Thomas Johnson Hellen was the youngest surviving offspring of Walter Hellen Jr. and his first wife, Anne “Nancy” Johnson. Per Johnson/Adams records and The Massachusetts Historical Society research, he was born in 1809 in Washington, DC, almost certainly in the Hellens' Georgetown home. Upon both his parents’ deaths by 1815, he appears to have remained in that home with his stepmother, Adelaide Johnson Hellen (also his aunt) until the John Quincy Adams family returned from Europe in 1817 following which he and his two older siblings, Johnson Hellen and Mary Catherine Hellen, were taken in by that family and lived with them in Washington DC and Quincy, Massachusetts.
His “Uncle John” (Quincy Adams) sent him to Exeter by 1823 and later to Harvard by 1825, from which he was expelled for “licentiousness” in 1827, but later noted as readmitted. In 1828 he was a groomsman for his first cousin and then to be brother-in-law, John Adams II, at the White House wedding on Feb 28 of that year between John and Thomas’ sister Mary Catherine Hellen.
Later records note attendance and graduation from Columbian College in Washington DC, now George Washington University, by 1829. Following that record, only published in 1850, and noting him as deceased by the date of publication, no further “official” records are found.
Per the diaries of Charles Francis Adams, Vol. 5, Charles, the youngest son of John Quincy Adams, and Thomas’ first cousin, , he and his mother, Louisa, were notified on Oct 18th, 1833 of his death in Fairfax County, VA, age only twenty-four. No specific date was noted in the diary and as Charles and his mother were then in Massachusetts, word would likely have taken a week or more to reach them, placing his death in probably early October. His cause of death was noted as a “brain fever” having lasted two days. Why he was in Fairfax County, just southwest of Washington, is unknown.
Various Adams family correspondence and Charles’ diaries note some unspecific later “issues” with Thomas over the years. but Charles, who had grown up with Thomas since 1818, made an early diary entry in May of 1824 on Thomas, and the Hellen siblings in general, as follows:
"He has been at school at Exeter for some time past, fitting for admission to college. He has grown considerably and begins to acquire the appearance of a man. I was glad to see him as I had just begun to feel the want of society. He is the most agreeable fellow that I could have of all I know. There is something remarkable in all these Hellens that I never could understand, particularly their views toward each other and their peculiarities for all have them. I never could account for it."
However, much appeared to have changed by 1833, and Charles made a final entry in his diary for Thomas the day of his notification as follows:
“Poor fellow—His life was thrown away in nothings. His mind was constituted so peculiarly that the ordinary considerations which act upon men very feebly influenced him. The world will bear no traces of his existence and his friends will feel no grief at his loss. He had been in life a cipher.”
Rock Creek Cemetery records note a “Johnson Hellen” interred in the same plot with Walter Hellen Jr. and an additional number of confirmed Hellen family and descendants. No date of interment is included with the cemetery record. Thomas’ older brother Johnson Hellen is confirmed as interred in nearby Mt. Olivet Cemetery, so this cannot be him. With the cemetery record and other facts, the only conclusion remaining is that this is also Thomas’ gravesite, his first name not included in the burial record, the date of internment not recorded (or lost), and his name not inscribed on the shared marker, all for reasons unexplained.
Thomas’ stepmother, Adelaide Johnson Hellen, appears to have inherited sole ownership of the plot some years before 1833 and with space available, perhaps then agreed to have him interred here with his parents, but declined to add his inscription. Although this appears the most likely scenario, we will likely now never know, and an absolute confirmation of this site as his burial location will remain informed speculation. He has been included on Find a Grave regardless, as completing all known of Walter Hellen Jr. and his immediate family.
Allan Garner - Rev: 24 Feb 2021
His “Uncle John” (Quincy Adams) sent him to Exeter by 1823 and later to Harvard by 1825, from which he was expelled for “licentiousness” in 1827, but later noted as readmitted. In 1828 he was a groomsman for his first cousin and then to be brother-in-law, John Adams II, at the White House wedding on Feb 28 of that year between John and Thomas’ sister Mary Catherine Hellen.
Later records note attendance and graduation from Columbian College in Washington DC, now George Washington University, by 1829. Following that record, only published in 1850, and noting him as deceased by the date of publication, no further “official” records are found.
Per the diaries of Charles Francis Adams, Vol. 5, Charles, the youngest son of John Quincy Adams, and Thomas’ first cousin, , he and his mother, Louisa, were notified on Oct 18th, 1833 of his death in Fairfax County, VA, age only twenty-four. No specific date was noted in the diary and as Charles and his mother were then in Massachusetts, word would likely have taken a week or more to reach them, placing his death in probably early October. His cause of death was noted as a “brain fever” having lasted two days. Why he was in Fairfax County, just southwest of Washington, is unknown.
Various Adams family correspondence and Charles’ diaries note some unspecific later “issues” with Thomas over the years. but Charles, who had grown up with Thomas since 1818, made an early diary entry in May of 1824 on Thomas, and the Hellen siblings in general, as follows:
"He has been at school at Exeter for some time past, fitting for admission to college. He has grown considerably and begins to acquire the appearance of a man. I was glad to see him as I had just begun to feel the want of society. He is the most agreeable fellow that I could have of all I know. There is something remarkable in all these Hellens that I never could understand, particularly their views toward each other and their peculiarities for all have them. I never could account for it."
However, much appeared to have changed by 1833, and Charles made a final entry in his diary for Thomas the day of his notification as follows:
“Poor fellow—His life was thrown away in nothings. His mind was constituted so peculiarly that the ordinary considerations which act upon men very feebly influenced him. The world will bear no traces of his existence and his friends will feel no grief at his loss. He had been in life a cipher.”
Rock Creek Cemetery records note a “Johnson Hellen” interred in the same plot with Walter Hellen Jr. and an additional number of confirmed Hellen family and descendants. No date of interment is included with the cemetery record. Thomas’ older brother Johnson Hellen is confirmed as interred in nearby Mt. Olivet Cemetery, so this cannot be him. With the cemetery record and other facts, the only conclusion remaining is that this is also Thomas’ gravesite, his first name not included in the burial record, the date of internment not recorded (or lost), and his name not inscribed on the shared marker, all for reasons unexplained.
Thomas’ stepmother, Adelaide Johnson Hellen, appears to have inherited sole ownership of the plot some years before 1833 and with space available, perhaps then agreed to have him interred here with his parents, but declined to add his inscription. Although this appears the most likely scenario, we will likely now never know, and an absolute confirmation of this site as his burial location will remain informed speculation. He has been included on Find a Grave regardless, as completing all known of Walter Hellen Jr. and his immediate family.
Allan Garner - Rev: 24 Feb 2021
Thomas Johnson Hellen was the youngest surviving offspring of Walter Hellen Jr. and his first wife, Anne “Nancy” Johnson. Per Johnson/Adams records and The Massachusetts Historical Society research, he was born in 1809 in Washington, DC, almost certainly in the Hellens' Georgetown home. Upon both his parents’ deaths by 1815, he appears to have remained in that home with his stepmother, Adelaide Johnson Hellen (also his aunt) until the John Quincy Adams family returned from Europe in 1817 following which he and his two older siblings, Johnson Hellen and Mary Catherine Hellen, were taken in by that family and lived with them in Washington DC and Quincy, Massachusetts.
His “Uncle John” (Quincy Adams) sent him to Exeter by 1823 and later to Harvard by 1825, from which he was expelled for “licentiousness” in 1827, but later noted as readmitted. In 1828 he was a groomsman for his first cousin and then to be brother-in-law, John Adams II, at the White House wedding on Feb 28 of that year between John and Thomas’ sister Mary Catherine Hellen.
Later records note attendance and graduation from Columbian College in Washington DC, now George Washington University, by 1829. Following that record, only published in 1850, and noting him as deceased by the date of publication, no further “official” records are found.
Per the diaries of Charles Francis Adams, Vol. 5, Charles, the youngest son of John Quincy Adams, and Thomas’ first cousin, , he and his mother, Louisa, were notified on Oct 18th, 1833 of his death in Fairfax County, VA, age only twenty-four. No specific date was noted in the diary and as Charles and his mother were then in Massachusetts, word would likely have taken a week or more to reach them, placing his death in probably early October. His cause of death was noted as a “brain fever” having lasted two days. Why he was in Fairfax County, just southwest of Washington, is unknown.
Various Adams family correspondence and Charles’ diaries note some unspecific later “issues” with Thomas over the years. but Charles, who had grown up with Thomas since 1818, made an early diary entry in May of 1824 on Thomas, and the Hellen siblings in general, as follows:
"He has been at school at Exeter for some time past, fitting for admission to college. He has grown considerably and begins to acquire the appearance of a man. I was glad to see him as I had just begun to feel the want of society. He is the most agreeable fellow that I could have of all I know. There is something remarkable in all these Hellens that I never could understand, particularly their views toward each other and their peculiarities for all have them. I never could account for it."
However, much appeared to have changed by 1833, and Charles made a final entry in his diary for Thomas the day of his notification as follows:
“Poor fellow—His life was thrown away in nothings. His mind was constituted so peculiarly that the ordinary considerations which act upon men very feebly influenced him. The world will bear no traces of his existence and his friends will feel no grief at his loss. He had been in life a cipher.”
Rock Creek Cemetery records note a “Johnson Hellen” interred in the same plot with Walter Hellen Jr. and an additional number of confirmed Hellen family and descendants. No date of interment is included with the cemetery record. Thomas’ older brother Johnson Hellen is confirmed as interred in nearby Mt. Olivet Cemetery, so this cannot be him. With the cemetery record and other facts, the only conclusion remaining is that this is also Thomas’ gravesite, his first name not included in the burial record, the date of internment not recorded (or lost), and his name not inscribed on the shared marker, all for reasons unexplained.
Thomas’ stepmother, Adelaide Johnson Hellen, appears to have inherited sole ownership of the plot some years before 1833 and with space available, perhaps then agreed to have him interred here with his parents, but declined to add his inscription. Although this appears the most likely scenario, we will likely now never know, and an absolute confirmation of this site as his burial location will remain informed speculation. He has been included on Find a Grave regardless, as completing all known of Walter Hellen Jr. and his immediate family.
Allan Garner - Rev: 24 Feb 2021
His “Uncle John” (Quincy Adams) sent him to Exeter by 1823 and later to Harvard by 1825, from which he was expelled for “licentiousness” in 1827, but later noted as readmitted. In 1828 he was a groomsman for his first cousin and then to be brother-in-law, John Adams II, at the White House wedding on Feb 28 of that year between John and Thomas’ sister Mary Catherine Hellen.
Later records note attendance and graduation from Columbian College in Washington DC, now George Washington University, by 1829. Following that record, only published in 1850, and noting him as deceased by the date of publication, no further “official” records are found.
Per the diaries of Charles Francis Adams, Vol. 5, Charles, the youngest son of John Quincy Adams, and Thomas’ first cousin, , he and his mother, Louisa, were notified on Oct 18th, 1833 of his death in Fairfax County, VA, age only twenty-four. No specific date was noted in the diary and as Charles and his mother were then in Massachusetts, word would likely have taken a week or more to reach them, placing his death in probably early October. His cause of death was noted as a “brain fever” having lasted two days. Why he was in Fairfax County, just southwest of Washington, is unknown.
Various Adams family correspondence and Charles’ diaries note some unspecific later “issues” with Thomas over the years. but Charles, who had grown up with Thomas since 1818, made an early diary entry in May of 1824 on Thomas, and the Hellen siblings in general, as follows:
"He has been at school at Exeter for some time past, fitting for admission to college. He has grown considerably and begins to acquire the appearance of a man. I was glad to see him as I had just begun to feel the want of society. He is the most agreeable fellow that I could have of all I know. There is something remarkable in all these Hellens that I never could understand, particularly their views toward each other and their peculiarities for all have them. I never could account for it."
However, much appeared to have changed by 1833, and Charles made a final entry in his diary for Thomas the day of his notification as follows:
“Poor fellow—His life was thrown away in nothings. His mind was constituted so peculiarly that the ordinary considerations which act upon men very feebly influenced him. The world will bear no traces of his existence and his friends will feel no grief at his loss. He had been in life a cipher.”
Rock Creek Cemetery records note a “Johnson Hellen” interred in the same plot with Walter Hellen Jr. and an additional number of confirmed Hellen family and descendants. No date of interment is included with the cemetery record. Thomas’ older brother Johnson Hellen is confirmed as interred in nearby Mt. Olivet Cemetery, so this cannot be him. With the cemetery record and other facts, the only conclusion remaining is that this is also Thomas’ gravesite, his first name not included in the burial record, the date of internment not recorded (or lost), and his name not inscribed on the shared marker, all for reasons unexplained.
Thomas’ stepmother, Adelaide Johnson Hellen, appears to have inherited sole ownership of the plot some years before 1833 and with space available, perhaps then agreed to have him interred here with his parents, but declined to add his inscription. Although this appears the most likely scenario, we will likely now never know, and an absolute confirmation of this site as his burial location will remain informed speculation. He has been included on Find a Grave regardless, as completing all known of Walter Hellen Jr. and his immediate family.
Allan Garner - Rev: 24 Feb 2021
Inscription
No inscription for Thomas Johnson Hellen - per cemetery records and additional research.
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