Teresa
- Positions
- Lady's Maid
- Seamstress
- Years in President's House
- 1845 – circa 1849
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- James K. Polk
- Biography
Outside of her work at the White House, little is known about Teresa, including her last name.
Historian Amy S. Greenberg writes that she was a free black woman hired in 1845 by First Lady Sarah Polk to be a maid and seamstress. In addition to making clothing for the first lady, she accompanied Sarah to clothing and fabric stores around Washington. D.C.1 In November 1848, President James K. Polk wrote in his diary that “a maid servant (Teresa)” traveled with Sarah to New York, along with White House Steward Henry Bowman, to purchase furniture for the Polk family home then under construction in Nashville, Tennessee.2
Nothing is known about Teresa’s life after the Polks left the White House in 1849. Diary entries from the former president suggest Teresa did not accompany them back to Tennessee, but instead likely remained in Washington.3
- Amy S. Greenberg, Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019), 136.
- “November 9, 1848,” The Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1910), 4:186.
- When James and Sarah Polk departed Washington, D.C. to return to Tennessee after their time in the White House ended, James wrote in his diary: “I take with me Henry Bowman, my late steward, to pay bills, take care of the baggage, &C. I take with me also my servant (Henry) & Milly, a maid servant belonging to J. Knox Walker.” The fact that James mentioned these servants but not Teresa suggests she was not one of them that accompanied the Polks to Tennessee. “March 5, 1849,” The Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1910), 4:377.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from context
- Unclear from context