George McLeod
Cite this Page
"George McLeod," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/324.
- Positions
- Grounds Laborer
- Gardener
- Years in President's House
- circa 1855 – 1865
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Biography
- George McLeod was born around 1819 in Scotland.1 Sometime before 1849, he immigrated to the United States and settled in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a florist.2 Around 1855, McLeod began working as a laborer on public grounds in Washington, D.C., a job that entailed maintaining the landscapes of public buildings and parks including the White House, Lafayette Park, and the Capitol.3 After White House Gardener John Watt retired in 1861, McLeod succeeded him in this position, a role he maintained through at least 1865.4 He later relocated to Beltsville, Maryland, to open a new business; however, little is known about this enterprise or the details of his life from this point until his death on May 23, 1896.5 McLeod was buried at Saint John's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Beltsville, Maryland.6
- Census records are inconsistent, listing his age in a way that places his birth in either 1819 or 1820. George McLeod, Ancestry.com, “1850 United States Federal Census – Washington, D.C.” Accessed November 10, 2025, www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/records/19369359?tid=&pid=&queryId=7c81c75e-3779-480b-a56a-dc7c5b1fdd69&_phsrc=fQN237&_phstart=successSource.
- In January 1849, McLeod published an advertisement in a Washington, D.C. newspaper announcing plants for sale. See Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express (Washington, D.C.), January 31, 1849, pg. 8. His advertisements appeared occasionally through 1854.
- McLeod is listed as a laborer on public grounds in the 1855, 1857, and 1859 official registry of federal government employees. See Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1855), 95; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1857), 97; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth of September, 1859 (Washington: William A. Harris, 1859), Pg. 98.
- Andrew McKerricher, “Gardening at the White House,” The American Florist (1905) Vol. 25: 295, https://archive.org/details/americanfloristw0506amer/page/294/mode/2up; George McLeod,” in Official Register of the United States (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1861), 95, Google Books, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Official_Register_of_the_United_States/UoMhAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq="George McLeod".George McLeod,” in Official Register of the United States (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1863), 118, Google Books, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Official_Register_of_the_United_States/RtM9AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq="George McLeod"; “State Dinner at Executive Mansion,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), February 17, 1865, 2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/146129469/?match=1&terms="George McLeod".
- “George McLeod” The Times (Washington, DC), May 25, 1896, 5, https://www.newspapers.com/image/79791664/?article=2de9d9a3-e0ee-49cc-8619-53dba00a7415&terms="George McLeod".
- “George R. McLeod,” Find A Grave, accessed November 10, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33021649/george-r-mcleod.
- Birthplace
- Scotland
- Saint John's Episcopal Church Cemetery
- Related Worker
- John WattGardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, 1853 – 1861