Edward McManus

Edward McManus was born in Ireland in 1818.¹ He began working in the Zachary Taylor White House around 1850 as “porter to the president,” a position that involved attending to visitors, carrying messages, and assisting with the day-to-day operations of the Executive Mansion.² When he started working in the White House, he earned $275 per year.³ During his tenure, McManus was well known by guests and residents of the White House and appeared in multiple visitor accounts. For example, in a 1853 letter, American reformer Dorothea Dix described being greeted by McManus during a visit to President Millard Fillmore.⁴ One story often attributed to McManus states that when President Fillmore asked about acquiring a second-hand carriage, the doorman jokingly referred to him as a second-hand president.⁵ In a receipt book kept by James “Buck” Buchanan Henry (nephew to James Buchanan) between 1857 and 1860, McManus was listed as a “Messenger” or “Messenger to the Executive Mansion” and recorded as receiving $75 per month.⁶

He remained on the White House staff through 1864, serving as a doorkeeper during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. First Lady Mary Lincoln fired McManus when he failed to deliver notices in a timely manner; he was replaced by Thomas F. Pendel.⁷ President Lincoln’s assistant secretary, William Stoddard, regularly referred to “Old Edward” in his account of the Lincoln White House. Stoddard described Edward by stating, “there is no end of quiet fun in him as well as intelligence, and his other name is Fidelity.”⁸ In his 1890 memoir, Inside the White House in War Time, Stoddard referred to “Old Edward” without using a last name. However, in a later memoir published in 1900, he identified him as “Old Edward Moran.”⁹ This has caused confusion among historians who attribute Stoddard’s stories of “Old Edward” to either Edward McManus or Edward Moran. However, census and government directory records suggest that there was no Edward Moran working in the White House during this time, while Edward McManus is named as the doorkeeper in several places.¹⁰ 

McManus passed away on June 7, 1890, and was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.¹¹

Thank you to James Buchanan’s Wheatland for providing research assistance with this biography.