Bacourt alludes to his remarkable face, with its clear, fine cut features, and his "physiognomie pleine de finesse;" and dwells also upon the ease and charm of his conversation.
As his life slowly drew to its close, one after another of the few of his old friends who remained dropped from the road.

Early in 1848 Adams fell in harness, on the floor of the House of Representatives; Lord Ashburton died in May.

Finally, nearest, dearest of all, the companion of his triumphs and disappointments, the sharer of his honors and his joys, his wife, was taken from him by the relentless hand.

The summer of 1849 found him crushed by this last affliction, and awaiting his own summons of release.

He was taken to Mount Bonaparte, the country-seat of his son-in-law, at Astoria on Long Island, where he died in his daughter's arms on Sunday, August 12, 1849.