Judge Donna Miller as Abigail Adams

Dressed in period clothing, Judge Miller entertained us by reading letters from her husband, John Adams, who was in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention and she read letters as she was writing them to him.

Abigail Smith was descended from the Quincy family and was brought up among books that she avidly read in spite of her meager education. She married Harvard graduate and lawyer, John Adams in 1764, a marriage that would lovingly last over 50 years.

One of her first letters tells her husband on the death on 17 June, 1775 of Dr. Joseph Warren. Later she talks of the damage done to Cambridge by the British and even later of the constant sound of rockets and shells.

She makes a great point of her view that women should also be a part of the government but her husband cautions that this new experiment in government should proceed cautiously at first. She then receives news from John dated 3 July 1776 that a new Declaration of Independence has been signed and she is overjoyed.

Pastfinders were fortunate to witness such a meaningful and well presented small segment of American History. Judge Miller showed the feelings of hope and and at times, despair, that certainly would have been Abigail’s at the time.

Judge Miller answered questions at the end of her portrayal and showed how extensively she has studied this woman and that period of American History. She admitted, though, that she has yet to visit the Adams Houses in Massachusetts shown here as background. We hope she gets to see the original setting of the events that she has put so much work into bringing to life for us.