Geographist

John Adams Born: October 30, 1735 (Braintree, MA) Died: July 4, 1826 (Quincy, MA) We are starting our study of the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence with one of the most famous and influential men in American history.  Able to trace his ancestors to the original Puritan immigrants that reached the shores of Massachusetts, John Adams was the oldest son born to John Adams, Sr. and his wife, Susanna.  Although John Sr. held both church and political positions besides working as a farmer and cobbler, serving as a deacon as well as local councilman, he wanted his son to enter the ministry.  After receiving a scholarship and graduating from Harvard University at the age of 20, however, John the younger opted for a career in law.  In 1758, after three years of teaching and completing a Master's degree, John joined the bar and returned home to Braintree. His personal and political life began to change dramatically with his marriage to Abigail Smith ...

Hello again, and happy Thanksgiving to each one of you!  After taking a couple of months off I've made a decision about the next direction that the Geographist blog will take, and it's a return to America's founding.  In 1776, a group of 56 men attached their names to a document that would forever change human history.  If things had happened differently, however, their signatures would have guaranteed a death sentence for treason against Britain's King George III.  That fateful document, of course, was the Declaration of Independence.  Some of the men who signed are well known, while others remain clouded in obscurity to the majority of citizens who live in the nation they helped create.  I'm interested in getting to know these men by delving into their individual stories to understand why they decided to risk everything by publicly standing against the mightiest empire on the planet, and to see how their actions affected the courses of their lives.  ...