Joseph Bolden

Little is known of Joseph Bolden’s youth. He was one of the enslaved people owned by James Madison and brought to the White House when Madison became president in 1809. At the White House, Bolden took care of the horses and carriage. According to Paul Jennings, an enslaved worker at the White House, President Madison “never had less than seven horses in his Washington stables while President.”¹ Jennings also claimed that during the War of 1812, Bolden drove the carriage that whisked First Lady Dolley Madison to safety in Virginia on August 24, 1814, when the president’s household evacuated to escape the advancing British Army.² 

While working at the White House, Bolden purchased his freedom. Mary Cutts, a niece of Dolley Madison who lived with them, claimed: “with his own wages he soon freed himself.” He earned the money either through wages paid by the Madisons or by working in his spare time for other families around Washington, D.C.³ He then purchased the freedom of his wife, Milley, from Francis Scott Key, Dolley Madison’s cousin.⁴ Key, who lived in Georgetown, wrote to Dolley in 1813 to inform her that “Your servant Joe has been anxious to purchase the freedom of his wife.” Key offered to free her whenever Joseph could pay $200, “either by Savings from his own wages, or by any person I should approve of, who would take him to serve till it was repaid.” Joseph asked Dolley Madison to forward the money, which she did on the grounds that he and Milley would repay her by working for the Madisons at the White House.⁵ 

When Madison’s term as president ended in 1817, Bolden did not return to Virginia with the rest of the Madison household. According to Mary Cutts, Bolden was saddened when Madison left the White House because he had to part with the president’s horses. Cutts also claims: “Poor old Joe, spent his money freely and was obliged the latter years of his life to sell oysters for a living!” Cutts spent much time in Washington, D.C., so it seems likely Bolden remained in D.C. after his stint in the White House.⁶ 

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.