White House Weddings: John Adams II
John Quincy Adams was inaugurated as President of the United States in March of 1825 after one of the most controversial presidential elections in history. None of the four candidates had received a majority of the electoral votes, but Andrew Jackson had finished first in both the electoral vote and the popular vote. But with no candidate receiving a majority of the electoral vote, the election was decided in the House of Representatives and Adams was chosen over Jackson. Jackson blamed his loss on a "corrupt bargain" in which he believed that Henry Clay of Kentucky threw his support behind Adams, and was later selected to be Adams' Secretary of State, the position seen as a springboard to the Presidency in those days. Questions about the legitimacy of his presidency, and an unwillingness to compromise with Congress made it difficult for Adams to govern, and his presidency was not a happy one for the most part.
But on February 25, 1828, there was cause for celebration in the White House when John Adams II, the 25 year old second son of John Quincy Adams, and the grandson of his namesake, John Adams, married Mary Catherine Hellen, 22. Like Marie Hester Monroe had done eight years earlier, this was also a private ceremony. The bride was a first cousin to the groom, something not uncommon in those days. The first child of a president to wed in the White House, Maria Hester, had also married her first cousin, Samuel Gouverneur, the son of the sister of then First Lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe. John Quincy Adams had served as Secretary of State to James Monroe. The first President John Adams had married his third cousin, Abigail Smith, who became Abigail Adams, remembered among other reasons for the many letters she and her husband exchanged while he was in Philadelphia representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the Continental Congress.
John Adams II had been expelled from Harvard for hid drinking and poor study habits. He was described as “arrogant” and “brusque”. His older brother George was seen as a brilliant and sensitive poet. After leaving Harvard, the youngest John Adams was brought back to the White House as his father’s secretary, where he had day-to-day contact with Mary. In 1827, alarmed that the relationship between Mary and her son was becoming a physical one, Louisa urged the president to allow the couple to get married immediately, but John Quincy would not consent.
The bride was much sought after in the Adams family. John Adams II, his older brother George Washington Adams, and his younger brother Charles Francis Adams were all rivals for the affections of their cousin Mary Catherine Hellen, who lived with the John Quincy Adams family after the death of her parents. Both of the unsuccessful brothers refused to attend the wedding ceremony. Mary had first been the in a relationship with Charles, but he was then dropped for older brother George. A bitter, rejected Charles described her as “one of the most capricious women that were ever formed in a capricious race.” She became engaged to George, who would postpone the wedding to please his parents and finish his education. It would prove to be fatal for their relationship. Mary was not content to wait, and ended that relationship before beginning a new one with her eventual husband.
This wedding is described as almost a recreation of the Maria Hester Monroe wedding. The ceremony was held in the Elliptical Drawing Room, today’s Blue Room. Much of the same furniture was present and the same Rev. William Hawley officiated. With the sudden death and funeral of Army General Brown, there was even an untimely passing of an American hero to force flags to half-mast and the cancellation of some receptions. Unlike the Monroe wedding, the Adams’ wedding did not run out of wedding cake. The list of invited guests was kept short.
The next day, First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams wrote to her jilted son Charles, consoling him by telling him that “Madame is cool easy and indifferent as ever” and that his brother John was not to be envied, for he “looks already as if he had all the cares in the world upon his shoulders and my heart tells me that here is much to fear.” Perhaps the wedding also adversely affected the health of the First Lady, who was sick for days after.
Nine months and seven days after the wedding, Mary Catherine gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, in the mansion’s family quarters. Mary and John named the baby Mary, after her mother, with the middle name Louisa, after her paternal grandmother, Louisa Catherine Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams (1775-1852). In 1853, Mary Louisa Adams (1828-1859) also married a relative, her second cousin, William Clarkson Johnson (1823-1893). He was the son of her first cousin, Abigail Louisa Smith Adams (1798-1836), and he was the great-grandson of President John Adams. His father was Alexander Bryan Johnson, (1786-1867) a New York banker who wrote 10 books on philosophy, religion, and economic theory.
John Adams II would not live happily ever after. His older brother George Washington Adams would begin his descent into alcoholism and depression, dying little more than a year later at the age of 28, from what was either a suicide or an accidental drowning. The groom John Adams II, who has so far been the only presidential son ever married in the White House, would fail at business and die an alcoholic death at age thirty-one. The heartbroken rejected suitor Charles Francis would go on to a distinguished career. As for the bride, the vivacious Mary Catherine Hellen would live with the former President and First Lady to the end of their days, running their household. She would even outlive her own two daughters before her death in 1870.
But on February 25, 1828, there was cause for celebration in the White House when John Adams II, the 25 year old second son of John Quincy Adams, and the grandson of his namesake, John Adams, married Mary Catherine Hellen, 22. Like Marie Hester Monroe had done eight years earlier, this was also a private ceremony. The bride was a first cousin to the groom, something not uncommon in those days. The first child of a president to wed in the White House, Maria Hester, had also married her first cousin, Samuel Gouverneur, the son of the sister of then First Lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe. John Quincy Adams had served as Secretary of State to James Monroe. The first President John Adams had married his third cousin, Abigail Smith, who became Abigail Adams, remembered among other reasons for the many letters she and her husband exchanged while he was in Philadelphia representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the Continental Congress.
John Adams II had been expelled from Harvard for hid drinking and poor study habits. He was described as “arrogant” and “brusque”. His older brother George was seen as a brilliant and sensitive poet. After leaving Harvard, the youngest John Adams was brought back to the White House as his father’s secretary, where he had day-to-day contact with Mary. In 1827, alarmed that the relationship between Mary and her son was becoming a physical one, Louisa urged the president to allow the couple to get married immediately, but John Quincy would not consent.
The bride was much sought after in the Adams family. John Adams II, his older brother George Washington Adams, and his younger brother Charles Francis Adams were all rivals for the affections of their cousin Mary Catherine Hellen, who lived with the John Quincy Adams family after the death of her parents. Both of the unsuccessful brothers refused to attend the wedding ceremony. Mary had first been the in a relationship with Charles, but he was then dropped for older brother George. A bitter, rejected Charles described her as “one of the most capricious women that were ever formed in a capricious race.” She became engaged to George, who would postpone the wedding to please his parents and finish his education. It would prove to be fatal for their relationship. Mary was not content to wait, and ended that relationship before beginning a new one with her eventual husband.
This wedding is described as almost a recreation of the Maria Hester Monroe wedding. The ceremony was held in the Elliptical Drawing Room, today’s Blue Room. Much of the same furniture was present and the same Rev. William Hawley officiated. With the sudden death and funeral of Army General Brown, there was even an untimely passing of an American hero to force flags to half-mast and the cancellation of some receptions. Unlike the Monroe wedding, the Adams’ wedding did not run out of wedding cake. The list of invited guests was kept short.
The next day, First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams wrote to her jilted son Charles, consoling him by telling him that “Madame is cool easy and indifferent as ever” and that his brother John was not to be envied, for he “looks already as if he had all the cares in the world upon his shoulders and my heart tells me that here is much to fear.” Perhaps the wedding also adversely affected the health of the First Lady, who was sick for days after.
Nine months and seven days after the wedding, Mary Catherine gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, in the mansion’s family quarters. Mary and John named the baby Mary, after her mother, with the middle name Louisa, after her paternal grandmother, Louisa Catherine Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams (1775-1852). In 1853, Mary Louisa Adams (1828-1859) also married a relative, her second cousin, William Clarkson Johnson (1823-1893). He was the son of her first cousin, Abigail Louisa Smith Adams (1798-1836), and he was the great-grandson of President John Adams. His father was Alexander Bryan Johnson, (1786-1867) a New York banker who wrote 10 books on philosophy, religion, and economic theory.
John Adams II would not live happily ever after. His older brother George Washington Adams would begin his descent into alcoholism and depression, dying little more than a year later at the age of 28, from what was either a suicide or an accidental drowning. The groom John Adams II, who has so far been the only presidential son ever married in the White House, would fail at business and die an alcoholic death at age thirty-one. The heartbroken rejected suitor Charles Francis would go on to a distinguished career. As for the bride, the vivacious Mary Catherine Hellen would live with the former President and First Lady to the end of their days, running their household. She would even outlive her own two daughters before her death in 1870.