Theresa
Cite this Page
"Theresa," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/222.
- Position
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- circa 1829 – 1836
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- Andrew Jackson
- Biography
- Theresa likely worked in Andrew Jackson’s White House. More specifically, she was likely employed by Jackson’s niece and White House Hostess Emily Donelson. The book Emily Donelson of Tennessee notes that Theresa was likely a white maid who accompanied Emily Donelson and continued to work for her when she left the White House and returned to Tennessee in 1836. There are very few additional details about Theresa beyond mentions of her in letters between Emily Donelson and her husband, Andrew Jackson Donelson. For example, a November 10, 1836 letter from Andrew Jackson Donelson to his wife stated, “present me kindly to Theresa and all of the servants.” It is likely she served as a maid and a nurse to Emily Donelson at the White House. (1)
- Pauline Wilcox Burke, Emily Donelson of Tennessee Volume II, (Richmond, Virginia: Garrett and Massie, Incorporated, 1941), 122, 208 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b538591&seq=10&q1=Augusta.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context