BETHEL — Actor George Baker playing the second President of the United States John Adams, will speak at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society’s Mason House on Thursday, Sept. 5.
Baker’s performance in Bethel is called, “My Wife Abigail Adams, The First Modern American Woman.”
In March Director Will Chapman announced that Bethel’s two historical homes would be renamed to include the names of the women (they were sisters) who lived there. The Moses Mason House will be called the Dr. Moses and Agnes Straw Mason House and the O’Neill Robinson House will be called the O’Neil and Betsey Straw Robinson House.
Baker’s visit is part of the celebration of the Mason House 50th anniversary as a historic house museum.
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams (1744-1818) was the first woman to serve as Second Lady of the United States and the second woman to serve as First Lady. The National Women’s History Museum writes, “Hailed for her now-famous admonition that the Founding Fathers ‘remember the ladies’ in their new laws, Abigail Adams was not only an early advocate for women’s rights, she was a vital confidant and advisor to her husband John Adams, the nation’s second president. She opposed slavery and supported women’s education.”
In a phone interview Baker described Abigail Adams’ savvy business sense, something he hopes to convey during his presentation. One example of this happened during John Adams’ long stay in France during the Revolutionary War. At Abigail’s urging, he purchased 350 Barcelona handkerchief’s at wholesale. He sent them home to Massachusetts where Abigail sold all of them to fellow Bostonians in just two weeks then turned around and bought a new horse carriage.
Next Baker recounted how Abigail was the first woman in New England to have a will. “Married women were not allowed to have a will because all the property belonged to their husband. She knew that she and her husband had a special view of life and he would go along with this.” When Abigail died, several years before John, he made sure to follow her wishes.
Becoming Adams
Baker said he always enjoyed acting but had reached a dead end. His wife was reading David McCullough’s book, “John Adams” in 2008. She said, “he reminds me of you.” Thus began his new gig.
Baker, a Connecticut attorney, said he does four or five performances a month, in towns extending from the Northern tip of Maine to Virginia.
Of the Adams’ Baker said, “They had a good life … but the one that was just amazing was John Quincy Adams (JQC).” His education was in part fueled by his mother who pushed him to travel to Europe with his father. “She sought to open his world,” said Baker.
JQC and Agnes
While it is unclear if the Adams’ ever visited Bethel, John Quincy Adams, the sixth United States President, met Agnes Straw Mason and wrote a poem to her. The poem dated January 10, 1835, is addressed, “to Mrs. Mason.” Adams’ signed the poem.
This is last stanza:
“Wheneer this page shall meet thine eye
Let us no longer strangers be;
Be thine this blessing from on high;
And in thy heart remember me.”
The president and poet usually wrote in rhyming couplets, and his poems ranged from the humorous and silly to the serious. His subjects included beautiful women he noticed, including his own wife Louisa Catherine. He wrote about important political issues and also of his own mortality.
Said Baker, “He [John Quincy Adams] wrote about women in a very saucy way… One of the women he wrote about was Agnes Straw Mason.” She was in her 30’s at the time – he was 35 years older.
Baker said, “he could get away with it because he had been the president.”
See George Baker portraying John Adams on Thursday, Sept. 5, the Mason House, corner of Mason and Broad Streets.5:30 – 7:30 potluck dinner, followed by a short business meeting and the Adams’ presentation.
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