William
Cite this Page
"William," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/192.
- Position
- Stables
- Years in President's House
- circa 1825
- Legal Status
- Unclear from Context
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- John Quincy Adams
- Biography
- Little is known about William outside of his employment at the White House under President John Quincy Adams. “William the groom” appears in President Adams’s diary several times during the summer of 1825. A groom was one who handled horses, and Adams mentioned William only when they were traveling, indicating his primary job may have been assisting the president and his family when they journeyed throughout Washington, D.C. and the country.1 The fact that Adams mentioned William in no other diary entries indicates his employment may have been brief. Conversely, William the groom may be the same person as William Pote who worked as President Adams’s servant in 1826 and who later opened up a grocery shop in Washington, D.C.2 Adams described Pote as his “man servant,” which was usually a term reserved for a valet, not a groom.3 But, like William the groom, Adams usually mentioned Pote in his diary in the context of traveling, so they could be the same person.4
- The first mention of William in John Quincy Adams’s diary is on August 6, 1825, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v49-1825-08-p891--entry6?navmode=searchresults&doci=3&ss=Groom. The last mention of William is on September 20, 1825, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v35-1825-09-p295--entry20?navmode=searchresults&doci=6&ss=groom.
- John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, March 14, 1829, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36i-1829-03-p161--entry14?navmode=searchresults&doci=7&ss=William|Pote.
- John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, August 30, 1826, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v35-1826-08-p354--entry30?navmode=searchresults&doci=1&ss=Pote.
- See John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, July 9, 1826, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v35-1826-07-p323--entry9?navmode=searchresults&doci=0&ss=William|Pote, and John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, August 31, 1826, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v35-1826-08-p354--entry31?navmode=searchresults&doci=2&ss=William|Pote.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from context
- Unclear from context