Mrs. Hyde

Mrs. Hyde, first name unknown, worked in George Washington’s presidential households in New York and Philadelphia. In 1790, Washington hired her husband, John Hyde, to serve as steward in the second President’s House in New York. Mrs. Hyde also joined the household, working alongside her husband, baking cakes and preparing desserts.¹ Her husband replaced the previous steward, Samuel Fraunces, because Washington believed Fraunces spent too much money on the household.² However, Washington’s private secretary, Tobias Lear, compared the two and determined that Fraunces was the superior steward, even stating that Fraunces alone could do what Hyde and his wife did together.³ Letters between Washington and Lear also show that they contemplated whether the Hydes should even join them in Philadelphia once the capital moved there in the fall of 1790. The Hydes did travel to Philadelphia, where they worked for the Washingtons for several months. However, President Washington ultimately rehired Fraunces and they left that spring.⁴ 

Mrs. Hyde moved back to New York City and ran Tontine Coffee-House with her husband. She died in 1805.⁵