Adams Political Family
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The Adams family is an American
political family A political family (also referred to as political dynasty) is a family in which multiple members are involved in politics — particularly Election, electoral politics. Members may be related by consanguinity, blood or marriage; often several gene ...
of English origins, most prominent between the late 18th century and the early 20th century. Based in eastern
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, they formed part of the Boston Brahmin community. The family traces to Henry Adams of Barton St David,
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, in England. Its members include U.S. presidents
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
and
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
. The two presidents and their descendants are also descended from John Alden, who came to the United States on the ''
Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...
''. The Adams family is one of four families to have produced two presidents of the United States by the same surname; the others being the Bush, Roosevelt, and Harrison families.


John Adams

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
was born on October 30, 1735 (October 19, 1735,
Old Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries betwe ...
,
Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
), to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston. He had two younger brothers: Peter (1738–1823) and Elihu (1741–1775). Adams was born on the family farm in Braintree,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. His mother was from a leading medical family of present-day
Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...
. His father was a
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
in the
Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
, a farmer, a cordwainer, and a
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
in the
militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
. John Sr. served as a selectman (town councilman) and supervised the building of schools and roads. Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship. Adams's great-great-grandfather Henry Adams immigrated to Massachusetts from
Braintree, Essex Braintree is a town in Essex, England, and is the principal settlement of Braintree District. It is located north-east of Chelmsford, west of Colchester and north-west of Southend-on-Sea. According to the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Cens ...
, England, around 1638. Though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt pressured to live up to his heritage. His family was descended from
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
, whose strict religious doctrines had profoundly shaped New England's culture, laws, and traditions. By the time of John Adams's birth, Puritan tenets such as
predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...
had waned and many of their severe practices moderated, but Adams still "considered them bearers of freedom, a cause that still had a holy urgency". Adams recalled that his parents "'held every Species of Libertinage in ... Contempt and horror,' ... and painted 'pictures of disgrace, or baseness and of Ruin' that would result from licentious behavior". Adams later noted that "As a child I enjoyed perhaps the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed upon men – that of a mother who was anxious and capable to form the characters of her children." Adams, as the eldest child, was compelled to obtain a formal education. This began at age six at a
dame school Dame schools were small, privately run schools for children aged two to five. They emerged in Great Britain and its colonies during the Early modern Britain, early modern period. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman ...
for boys and girls, conducted at a teacher's home, and was centered upon '' The New England Primer''. Shortly thereafter, Adams attended Braintree Latin School under Joseph Cleverly, where studies included
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, rhetoric, logic, and arithmetic. Adams's early education included incidents of truancy, a dislike for his master, and a desire to become a farmer. All discussion on the matter ended with his father's command that he remain in school: "You shall comply with my desires." Deacon Adams hired a new schoolmaster named Joseph Marsh, and his son responded positively.


Members

* Henry Adams (1583–1646) born Barton St David,
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, first of the clan who immigrated to
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
, United States. * John Adams Sr. (1691–1761), married Susanna Boylston (1708–1797) **
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
(1735–1826), second
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, married Abigail Adams (née Smith) (1744–1818). ***
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
(1767–1848), sixth president of the United States, married English-born Louisa Adams (née Johnson) (1775–1852). **** George Washington Adams (1801–1829), member of Massachusetts state legislature. **** 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. ***** John Quincy Adams II (1833–1894), lawyer and politician. His grandson was sociologist George C. Homans. ****** George Caspar Adams (1863–1900), prominent college athlete and football coach at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. ****** Charles Francis Adams III (1866–1954), 44th
Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...
, mayor of
Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...
. ******* Charles Francis Adams IV (1910–1999), first president of
Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...
. ****** Abigail Adams (1879–1974), m. Robert Homans ******* George C. Homans (1910–1989), President of the
American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...
***** Charles Francis Adams Jr. (1835–1915), brigadier-general in the Union Army during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
and president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1884 to 1890. His granddaughter was artist Mary Ogden Abbott. ******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. His grandson Alexander S. Johnson was a federal judge. *** Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832), Massachusetts legislator and judge. ** Elihu Adams (1741–1775), younger brother of John Adams and captain in the Massachusetts Militia during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. * Samuel Adams (1722–1803), revolutionary, delegate to the Continental Congress and governor of Massachusetts,
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
's second cousin. * Samuel A. Adams (1934–1988), historian and CIA analyst. * John Donley Adams (born 1973), American politician and lawyer.


Family religion

Adams was raised a Congregationalist but left the denomination as a young man. By his early 20s, he identified as a Unitarian, a
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
denomination that had been recently formed. Adams always felt pressured to live up to his heritage. His family was descended from
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
, whose strict religious doctrines had profoundly shaped New England's culture, laws, and traditions. By the time of his birth, the Congregationalists no longer called themselves "Puritans"; their severe practices had largely been dropped in the First Great Awakening of the 1730s. Adams praised them historically as bearers of freedom, a cause that still had a holy urgency". Adams recalled that his parents "held every Species of Libertinage in ... Contempt and horror", and detailed "pictures of disgrace, or baseness and of Ruin" resulting from any debauchery. According to Dr. Sara Georgini, editor of ''The John Adams Papers'':
From John Adams through his grandson Charles Francis, the Adams family creed was conventionally Unitarian. They believed in a guiding Providence. They trusted that human will empowered them to freely accept or reject God’s grace. They turned away from miracles and revelation, preferring biblical criticism and lay inquiry to broaden the mind beyond the passive reception of dogma. Acknowledging Jesus as a “master workman” and gifted moral teacher, they grew fuzzy about his divinity, opting instead to scrutinize his teachings and doctrines as they related to contemporary culture. In line with their Protestant peers, most Adamses mistrusted the sensory emphasis and hierarchical nature of “Romish” Catholicism, but they revered Judaism as a source of lawmaking and ethics.


Family tree

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


Harvard University and the Adams family

The Adams family had an extensive relationship with
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
. The following members of the family attended and graduated from Harvard: *
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
, class of 1755 *
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
, class of 1788 and faculty member * 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 and faculty member * Brooks Adams, class of 1870 * George Caspar Adams, class of 1886, played football at Harvard and served as their head football coach for three seasons * 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 (did not graduate) * Samuel A. Adams – class of 1955 Adams House, one of 12 residential colleges at Harvard, is named after John Adams and later members of the Adams family.


Memorials

* Adams Memorial * Adams National Historical Park ** Peacefield


See also

* List of United States political families * '' The Adams Chronicles'' - 1976 television miniseries


Notes


References


Further reading

*
Excerpt
* Decker, William Merrill. "Dynasty, Declension, and the Endurance of the House of Adams." ''Reviews in American History'' 49.2 (2021): 250–258
online
* Egerton, Douglas R. ''Heirs of an Honored Name: The Decline of the Adams Family and the Rise of Modern America'' (Basic Books, 2019)
excerpt
* Georgini, Sara. ''Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family'' (Oxford University Press, 2019
excerpt
* * Maddox, Robert J. "The Adamses in America". ''American History Illustrated'', Jul 1971, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 12–21. * Nagel, Paul C. ''Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the Adams Family'' (1983). * Nagel, Paul C. ''The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters'' (Harvard University Press, 1999).


Biographies

* Abrams, Jeanne E. ''A View from Abroad: The Story of John and Abigail Adams in Europe'' (NYU Press, 2021). * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams Political Family American families of English ancestry People from Quincy, Massachusetts First families of the United States