Annie Jackson
Cite this Page
"Annie Jackson," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/424.
- Position
- Lady’s Maid
- Years in President's House
- circa 1870
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Biography
- Annie Jackson was born around 1838 in Washington, D.C.1 The 1870 Census listed her as a lady’s maid at the White House, which indicates that she served First Lady Julia Grant. Annie Jackson lived onsite and her duties would have included running errands, dressing and styling Mrs. Grant’s hair, caring for her wardrobe, and seeing to the first lady’s other personal needs.2 In her memoir, Julia Grant wrote: “It was an invariable custom for… the young people of the family to assemble in my bedroom when they returned from their walks or rides… My maid protested against this custom and said: ‘Madam, you have always to dress in a hurry, and I cannot see how … all of them can be so inconsiderate of your comfort and your toilet.’”3 She did not provide a name for the maid, making it difficult to confirm whether she spoke of Annie Jackson, though the quote provides insight into the dynamic between Mrs. Grant’s staff and her family. A newspaper article from June 1870 lists a “Mrs. Jourdan” as maid to Julia Grant and makes no mention of Annie Jackson, further complicating the historical record.4 Other information about Jackson’s life and career is scarce.
- Annie Jackson in the 1870 United States Federal Census, Year: 1870; Census Place: Washington Ward 1, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M593_123; Page: 210B, Ancestry.com.
- Ibid.
- Julia Dent Grant, The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant Ed. John Y. Simon (New York: G. P. Putnam’s and Sons, 1975), 192.
- “The White House-The Retinue of a Republican President,” The Greeneville Democrat (Ohio), June 1, 1870, pg. 2.
- Birthplace
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Unclear from Context