John Adams (1735-1826), President and Patriot, gave the following account of his ancestry:
“One of the foreign Ambassadors said to me, You have been often in England. — Never but once in November and December 1783. You have Relations in England no doubt. — None at all. — None how can that be? You are of English Extraction? — Neither my Father or Mother, Grandfather or Grandmother, Great Grandfather or Great Grandmother nor any other Relation that I know of or care a farthing for have been in England these 150 Years. So that you see, I have not one drop of Blood in my Veins, but what is American. — Ay We have seen says he proofs enough of that. This flattered me no doubt, and I was vain enough to be pleased with it.”
John Adams, Diary, 43:13, May 3, 1785