The Adams Family
John Adams took his son John Quincy along with him to Europe and the experience ended up grooming Quincy into quite the diplomat. John Adams served as an American envoy to France from 1778 until 1779 and to the Netherlands from 1780 until 1782, and his future president son accompanied his father on these journeys. John Quincy acquired an education at institutions such as Leiden University in the Netherlands. For nearly three years, at the age of 14, he accompanied Francis Dana as a secretary on a mission to Saint Petersburg, Russia, to obtain recognition of the new United States. He also spent time in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
I suspect that John Quincy would have liked to have passed this on to his children, but at first it didn't look like that was going to happen. John Quincy Adams and his wife Louisa Catherine (Johnson) Adams had three sons and a daughter. Their oldest child Louisa was born in 1811 but died in 1812 while the family was in Russia. The couple named their first son George Washington Adams after the first president and their second son, John after the second President (who also happened to be his grandfather. Both of these sons led troubled lives and died in early adulthood.
George Adams had a troubled life. He never married and he drank heavily, probably an alcoholic. He also had a reputation as a womanizer. His behaviour matches what would likely be classified today as someone suffering from a depressive illness. On April 30, 1829, George Adams disappeared from a ship called the Benjamin Franklin in Long Island Sound during passage to New York City. His body was reported washed ashore on June 13, 1829. Historians believe that he committed suicide. John was expelled from Harvard before his 1823 graduation and is also believed to have been an alcoholic.
Adams' youngest son, Charles Francis Adams followed in his father's footsteps by pursing 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.
I was wondering which Presidents had children who later became cabinet members? I haven't been able to find a list online. Off the top of my head, besides John Quincy Adams (Secretary of State in the cabinet of James Monroe), I can think of Robert Todd Lincoln (Secretary of War under James Garfield and Chester Alan Arthur) and James Rudolph Garfield, (Secretary of the Interior under Theodore Roosevelt.) Can anyone else think of any others?
I suspect that John Quincy would have liked to have passed this on to his children, but at first it didn't look like that was going to happen. John Quincy Adams and his wife Louisa Catherine (Johnson) Adams had three sons and a daughter. Their oldest child Louisa was born in 1811 but died in 1812 while the family was in Russia. The couple named their first son George Washington Adams after the first president and their second son, John after the second President (who also happened to be his grandfather. Both of these sons led troubled lives and died in early adulthood.
George Adams had a troubled life. He never married and he drank heavily, probably an alcoholic. He also had a reputation as a womanizer. His behaviour matches what would likely be classified today as someone suffering from a depressive illness. On April 30, 1829, George Adams disappeared from a ship called the Benjamin Franklin in Long Island Sound during passage to New York City. His body was reported washed ashore on June 13, 1829. Historians believe that he committed suicide. John was expelled from Harvard before his 1823 graduation and is also believed to have been an alcoholic.
Adams' youngest son, Charles Francis Adams followed in his father's footsteps by pursing 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.
I was wondering which Presidents had children who later became cabinet members? I haven't been able to find a list online. Off the top of my head, besides John Quincy Adams (Secretary of State in the cabinet of James Monroe), I can think of Robert Todd Lincoln (Secretary of War under James Garfield and Chester Alan Arthur) and James Rudolph Garfield, (Secretary of the Interior under Theodore Roosevelt.) Can anyone else think of any others?