John Briesler

John George Briesler was born on December 4, 1756, to German immigrants in Quincy, Massachusetts.¹ He served as a private in the Revolutionary War for a Massachusetts company for eight months in 1775.² 

Briesler joined the Adams family in February 1784, accompanying Abigail Adams to London where John Adams served as United States minister to Great Britain.³ A woman named Esther Field also joined Abigail Adams for the journey. John and Esther married on February 15, 1788 in London. The couple had four children.⁴ The Brieslers continued to work for the Adams family in the United States. John served as a steward and house manager, while Esther served as Abigail’s lady’s maid.⁵ While John Adams served as vice president, Briesler managed his New York home, Richmond Hill, and later his Philadelphia home, Bush Hill.⁶ Abigail considered the Brieslers as part of her family, writing “I shall consider Your Family as making a part of mine…”⁷ 

When John Adams became president in 1797, he moved into the President’s House in Philadelphia, where Briesler continued to serve as steward.⁸ During the fall of 1800, Briesler traveled to the new federal city of Washington, D.C., where he began setting up Adams' White House household. On November 1, 1800, Adams moved in and Briesler served as the first White House steward, earning $500 per year. He lived in a room on the Ground Floor.⁹ 

At the end of Adams’ presidency in March 1801, Briesler returned to Massachusetts. In 1802 he began leasing John Adams’ birthplace, managing the property until 1807.¹⁰ He died on April 28, 1836, and was buried at Hancock Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts.¹¹