18. The Adams family suffered another scandal in 1829
John Quincy Adams served as the American Minister to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1801, where his first son, George Washington Adams was born in Berlin. George Adams’ grandfather, John Adams, had left the Presidency just one month earlier. George attended Harvard, studied law, and in 1826 followed his forebears into politics. His career in politics proved short-lived. By 1829 the ravages of alcoholism were apparent, much to the dismay of John Quincy. In 1828, Eliza Dolph, known to be George Adams mistress, gave birth to a child. Dolph was the chambermaid for the Adams’ family physician. In the early winter of 1829 mother and child were moved from the doctor’s home to a location in Quincy where George could visit them discreetly. The mother became quite ill, and remained so for some time. The baby was moved to care elsewhere.
In April 1829, George Washington Adams booked passage in the steamship Benjamin Franklin, bound from Boston to Washington. Adams had been drinking heavily, and some passengers reported him as delusional. He was last seen on deck around two in the morning of April 30. Later that day his hat and cloak were found on deck, and notes found in his cabin indicated a depressed, suicidal state. On June 10, his body washed ashore. Newspaper reports reported the death of the former President’s son as a suicide, believing he had jumped from the ship as it worked its way down Long Island Sound. John Quincy Adams had left the Presidency in March. The story of the baby and the unwed mother remained hidden for some time, but the stigma of suicide in the Adams family presented a scandal which tainted the Adams name for some time.