Jack
Cite this Page
"Jack," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/124.
- Position
- Scullion
- Years in President's House
- circa 1801
- Legal Status
- Unclear from Context
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- Thomas Jefferson
- Biography
- Jack (surname unknown) is first listed in President Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 account book as a scullion, paid $8 plus $1 for alcohol per month for his work.1 As a scullion, Jack cleaned plates, utensils, and pots in the kitchen. Without a surname, it is difficult to tell how long Jack continued at the White House or uncover other details about his life, though historian Lucia Stanton posits that he was a free Black man.2 There was also an enslaved man named John “Jack” Shorter that worked in the White House stables for Jefferson. It is possible this was the same individual as the scullion, Jack.
- “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.]
- “Memorandum Books, 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0013. [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. 1089–1117.]; “Memorandum Books, 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0014. [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. 1117–1143.]; https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0015; “Memorandum Books, 1806,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0016. [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. 1171–1195.]; “Memorandum Books, 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0017. [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. 1195–1217.]
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Worker
- John ShorterTransportation, 1801 – 1809, circa 1814
- Related Association Content
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-thomas-jefferson-white-house
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/a-well-ordered-household
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/a-pair-of-jacks-in-jeffersons-white-house-jack-shorter-jack-and-the-challenges-of-reconstructing-early-presidential-households