William Shipley
Cite this Page
"William Shipley," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/110.
- Position
- Unclear from Context
- Years in President's House
- circa 1800 – 1801
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- John Adams
- Biography
- William Shipley may have worked at the John Adams White House. According to a letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, he arrived at the White House in November 1800, “Your Girls and Mr. Shipley arrived in good health and good spirits.1 He married Abigail Adams’ Lady’s Maid, Betsy Howard, on January 11, 1801, in Washington, D.C. A letter written by Abigail Adams indicates that the wedding likely took place at the White House, “Betsy Howard and her Lover have chosen to Signalize their Marriage by having it performed whilst in the Family of the President.” In March 1801, the couple returned to Quincy, Massachusetts together at the end of John Adams’ presidency. They had four children.2 It ultimately remains unclear whether he worked at the White House in some capacity. Birth and death information for William Shipley is unknown.
- According to some genealogical research, his name may have been James. “John Adams to Abigail Adams, November 15, 1800,” Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14, 438, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/ADMS-04-14-02-0203#sn=14.
- Waldo Chamberlain Sprague, Genealogies of the families of Braintree, Mass., 1640-1859: including the modern towns of Randolph & Holbrook and the city of Quincy, after the separation from Braintree in 1791-1793, (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 2001), 1410-1411, https://digital-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15869coll33/id/24277.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context