George Washington Adams

around 1820

George Washington Adams (born April 12, 1801 in Berlin , † April 30, 1829 in Long Island Sound ) was an American lawyer and politician. He was the eldest son of John Quincy Adams , the sixth President of the United States, and Louisa Adams . Adams served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Boston City Council . He probably started suicide at the age of 28 .

Life

George Washington Adams was born in Berlin, capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, on April 12, 1801, one month after his grandfather, the second US President, John Adams, left the White House. His grandmother, Abigail Adams , was not happy about the choice of name, she had hoped that her grandson would be named after her husband, which was made up for with the second son John . In 1801, only a few months old, he came to the United States for the first time with his parents and met his grandparents. In 1809 his parents left Massachusetts with their youngest brother Charles because his father was called to be ambassador to St. Petersburg. The two older sons George and John stayed in the USA for upbringing. His only sister, Louisa Catherine, was born there, but he never met her because she died as an infant. The rest of the family did not return until 1817, when his father first became foreign minister in James Monroe's cabinet and then became president himself in 1825.

Adams graduated from Harvard University with a law degree . After a brief career as a lawyer, he opted for a political career. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for one year in 1826 and gave an Independence Day speech in Quincy on July 5, 1824, which was later published. In 1828 he became a Boston City Councilor. In the year of his death he became the father of an illegitimate child, which he fathered with the housekeeper Eliza Dolph, who died a little later.

death

Adams disappeared on April 30, 1829 aboard the Benjamin Franklin steamship in Long Island Sound while crossing from Boston to Washington, DC. He was last seen at two in the morning and his clothes were found on deck. His notes showed that he had been suicidal and in previous conversations with the captain he had expressed fear of the other passengers and asked them to turn back. His body washed ashore on June 10th.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lewis L. Gould, American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy (2014), p. 47
2. ^ Ellis, Joseph J. First Family: John and Abigail Adams . New York: Random House, 2010: 217. ISBN 9780307389992
3. ↑ From Abigail Smith Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, July 12, 1801 . Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. Retrieved August 29, 2017.