Name/Title
Doll of Louisa Catherine Johnson AdamsScope and Content
Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
The wife of the 10th President of the United States
Louisa was the only First Lady born out of the United States. Born in London to an English mother, Catherine Nuth Johnson, American father Joshus Johnson of Maryland, in 1776.
Louisa met John Quincy when she was 19 and married him three years later. She came to this country four years later. During the years of marriage she traveled with her husband to Russia, then had homes in Quincy, Massachusetts, Boston and a political home in Washington, D.C. When they finally settled in capital, Louisa felt at home here at last.
President and Mrs. Adams had four children, three boys and one girl. Leaving her older boys here for schooling, she took the youngest boy to Russia, Here Adams served as Minister. There she suffered from the cold, limited funds and poor health, an infant daughter was born in 1811, and passed a year later.
To join her husband, having been called to London for negotiations for peace, she had to travel forty days across warring England by coach in winter.
President Monroe appointed Adams as Secretary of State. This brought them back to the U.S. in 1817. The drawing room became a center for the diplomatic corps and important people. From this Louisa became known as a great hostess.
When they moved to the white house in 1825, Louisa felt the bitter politics of the election and her poor health of depression dampened the pleasure.
Following the presidency, Adams began 17 years of notable service to the House of Representatives. President and Mrs. Adams celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 1847. President Adams was fatally stricken at the capital a year later and died.
During her life she wrote two unpublished books about her life, Record of My Life in 1825, and The Adventures of a Nobody in 1840.
Louisa Adams died in 1852.
Attention: This doll is not a correct depiction according to the portrait hanging in the U. S. Library of Congress.Acquisition
Accession
2008.0007Source or Donor
Amacher, Dorothy
