First Lady Louisa Adams (1775 - 1852) Manuscript Autograph mourning Letter or Letter of Condolences, pertaining to the sudden loss of Alexander Hamilton Hopkinson (1804 - 1827). The wife of John Quincy Adams, Louisa Catherine Adams wrote a truly moving letter to a greiving Joseph Hopkinson, stating in part "To offer consolation in a moment of such cruel calamity is indeed utterly impossible, but sincerely to sympathize in your great distress my heart assures me is easy and the gushing tears attest which drop upon my paper while I address you - To have known your son was to admire and esteem him." From the Francis Hopkinson Family Archives