John and Abigail Adams Married on October 25, 1764

John Adams and Abigail Smith married on October 25, 1764, at the Smith family home in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Their marriage lasted 54 years, until Abigail's death in 1818, and left behind one of the most detailed personal records of any early American couple.

A wedding at the Smith family home

Abigail Smith married John Adams, then a young country lawyer, on October 25, 1764. According to Wikipedia's entry on Abigail Adams, the ceremony took place in the Smiths' home in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and Abigail's father, William Smith, a minister, presided over it. After the reception the couple rode off together on a single horse to their new home.

Abigail was born in Weymouth in 1744, the daughter of a parson who was largely self-taught in the classics and contemporary law, according to History.com's account of the wedding. John Adams, a practicing attorney from nearby Braintree, was drawn to her intellect and her willingness to argue a point rather than defer to him. History.com describes both of them as staunch Federalists and abolitionists who nonetheless disagreed on plenty of political and social questions, and it says Abigail never hesitated to debate her husband when their views diverged.

A marriage carried by letters

John Adams spent much of the marriage away from home on legal and public business, and later on diplomatic postings in Europe. The Massachusetts Historical Society's account of the marriage describes the correspondence the couple kept up across those absences as an "incredible correspondence," with Abigail acting as his counselor and confidant while she ran their farm and household in his absence.

History.com calls their letters "prolific," noting that decades of exchanges have been archived and studied by historians. The letters cover politics, family news and the daily texture of 18th-century American life, giving historians one of the fullest surviving pictures of an early American marriage.

What the marriage produced

Abigail Adams gave birth to six children over 12 years, according to Wikipedia, with the couple's first child arriving about nine months into the marriage. One of those children, John Quincy Adams, later became the sixth president of the United States.

The marriage ended with Abigail's death on October 28, 1818, at age 73, three days after what would have been their 54th wedding anniversary. John Adams lived another eight years, dying on July 4, 1826.

What this long-distance marriage still teaches couples

The lesson historians draw from the Adams marriage is not about romance so much as consistency: John and Abigail kept writing through months-long separations rather than letting the distance stand in for the relationship. That habit, not any single letter, is what turned an 18th-century marriage into one of the best-documented partnerships in American history. Couples weighing their own long-term compatibility can use LoveCalculator.love's marriage compatibility guide to see how the site rates long-term pairings, or try the soulmate calculator for a lighter take on the same question.

1. If you are apart from a partner, send one written message on October 25, 2026, that says something you would normally save for later.
2. Within the following seven days, name one specific date to reconnect in person or by call, rather than leaving the next contact open-ended.
3. Keep a written record, even a short one, of one thing your partner did this month that you appreciated, the kind of small detail that fills the Adamses' surviving letters.

More history-informed relationship stories like this one are collected on LoveCalculator.love's news page.