Adams political family

The Adams family was a prominent political family in the United States from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries. Based in eastern Massachusetts, they formed part of the Boston Brahmin community. The family traces to Henry Adams of Barton St David, Somerset, in England.[1]

Adams family
Current region	Massachusetts, U.S.
Place of origin	Braintree, Essex, England
Connected families	Baldwin family (U.S.) Taft family (U.S.) Spencer family (UK)
Motto	Fidem libertatem amicitiam retinebis ("Hold fast to liberty, friendship, and faith")
Estate(s)	Peacefield (Quincy, Massachusetts)

The Adams family is one of four families to have produced two Presidents of the United States, the others being the Bush, Roosevelt, and Harrison families.

Members

Coat of Arms of President John Adams.

• Henry Adams (1583–1646) born Barton St David, Somerset, England, first of the clan who immigrated to New England, United States.[2]

• John Adams Sr. (1691–1761)
  • John Adams (1735–1826), second President of the United States, married Abigail Adams (née Smith) (1744–1818).[3]
    • John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), sixth President of the United States, married English-born Louisa Adams (née Johnson) (1775–1852).[4]
      • George Washington Adams (1801–1829), member of Massachusetts state legislature.[5]
      • John Adams II (1803–1834), private secretary to his father.
      • Charles Francis Adams Sr. (1807–1886), U.S. Congressman and Ambassador to the United Kingdom.[6]
        • John Quincy Adams II (1833–1894), lawyer and politician.[7]
          • George Caspar Adams (1863–1900), prominent college athlete and football coach at Harvard University.[8]
          • Charles Francis Adams III (1866–1954), 44th Secretary of the Navy, mayor of Quincy, Massachusetts.[9]
            • Charles Francis Adams IV (1910–1999), first president of Raytheon.
        • Charles Francis Adams Jr. (1835–1915), brigadier-general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1884 to 1890.
          • John Adams (1875–1964), married Marian Morse.
            • Thomas Boylston Adams (1910–1997), executive, writer, and political candidate.
        • Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918), prominent author and political commentator, married Marian Hooper Adams (née Hooper) (1843–1885).
        • Brooks Adams (1848–1927), historian and political scientist.
    • Charles Adams (1770–1800), New York lawyer.
    • Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832), Massachusetts legislator and judge.[10]
  • Elihu Adams (1741–1775), soldier.

• Samuel Adams (1722–1803), revolutionary, Delegate to the Continental Congress and Governor of Massachusetts, the second President's second cousin.
• Samuel A. Adams (1934–1988), historian and CIA analyst.
• John Donley Adams (born 1974), American politician and lawyer

Family tree

The following is a selective family tree of notable members of the Adams family relative to Charles Francis Adams IV:

President John Quincy Adams

Louisa Catherine Johnson

Peter Chardon Brooks

Abigail [Brown]

Charles Francis Adams Sr.

Abigail Brown [Brooks]

George Caspar Crowninshield

Harriet [Sears]

Charles Francis Adams Jr.

John Quincy Adams II

Frances Cadwalader [Crowninshield]

John Quincy Adams III

George Caspar Adams

Charles Francis Adams III

Frances [Lovering]

Frances C. Adams

Arthur Adams

Margery Lee [Sargeant]

Abigail ("Hitty") Adams

Robert Homans

Catherine Lovering Adams

Henry Sturgis Morgan

Charles Francis Adams IV

Margaret [Stockton]

Children 3 Sons; 1 Daughter

Five Sons

Abigail Adams

James C. Manny

Allison Adams

Paul G. Hagan

Timothy Adams

Harvard University and the Adams family

• John Adams – class of 1755
• John Quincy Adams – class of 1788
• Charles Adams – class of 1789
• Thomas Boylston Adams – class of 1790
• George Washington Adams – class of 1821
• John Adams II, expelled with most of senior class prior to 1823 graduation, later among those designated "Bachelor of Arts as of 1823" and added to Harvard's Roll of Graduates
• John Quincy Adams II - class of 1853
• Charles Francis Adams Sr. – class of 1825
• Charles Francis Adams Jr. – class of 1856
• Henry Brooks Adams – class of 1858
• Brooks Adams – class of 1870
• George Caspar Adams – class of 1886
• Charles Francis Adams III – class of 1888
• Roger Adams – class of 1909
• Charles Francis Adams IV – class of 1932
• Thomas Boylston Adams – class of 1933[11] (was not graduated)[12]
• Samuel A. Adams – class of 1955

Adams House, one of twelve residential colleges at Harvard, is named after John Adams and later members of the Adams family.

Memorials

• Adams Memorial
• Adams National Historical Park

See also

• List of United States political families

References

1. Walker, Jane C. (2002). John Adams. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc. p. 14. ISBN 0766017044.
2. John Adams: Biography
3. John Adams bioguide at Congress.gov
4. John Quincy Adams bioguide at Politicalgraveyard.com
5. George Washington Adams bioguide at Politicalgraveyard.com
6. Charles Francis Adams Sr. bioguide at Congress.gov
7. John Quincy Adams II bioguide at Politicalgraveyard.com
8. Gardner, Augustus Peabody (December 1906). "George Caspar Adams". In Huddleston, John Henry (ed.). Secretary's report. Harvard College Class of 1886. HathiTrust. Report No. 6. New York: The De Vinne Press. pp. 7–8. OCLC 903610243. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
9. Charles Francis Adams III bioguide at Politicalgraveyard.com
10. Thomas Boylston Adams biography at Masshist.org
11. William E. McKibben (June 9, 1082). "Four More Years". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
12. Eric Pace (June 9, 1997). "Thomas B. Adams Dies at 86; Descendant of Two Presidents". New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2014. Adams... attended Harvard College from 1929 to 1932

Further reading

• Robert J. Maddox, "The Adamses in America," American History Illustrated, Apr 1971, Vol. 6 Issue 1, p 12-21