John Quincy Adams’ son marries relative at the White House
On this day in 1828 John Adams son of President John Quincy Adams marries his first cousin and inadvertently follows a pattern of keeping marriages within the family.John Adams grandfather President John Adams had married his third cousin Abigail Smith.Intermarriage skipped a generation with John Quincy Adams who married a non-relative.But at 25 years old John Quincys second-eldest son John married his first cousin on his mothers side 22-year-old Mary Catherine Hellen in a private ceremony at the White House.Exactly nine months and seven days after the wedding Mary Catherine gave birth to the couples first child a daughter named Mary Louisa in the White House family quarters.
Mary and John gave her the name Mary after her mother and the middle name Louisa after her paternal grandmother Louisa Catherine Adams the wife of John Quincy Adams.In 1853 Mary Louisa Adams also married a family memberher second cousin William Clarkson Johnson the son of her first cousin Abigail Louisa Smith Adams and President John Adams great-grandson.Both bride and groom descended from President John Adamsthe wedding constituted the first marriage between descendants of two presidents.While both Mary Louisa and her new husband were descendants of President John Adams only Mary Louisa was directly related to President John Quincy Adams.The Adams were not the only presidential family to intermarry.
In 1905 Franklin Delano Roosevelt married Eleanor his fifth cousin once removed.Eleanor did not have to change her name upon marrying since her maiden name was also Roosevelt.Her father Elliot was the brother of former President Theodore Roosevelt.
