White House Historical Association

Patrick Kennedy

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"Patrick Kennedy," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/13.
Position
Unclear from Context Unclear from Context
Years in President's House
1793 – 1795
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidency
George Washington
Biography
Little is known about Patrick Kennedy’s life outside of his employment at the President’s House.1  Patrick Kennedy was a servant for President George Washington in his Philadelphia household from 1793 to 1795. However, Patrick’s role in the household is unclear.2 His wages are listed in household accounts, and in March of 1794, the finance book lists a payment for gloves for Kennedy.3 In a letter from 1793, Washington called him “too little acquainted with the arrangement of a Table, & too stupid for a Butler.”4
  1. Patrick Kennedy is too common of a name to determine the correct person.
  2. “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 8 November 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-14-02-0235. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 14, 1 September–31 December 1793, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 344–346.]
  3. “Series 5, Financial Papers: Pocket or Waste Book of Daily Expenses, 1793-1794,” George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, Images 14, 20, 31, 42, 61, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw5.117_1052_1115/?sp=14&st=image.
  4. “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 8 November 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-14-02-0235.  [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 14, 1 September–31 December 1793, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 344–346.]
Birthplace
Unclear from Context
Unclear from Context