Mary Murphy Dougherty
Cite this Page
"Mary Murphy Dougherty," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/105.
- Position
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- 1801 – 1809
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- Thomas Jefferson
- Biography
- Mary (Maria) Murphy’s birth year is unclear, but she may have been born around 1780 in Ireland. Mary joined Thomas Jefferson’s White House staff in 1801.1 After meeting fellow employee Joseph Dougherty in 1801, the couple married with Jefferon’s permission; however, they later exhibited marital problems that forced Joseph to take time away from the White House in 1807. He rejoined the staff soon after.2 Mary worked as a maid, earning $8.00 per month, with a $1.00 gratuity for drinks.3 In 1802, Mary’s husband wrote a letter to the president accusing staff members Betsy and Christopher Suverman of stealing linens.4 A receipt for medical services provided by Dr. Edward Gantt in March 1802 lists care provided “To Coachman’s Child.” It is likely this was Mary's child.5 Following their time in the White House, the Doughertys lived in Washington, D.C. and later moved to Philadelphia. Mary kept in touch with Jefferson, once writing to ask for financial assistance without her husband’s knowledge. Jefferson sent Mary $25.00.6 Records indicate a woman named Mary Dougherty passed away in Philadelphia in 1851. It is difficult to be certain that this is the same person, but it may be.7
- Lucia Stanton, ‘Those who labor for my happiness’: slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012), 44; James B. Conroy, Jefferson’s White House: Monticello on the Potomac, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), 18-19.
- Lucia Stanton, ‘Those who labor for my happiness,’ 47.
- “Memorandum Books, 1801,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0011. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series, Jefferson’s Memorandum Books, vol. 2, ed. James A Bear, Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 1032–1061.]
- “Statement of Account with Edward Gantt, 20 November 1802,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0033. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 48–49.]
- “To Thomas Jefferson from Joseph Dougherty, [on or before 25 April 1802],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-37-02-0262. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 37, 4 March–30 June 1802, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 331–332.]; Lucia Stanton, “‘Those who labor for my happiness’, 48.
- “To Thomas Jefferson from Mary Dougherty, 25 October 1823,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3829. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. It is not an authoritative final version.]; “To Thomas Jefferson from Mary Dougherty, 7 December 1823,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3907. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. It is not an authoritative final version.]; “To Thomas Jefferson from Mary Dougherty, 27 January 1824,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-4013. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. It is not an authoritative final version.]
- “Mary Dougherty in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey, U.S., church and town records, 1669-2013,” Ancestry, accessed January 27, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2451/records/2030129?tid=&pid=&queryId=18028ac2-356c-4045-8ebb-d6d0e2953a1f&_phsrc=nPk49&_phstart=successSource
- Birthplace
- Ireland
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- Joseph DoughertyTransportation, 1800s
- Robert DoughertyTransportation, 1807 – 1809
- Betsy Suverman
- Christopher SüvermanTransportation, 1801 – 1802
- Related Association Content
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/a-well-ordered-household