Jimes

Little is known about Jimes, including his full name. He is mentioned in a letter from 1814 between White House steward and chef Henry F. Doyhar and President James Madison. Doyhar mentions that Jimes often went to the market to purchase groceries for the president's household.¹ Based on this arrangement, Jimes likely worked in the kitchens, though his exact role is unclear. 

Jimes may appear in several other documents. On August 27, 1814, after President Madison fled the White House to escape the advancing British Army, he wrote to First Lady Dolley Madison informing her briefly of his whereabouts. He then said: “Jamey will give you some particulars which I have not time to write.”² Paul Jennings, an enslaved worker in the Madison White House, mentioned in his memoir a free black man named “James Smith” who worked for President Madison and accompanied him to the Battle of Bladensburg.³ Additionally, in 1817, as President Madison’s term in office neared an end and he was preparing to return to his home in Virginia, Madison’s nephew 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 to self-emancipate. “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.”⁴ It is unclear if “Jimes” is the same person as “Jim,” “James Smith,” or “Jamey.” 

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.