White House Historical Association

Mary Ann Pitts

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"Mary Ann Pitts," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/195.
Position
Lady's Maid
Years in President's House
circa 1825 – 1829
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
Unclear from Context
Presidency
John Quincy Adams
Biography
Though it cannot be verified that Mary Ann Pitts worked at the White House under President John Quincy Adams, evidence suggests she may have served as First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams’s waiting maid. On October 7, 1823, Adams wrote in his diary that “Mary Ann Mason, a young woman who is going with us as waiting maid, to Mrs Adams,” accompanied him on a trip from his home in Quincy, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C.1 There is no mention of her again in Adams’s diary, so it is unclear if she continued in that position while the Adams family lived in the White House from 1825 through 1829. But in May 1830, when Adams and his household traveled from Washington, D.C. to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, his diary states that a woman named Mary Ann Pitts, who was working in his household, traveled with them.2 Subsequent diary entries make it clear that Mary Ann Pitts continued working for the Adams family and served as Louisa’s waiting maid, as Pitts frequently accompanied her when she traveled.3 It is plausible that Mary Ann Mason stayed in Adams’s employ but married and changed her last name to Pitts. The last mention of Pitts in Adams’s diary is on May 10, 1833, after which she disappears from the historical record.4
  1. John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, October 7, 1823, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v34-1823-10-p136--entry7?navmode=searchresults&doci=0&ss=Ann|Mason.
  2. John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, May 21, 1830, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36-1830-05-p441--entry21?navmode=searchresults&doci=3&ss=Pitts, and John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, June 4, 1830, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v36-1830-06-p465--entry4?navmode=searchresults&doci=5&ss=Pitts.
  3. See John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, December 3, 1830, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v38-1830-12-p048--entry3?navmode=searchresults&doci=12&ss=Pitts.
  4. John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, May 10, 1833, https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/publications/jqa/document/jqadiaries-v39-1833-05-p075--entry10?navmode=searchresults&doci=41&ss=Pitts.
Birthplace
Unclear from context
Unclear from context