Louisa Adams
Louisa Adams
Louisa Catherine Adams (née Johnson; February 12, 1775 – May 15, 1852) was the first lady of the United States from 1825 to 1829 during the presidency of John Quincy Adams. She was born in England and raised in France. Her father was an influential American merchant, and she was regularly introduced to prominent Americans. After her family returned to England, she met John Quincy Adams in 1795, and the two began a tenuous courtship. They married in 1797 after being engaged for a year, beginning a marriage of disagreements and personality conflicts. She joined her husband on his diplomatic mission to Prussia, where she was popular with the Prussian court. When they returned to the United States, her husband became a senator and she gave birth to three sons. John was appointed minister to the Russian Empire in 1809, and they traveled to Russia without their two older sons, against Louisa's wishes. Though she was again popular with the court, she detested living in Russia, especially after the death of her infant daughter in 1812. She lived in Russia alone for a year while John negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, and when he asked her to join him in 1815, she made the dangerous 40-day journey across war-torn Europe.
Louisa Adams
She was the only foreign-born first lady of the United States until 2017, when Melania Trump became first lady. Her tenure as first lady is not as well studied as other parts of her life, due to her reclusiveness and the limited records she kept at the time. Still, she is generally rated in the upper half of first ladies by historians.
Early life (1775–1788)
Louisa's father supported American independence, and the Johnsons left England in 1778 in response to the American Revolutionary War. They moved to Nantes, France, where they lived for the next five years. While in France, Louisa attended a Catholic boarding school. She performed well in school, becoming proficient in music and literature, and she learned to speak French fluently. She also practiced Catholicism. Such was her immersion in French that she was later forced to relearn English. She was also versed in Greek and Latin. The Johnsons lived in luxury, even when they did not have the financial means to do so. Their home in France was a mansion that came to be known as "The Temple of Taste".
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