Jim

Little is known about Jim. He is mentioned in a letter by Robert Madison, President Madison’s nephew in 1817. Written towards the end of Madison’s presidency, Robert informed him that he heard a rumor that several of the enslaved workers at the White House were planning on escaping. “You ought to be apprised,” said Robert, that “your Servants Jim, Abram & Paul” declared “that they never intended to return to Va: upon being asked what they meant to do, they replyed that their were Captain’s of Vessels who wanted Cooks & that they would enter into their service.”¹ Robert’s use of the term “return” suggests Jim was likely one of the enslaved workers at Montpelier that Madison brought with him to the White House. 

About two months after Robert wrote the letter, Madison published an advertisement in a Washington, D.C. newspaper announcing that Paul Jennings - the “Paul” mentioned alongside Jim and Abram in Robert’s letter - had run away and offered a $50 reward for his capture and return.² Paul eventually returned to Montpelier and remained enslaved to the Madisons for several more decades. The advertisement mentions nothing about Jim or Abram, which suggests they did not attempt to escape as Paul did; conversely, Jim and Abram could have escaped as well but returned sooner. 

Jim may be mentioned in several other letters. Politician and writer Charles Ingersoll claimed that on August 24, 1814, President Madison dispatched his “faithful, brave young slave, Jim” from the Battle of Bladensburg in Maryland to the White House to warn First Lady Dolley Madison that the Americans were in retreat and the British were likely to seize Washington, D.C.³ It is unclear if this is the same “Jim,” however, since Paul Jennings, an enslaved worker who lived at the White House, identifies the man who warned Dolley as James Smith, a free black man.⁴ Ingersoll also wrote his account over three decades after the event, shedding doubt on his accuracy. Also, White House Steward Henry F. Doyhar mentions a “Jimes” who worked at the White House and often bought groceries for the residence, though it is unclear if “Jimes” and “Jim” are the same person.⁵ 

Thank you to the Papers of James Madison, to Hilarie M. Hicks, Senior Research Historian, James Madison's Montpelier, and to Holly Shulman, editor of the Dolley Madison Digital Edition, for providing research assistance with this biography.