form a 

 State Constitution and served his 

 State as governor. John Adams, his 

 cousin, had the same determination 

 and far-sighted vision of the possi- 

 bilities of young America. Dour, aloof 

 and irritable to a degree, he served 

 his country in more public offices 

 than any other patriot of his time, 

 bringing upon himself a greater odium 

 and ingratitude than fell to the 

 share of any man of his time, with 

 the possible exception of Washington. 

 His wife was Abigail Smith of many 

 gifts, including a quick wit and 

 sprightly pen. All of their children were 

 unusually able, John Quincy having 

 many characteristics in common with 

 his mother's family. He too, had the 

 sterling, unconciliatory qualities which 

 made him often the most unpopular 

 spokesman for a cause and kept him 

 in the harness of the most exacting 

 public duties to the very day of his 

 death. To him we owe primarily our 

 Monroe Doctrine, and the idea that 

 slavery could be abolished through the 

 war power of the government. 



In the following generation we have 

 among others, Charles Francis Adams, 

 who through his peculiar personal 

 characteristics — aloofness, sturdiness 

 and simplicity — rendered unparalleled 

 service to the Union cause at his dip- 

 lomatic post in London during the 

 Civil War. This family has in the 

 branch j ust considered , as well as others , 

 many members eminent in art, finance 

 and education. Who shall estimate 

 the value of the gifts which it has 

 brought to strengthen and enrich our 

 national life? 



THE BEECHERS AND CONNECTED 

 FAMILIES 



Taking up now a family of quite dif- 

 ferent temper, which has produced two 

 members of Hall of Fame grade, we 



have the Beecher network, including 

 members of the Lyman, Ward and 

 Foote families, in which intellectual and 

 musical ability, changing moods, affec- 

 tion and breadth of sympathy are out- 

 standing characteristics. Henry Ward 

 Beecher was eminent for philosophic 

 insight, spiritual vision and powers of 

 persuasion, while his fairness and self- 

 control made him render unqualified 

 service during the difficult periods of 

 the Civil War and Reconstruction. 

 Through his genius for friendship, gift 

 of oratory and writing he wielded a 

 vast power for righteousness unpar- 

 alleled in his day. His sister, Harriet 

 Beecher Stowe, whose "Uncle Tom's 

 Cabin" perhaps did more to mold pub- 

 lic opinion toward the abolition of slav- 

 ery, had a literary gift which was essen- 

 tially dramatic, with an overpowering 

 love for the heroic. These two be- 

 longed to a large family, all of whom 

 were able. The best known of that 

 family was probably Catherine Beecher, 

 who worked for the education of women 

 and showed the originality and versa- 

 tility of her mind in writings covering 

 a wide range of domestic, religious and 

 philosophic subjects. Five of the bro- 

 thers were preachers and active in the 

 reforms of their day. Their father, 

 Lyman Beecher, overflowed with sym- 

 pathy and high spirits, wrote exten- 

 sively, and was tried for heresy, while 

 their mother, Roxanna Foote, was 

 scholarly with a profound philosophi- 

 cal and affectionate nature, a lover of 

 the beautiful in nature and art, al- 

 though of so great diffidence that she 

 was unable to lead the weekly prayer- 

 meeting. David Beecher, one of the 

 grandparents, had the varied practical 

 ability of the blacksmith along with a 

 fondness for reading and discussion. 

 He had a Pomeroy for a grandmother. 

 He married Esther Lyman, a woman 

 of joyous, sparkling temperament. Eli 

 Foote, the maternal grandfather, was 

 of elegant person and cultivated taste, 

 who was educated for the bar and later 

 became a merchant. This family shows 

 a remarkable flowering out in a single 

 generation, which is plainly the result 

 of the coming together of strains widely 



