James Howard
Cite this Page
"James Howard," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/36.
- Position
- Footman
- Years in President's House
- 1789
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Information about James Howard’s life outside of the President’s House remains unknown.1 Howard worked for George Washington at the first presidential residence in New York in 1789. He was employed as a footman, working in the stables and earning $7.00 per month.2 In this role he dressed in livery, a uniform including a woolen coat, vest, and breeches in the colors of Washington’s coat of arms, white and red.3 James was discharged from the household in December 1789 for an unknown reason and porter James Hurley took his place as footman.4
- There are too many individuals named James Howard to correctly determine the individual that worked in Washington’s household.
- Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington, from the records and accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, his secretary, (New York: De Capo Press, 1969), 33, https://archive.org/details/privateaffairsof0000deca/page/124/mode/2up.
- Jessie Macleod, “Giles,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed October 22, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/giles; Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington, from the records and accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, his secretary, (New York: De Capo Press, 1969), 12, https://archive.org/details/privateaffairsof0000deca/page/124/mode/2up.
- Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington, from the records and accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, his secretary, (New York: De Capo Press, 1969), 102, https://archive.org/details/privateaffairsof0000deca/page/124/mode/2up.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Worker
- James HurleyTransportation, 1789 – circa 1793