Special Sub-Topic: Dramatic Lives of Children of Presidents Click Here To Play: Dramatic Lives of Children of Presidents

It is somewhat well-known that Abraham Lincoln lost three of his four sons before they reached full maturity. Which son managed to live a long, full life?

Robert. Poor Abe lost two during his lifetime; a third died after the assassination (but during the lifetime of Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd.) Robert lived to a ripe old age and was active in politics.

Franklin Pierce may have been the unluckiest of Presidents in terms of child mortality. He lost two at early ages, then lost his third one. How did this last loss occur?

Traffic accident. There was a railroad accident. Pierce and his wife survived; the child did not. Pierce was devastated.

John Kennedy Jr. was, of course, lost at sea. President Kennedy, however, lost another son shortly after the boy's birth. What was the baby's name?

Patrick. Baby Patrick lived for only a very short while.

John Quincy Adams may have had a most colorful son, George Washington Adams. George, however, didn't have an easy time of it. He died young. How?

Went over the side of a ship. There were signs while George was aboard ship that he was breaking down. He disappeared from the ship while at sea; there were no witnesses. It may have been suicide; it may have been an accident.

Calvin Coolidge Jr. may have had the strangest demise of all. His fatal illness originated with his participation in a recreational activity. Which one?

Tennis. Young Coolidge apparently put in a full and vigorous day on the White House tennis courts. He was, however, not wearing the necessary footwear. He developed a bad blister on his foot ... which somehow or other led to septicemia.

George Washington and his wife, Martha, never had children of their own. Martha, however, had a boy and a girl from a prior marriage. What happened to them?

Both died young. The boy was with Washington in the American Revolution, but did not survive the final days of the war. He died at the age of 17. The girl succumbed at about the same age; she had been troubled with epilepsy during her short life.

Andrew Jackson Jr. was adopted by his uncle, President Jackson. How did young Jackson die?

Hunting accident. Jackson Jr. was more than a little irresponsible with money. Be that as it may, he was injured in a hunting accident and subsequently died from lockjaw (tetanus).

Which of these presidents did NOT lose a child at an early age?

Nixon. McKinley lost a child to typhus when the child was three years old; Fillmore lost one to pneumonia at age 22. Eisenhower lost a child to scarlet fever.

The name "John Payne Todd" has a nice ring to it. He was not the biological son of a president, but was raised as such. Which president acted as father to him?

James Madison. Todd was the son of Dolly Madison's marriage to her first husband. Unfortunately, Todd's spending ways put Dolly in some tight spots.

This president suffered the loss of an infant son.

James Monroe. Monroe lost a son, age 2. (Buchanan was a bachelor.)