Adams, who, at Deacon Hale's desire, came to
live permanently in the family in 17 70 or 17 71, while
his second son, John, married her eldest daughter,
Sarah Adams, on December 19, 1770.

The lives of both these women, Sarah and Alice
Adams, are sufficient witnesses to the high character
of the new mother added to the Hale household.
To several of his biographers it has seemed quite
probable that Nathan Hale wrote one of his last
two letters to this mother. We grant that it may
have been addressed to her, while intended for the
reading of another. Of this, later.

In regard to the marriage of John Hale and
Sarah Adams it may be as well to state here that,
after a married life of thirty-one years, John Hale
died suddenly in December, 1802, his health probably
undermined by his service in the Revolutionary
War, where he held the rank of major. His
widow, desiring to carry out what she believed
would have been his wishes, "bequeathed 1000
to trustees as a fund, the income of which was to be
used for the support of young men preparing for
missionary service,"--probably among the Indians,
as this was before the support of foreign missions
was undertaken in America--"and in part for
founding and supporting the Hale Library in
Coventry, to be used by the ministers of Coventry

[[9]]

p008 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p009w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p010

v?