Mrs. Ricard
Cite this Page
"Mrs. Ricard," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/186.
- Position
- Laundress
- Years in President's House
- circa 1829
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- John Quincy Adams
- Biography
- Little is known about Mrs. Ricard outside of her employment at the White House under President John Quincy Adams. In February 1829, President Adams listed the members of his White House domestic staff in his diary, including Mrs. Ricard, whom Adams identified as a laundress, or one who does the laundry for the household. She is the only laundress listed.1 It is unclear when Mrs. Ricard’s employment at the White House began or ended. She appears in no other entries in Adams’s diary or any White House records. An inventory of Adams’s household employees taken in 1830 after his presidential term ended does not include Mrs. Ricard, indicating she did not follow Adams to Massachusetts to stay in his employ as some of the other White House staff did.2
- John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, February 1829, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36i-1829-02-p129--entry29?navmode=searchresults&doci=50
- John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, June 30, 1830, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36-1830-06-p465--entry30?doci=19.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from context
- Unclear from context