White House Historical Association

Robert Roden

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"Robert Roden," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/188.
Position
Footman
Years in President's House
circa 1829
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Unclear from Context
Presidency
John Quincy Adams
Biography
Little is known about Robert Roden outside of his 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 Roden, whom Adams identified as a footman. He worked alongside fellow footmen George Cokeley and Auguste to deliver messages, assist with the carriages, and serve as general attendants and servants.1 It is unclear when Roden’s employment at the White House began or ended. He appears in no other entries in Adams’s diary or any known White House records. An inventory of Adams’s household employees taken in 1830 after his presidential term ended does not include Roden, indicating he did not follow Adams to Massachusetts to stay in his employ as some of the other White House staff did.2 Instead, he likely remained in Washington, D.C., as the 1840 Census lists a free Black man named Robert Roden living in Georgetown.3
  1. John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, February 1829, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36i-1829-02-p129--entry29?navmode=searchresults&doci=0&ss=Footman.
  2. John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, June 30, 1830, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36-1830-06-p465--entry30?doci=19.
  3. “Robert Roden” in the 1840 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Georgetown, District of Columbia; Roll: 35; Page: 165; Family History Library Film: 0006700; Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8057/records/1624130?tid=&pid=&queryId=dbb367bf-3b14-490c-83f0-92914e267272&_phsrc=KCT1218&_phstart=successSource.
Birthplace
Unclear from context
Unclear from context
Related Workers
George Cokeley
Transportation, Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1829
Auguste
Transportation, Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1829