ALS as president, one page, 8 x 10, September 8, 1828. Letter to Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke of the Essex Historical Society, in full: "I had flattered myself with the hope that it would be in my power, to join in the interesting centenary celebration, to which I was honored with an invitation bearing your signature, on a day scarcely less memorable. A painful incident in my family, the severe illness of Mrs. Adams, requires my immediate return to Washington and deprives me of the happiness I should have enjoyed in commemorating the completion of the second century since the settlement of Salem, and in offering you my personal felicitations, on the rare good fortune with which a life of honor and of virtue has extended to the entrance also upon a second century in your person. That it may still be long protracted in health and happiness, is the fervent prayer of all your friends, among whom, I with pride, pray you to rank the name of John Quincy Adams." In fine condition, with a few light stains, a diagonal crease to the upper left corner, and loss to the upper right corner tip. The son of the Reverend Edward Holyoke, a former President of Harvard, Edward Augustus graduated from said college in 1746 and opened a medical practice in 1748, practicing for 73 more years until retiring in 1821. He died on March 31, 1829 at the age of 100, surpassing the average life expectancy of the time by 50 years.Format: ALS