George Washington Adams

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For George Washington Joshua Adams, see George J. Adams.

For other persons named George Adams, see George Adams (disambiguation).

George Washington Adams (April 12, 1801 – April 30, 1829) was the eldest son of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. Adams graduated from Harvard University and studied law before becoming a member of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1826. He apparently led a troubled life -- he had a reputation as an alcoholic womanizer predisposed to gloom and paranoia. He drowned after going overboard in the Long Island Sound on April 30, 1829, and his body was reported found washed ashore on June 13, 1829. It is generally assumed that he committed suicide.

[edit] Family

He had a son named Jacob, (1826 - ???), who took a wife named Julia, (1827 - ???), in Poughkeepsie, New York. The U.S. Census, 1870, for Duchess County, New York, lists Jacob, Julia, and their seven children, Hoxsie, Peter, James, Phillip, Julie, George, and Jackla.

Hoxsie and James would later travel with their families to Atascosa County, Texas, by way of St. Louis, in 1876. Hoxsie's wife, Marietta DuBois, wrote a diary of this journey, and portions of it can be found published in the August 22, 1984, edition of the Pleasanton Express in an article written by J.C.W. Merchant.

Hoxsie Adams died in 1910, and is buried in Tumlinson Cemetery, near Leming, Texas. A historical marker at his gravesite also names several of his descendents, who are buried within the cemetery. Nearby Adams Lane was named in his honor over 100 years ago.