Abram

Little is known about Abram. He is mentioned in a letter by James Madison’s nephew, Robert Madison and identified as an enslaved servant in the White House.¹ In 1817, as President Madison was preparing to leave the White House to return to Montpelier, his home in Virginia, Robert wrote to the president and 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.”² Robert’s use of the term “return” suggests Abram 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.³ 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. A receipt for medical care administered to those living at Montpelier in 1818 lists an “Abraham,” but it is unclear if this is the same person.⁴ 

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.