Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
Wife of 6th President, John Quincy Adams

1775-1852

Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
Only First Lady born outside the United States, Louisa Catherine Adams did not come to this country until four years after she had married John Quincy Adams. Political enemies sometimes called her English. She was born in London to an English mother, Catherine Nuth Johnson, but her father was American--Joshua Johnson, of Maryland--and he served as United States consul after 1790.

A career diplomat at 27, accredited to the Netherlands, John Quincy developed his interest in charming 19-year-old Louisa when they met in London in 1794. Three years later they were married, and went to Berlin in course of duty. At the Prussian court she displayed the style and grace of a diplomat's lady; the ways of a Yankee farm community seemed strange indeed in 1801 when she first reached the country of which she was a citizen. Then began years divided among the family home in Quincy, Massachusetts, their house in Boston, and a political home in Washington, D.C. When the Johnsons had settled in the capital, Louisa felt more at home there than she ever did in New England.

She left her two older sons in Massachusetts for education in 1809 when she took two-year-old Charles Francis to Russia, where Adams served as Minister. Despite the glamour of the tsar's court, she had to struggle with cold winters, strange customs, limited funds, and poor health; an infant daughter born in 1811 died the next year. Peace negotiations called Adams to Ghent in 1814 and then to London. To join him, Louisa had to make a forty-day journey across war-ravaged Europe by coach in winter; roving bands of stragglers and highwaymen filled her with "unspeakable terrors" for her son. Happily, the next two years gave her an interlude of family life in the country of her birth.

Appointment of John Quincy as Monroe's Secretary of State brought the Adamses to Washington in 1817, and Louisa's drawing room became a center for the diplomatic corps and other notables. Good music enhanced her Tuesday evenings at home, and theater parties contributed to her reputation as an outstanding hostess.

But the pleasure of moving to the White House in 1825 was dimmed by the bitter politics of the election and by her own poor health. She suffered from deep depression. Though she continued her weekly "drawing rooms," she preferred quiet evenings--reading, composing music and verse, playing her harp. The necessary entertainments were always elegant, however; and her cordial hospitality made the last official reception a gracious occasion although her husband had lost his bid for re-election and partisan feeling still ran high.

Louisa thought she was retiring to Massachusetts permanently, but in 1831 her husband began 17 years of notable service in the House of Representatives. The Adamses could look back on a secure happiness as well as many trials when they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary at Quincy in 1847. He was fatally stricken at the Capitol the following year; she died in Washington in 1852, and today lies buried at this side in the family church at Quincy.

SOURCE: White House Web Site.
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FROM OTHER SOURCES:

Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
(1775-1852)

NOTES:
Wife of John Quincy Adams

Born in London to an English mother, her father was Joshua Johnson of Maryland who later served as United States consul.

John Quincy Adams, at 27, was a career diplomat serving in the Netherlands when Louisa met him in London in 1794. They were married in 1797.

It was four years after marriage, when she was 26, before she set foot on American soil; the only First Lady not born in the USA.

To participate in peace negotiations, John Quincy went to Ghent in 1814 and then to London. To join him she had to travel for forty days across Europe which was ravaged by war. Happily, she was able to spend the next two years in England.

Back in America, they spent the next few years between homes in Quincy, Boston, and then Washington when John Quincy was appointed Monroe's Secretary of State in 1817.

John Quincy Adams became President in 1825.

She thought she would be returning to Massachusetts when her husband failed to win re-election but John Quincy was soon elected to Congress and spent the next 17 years in the House of Representatives. He died in 1848 after collapsing from a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives.

She died in Washington in 1852 and is buried beside him in Quincy, Massachusetts.

John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine (Johnson) Adams had three sons and a daughter. Louisa was born in 1811 but died in 1812 while the family was in Russia. They named their first son George Washington Adams after the first president. Both George and their second son, John (1803-1834), led troubled lives and died in early adulthood.

Adams's youngest son, Charles Francis Adams (who named his own son John Quincy), also pursued a career in diplomacy and politics. In 1870 Charles Francis built the first memorial presidential library in the United States, to honor his father. The Stone Library includes over 14,000 books written in twelve languages. The library is located in the "Old House" at Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Charles Francis Adams IV (1910–1999), past President, CEO and Chairman of Raytheon Company, was a descendant of John Quincy Adams. So is actress Mary Kay Adams.

John Adams and John Quincy Adams were the first father and son to each serve as president. Each man served one term. The next president's son to serve was George W. Bush, son of George H.W. Bush.