Rachel Clark

Direct evidence of Rachel Clark working in President John Quincy Adams’s household is scarce, though inference suggests she lived in the White House for the duration of Adams’s presidency while enslaved by his niece, Mary Catherine Hellen. 

Little is known about Clark’s early life. She was enslaved by Walter and Nancy Hellen, the sister of First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams. When the Hellens passed away, their daughter Mary Hellen went to live with the Adams family in 1817.¹ Clark likely came with her and served as Hellen’s servant. It was common at the time for the children of wealthy slave-owning families to be given a similarly-aged enslaved child to tend to them.² The 1820 Census lists an enslaved girl under fourteen years old living in the Adams household, which was likely Clark.³ 

When Adams became president in 1825, Hellen moved to the White House and brought Clark with her. On February 25, 1828, Hellen married John Adams II, the president’s son and private secretary, at the White House.⁴ That same day, Hellen filed manumission papers for Clark. It is unknown why Hellen freed Clark or why she did so on the day of her marriage, though the timing may have been due to inheritance laws. Mary could have been forbidden by law from freeing Clark before marrying, since she inherited Clark from her father.⁵ After her manumission, Clark continued to work in the Adams household and performed the same duties for Hellen as she did while enslaved. She appears on a list of household staff compiled by President Adams in February 1829 and is labeled a “Waiting Maid,” or a personal attendant.⁶ After February 1829, Clark disappeared from the historical record.