John Adams II

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around 1820

John Adams II (born July 4, 1803 in Quincy (Massachusetts) , † October 23, 1834 in Washington, DC ) was the second born son of the sixth US President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams .

Life

He was born on American soil as the couple's first child. After his older brother, George Washington Adams, was named after George Washington, John was given his grandfather's name to appease Abigail, his grandmother. When his father moved to Europe as ambassador, he and George stayed in Massachusetts for education, while his mother and youngest brother Charles went with them. His only sister, Louisa Catherine, was born in St. Petersburg but died a year later before he could meet her. Like his brother, he studied at Harvard University, but was expelled for his participation in the student rebellion of 1823 in protest against the curriculum and living conditions, whereupon he studied law with his father.

During his father's presidency, he served as his father's private secretary. It came to an incident where Russell Jarvis, a journalist, tried to provoke John Adams on behalf of his father to a duel, but Adams did not give in. A committee of inquiry settled the matter, but it caused persistent bad press for the president's son.

In 1828 he married his cousin Mary Catherine Hellen in the White House, whose hand his brothers had sought, both of which then refused to appear for the wedding. George later slipped into alcoholism and committed suicide at the age of 28.

After the presidency, John Adams tried his hand at business, but with little success. After his brother's suicide, he too became an alcoholic and died at the age of 31 from its consequences. After the death of the two older sons, his widow Mary Catherine, who had lived with them before they were married, looked after their in-laws. She herself died in 1870.

In 1973 he was posthumously admitted to the rank of Harvard graduate.

progeny

From his marriage to Mary Catherine he had two daughters:

Mary Louisa Adams (1828-1859), married William C. Johnson, the marriage had two children.

Georgianna Frances Adams (1830–1839), died as a child

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lewis L. Gould, American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy , 2001, page 48
  2. ^ Hugh Brogan, Charles Mosley, American Presidential Families , 1993, p. 280
  3. ↑ Lynn Hudson Parson, John Quincy Adams , 1998, pages 155 to 156
  4. ^ Atlantic Monthly, Reminiscences of Washington , March, 1880, pages 288 to 291
  5. ^ Doug Wead, All the Presidents' Children , 2004, pages 226 to 227
  6. ^ Samuel Eliot Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636-1936 , 1936, pages 230 to 231
  7. ^ Paul C. Nagel, The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters , 1999, pages 236 to 238
personal data
SURNAME Adams, John II
BRIEF DESCRIPTION second-born son of the sixth US President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Quincy (Massachusetts)
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1834
Place of death Washington, DC