Telling Herstory: Abigail Smith Adams - Abigail Smith’s marriage to John Adams was one of history's great partnerships. Abigail Adams was the wife of the second president of the United States and the mother of the sixth. But she is most well known for her correspondence, primarily with her husband but also with others. Her letters give a record of the politics and the activities of the country’s founding fathers as well as daily life at the time. Her correspondence with John Adams begins with their courtship in 1762 and runs to the end of his presidency in 1801. Abigail Adams’ letters show her intelligence, convictions, and sense of humor. But most of all they show her devotion to her family and her husband.