Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams (née Smith, 1744–1818) was the wife of President John Adams. Married in 1764, she was separated from her husband for long periods while he served the United States in Congress and abroad; in his absence, she ran the family farm. During these periods of separation, Adams wrote letters to her husband and other friends that reveal details of everyday life during the Revolution. From 1784 to 1788, she joined her husband in Europe while he served as a diplomat in France and Great Britain. Both returned to Massachusetts in 1788. Adams befriended First Lady Martha Washington, using her experience with foreign society to assist in official entertaining, a task she continued when her own husband assumed the presidency.