Background
Louisa Adams was born in London to an English mother, Catherine Nuth Johnson, and American father Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, who served as United States consul after 1790.
First Lady of the United States president's wife
Louisa Adams was born in London to an English mother, Catherine Nuth Johnson, and American father Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, who served as United States consul after 1790.
When John Quincy Adams was appointed James Monroe's Secretary of State, the family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1817 where Louisa's drawing room became a center for the diplomatic corps and other notables. Music enhanced her Tuesday evenings at home, and theater parties contributed to her reputation as an outstanding hostess.
The pleasures of moving into the White House in 1825 were dimmed by the bitter politics of the election, paired with her deep depression. Though she continued her weekly "drawing rooms", she preferred quiet evenings of reading, composing music and verse, and playing her harp. As First Lady, she became reclusive and depressed. For a time, she regretted ever having married into the Adams family, the men of which she found cold and insensitive. The necessary entertainments were always elegant and her cordial hospitality made the last official reception a gracious occasion although her husband had lost his bid for re-election and partisan feeling still ran high.
In his diary for June 23, 1828, her husband recorded her "winding silk from several hundred silkworms that she has been rearing," evidently in the White House.
6th President of the United States
