Jane Webb

One of the presidential households we know the least about is that of Zachary Taylor. Documentation is scarce, as most of his personal papers were lost when Union soldiers occupied his family’s plantation in Louisiana during the Civil War. Furthermore, Taylor’s tenure as president was short, as he died in office less than two years into his term, meaning he produced fewer records to begin with. As a result, only a handful of individuals have been identified as working at the Taylor White House. Records are even more scarce for the enslaved workers in President Taylor’s household. One of them was likely Jane Webb. 

Jane Webb was born enslaved around 1804, but little else is known about her youth.¹ Webb first appears in the historical record in 1820 when Army officer (and future president) Zachary Taylor filed paperwork in Louisiana claiming ownership over Webb. Army regulations at this time provided wages to officers to employ their own servants to cook for them, shave them, do their laundry, and perform other remedial tasks; if the servant was enslaved, as was the case with Webb, then the officer could pocket the wage themself and use it to provide food and clothing for the worker. Officers had to file paperwork to receive the wages, which Taylor did in 1820 when he was stationed at a fort in Louisiana, and named Webb as one of his servants.² She regularly appeared in these pay vouchers from that point until January 1849, when Taylor resigned from the Army to become president, indicating she served him during these years, including when Taylor fought in the Mexican-American War.³ The only time she was absent from these pay vouchers was from 1831 to 1837, during which time she gave birth to two children: Caroline and William, both of whom likely worked at the White House for President Taylor alongside their mother. Historian Walt Bachman suspects that from 1831 to 1837 Taylor sent Webb either to the Taylor’s family property in Kentucky or Virginia so as to not have her young children at Army outposts.⁴ 

Like many of the early slave owning presidents, Taylor brought some of his enslaved workers with him to the White House to serve him and his family and to supplement the free wage laborers. Evidence for Webb being there comes from President Taylor’s will, which he drafted in 1846 and which took effect when he died in July 1850. Taylor willed six “servants, slaves for life,” to his wife, First Lady Margaret Taylor, among whom were Jane Webb and her two children, William and Caroline. The fact that Webb and the others were given specifically to the first lady suggests they worked closely with her or the family and were trusted by her.⁵ One of the six workers mentioned in the will, Charles Porter, is confirmed to have worked in the White House, making it more likely that the others did as well.⁶ Further evidence that Webb worked in the White House is the fact that when Margaret Taylor passed away in 1852, she willed Webb to her daughter, Ann Wood. Ten years later, when Congress abolished slavery in Washington, D.C. but allowed slaveowners to file requests for compensation for their property loss, Wood filed paperwork for Webb. In the compensation request, Wood identified Webb as one of her “first class family servants” who was “always employed in that capacity for the family.”⁷ 

As to the jobs Webb performed in the White House, evidence again comes from the paperwork Wood filed for Webb’s compensation. Wood claimed that Webb was “an excellent cook” and also a seamstress, which suggests she performed a variety of household tasks for the Taylor family.⁸ 

The compensation paper filed by Wood suggests Webb lived in Washington, D.C. but she disappears from the historical record after her emancipation. Unfortunately, little else is known about Webb at this time.⁹