Elizabeth A.R. Kirk

Elizabeth A.R. Eldridge Kirk was born in Chester, Nova Scotia around 1802.¹ Sometime prior to 1826, she immigrated to the United States and married John Kirk. On October 21, 1826 President John Quincy Adams mentioned Elizabeth in his diary and identified her as working at the White House as a housemaid alongside her husband, John Kirk, the president’s coachman. It is unclear if Elizabeth joined the president’s household earlier than 1826, but she served for the remainder of Adams’s presidency.²

After Andrew Jackson defeated Adams in the 1828 presidential election, Elizabeth and her husband John stayed in Adams's employ and moved with him to Quincy, Massachusetts. Elizabeth continued to serve as housemaid. Elizabeth and John worked for the Adams family until June 5, 1847, when Adams recorded in his diary: “Mr. & Mrs. Kirk have left the house, and their connexion with us.”³ Their reason for leaving is unclear. They remained in Quincy for the rest of their lives. Elizabeth passed away on March 3, 1881 at age seventy-six and was buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts.⁴