Exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died within hours of each other on July 4th, 1826.

With his dying breath, Adams is reported to have whispered, “Thomas Jefferson survives!”; a remarkable comment from his death-bed in Braintree, Mass., since Jefferson, more than 500 miles away in Monticello, VA., had died several hours earlier.

http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=195