Mira Lefferts
Cite this Page
"Mira Lefferts," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/43.
- Position
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- 1790 – circa 1793
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Information about Mira Leffert’s life outside working at the President’s House is currently unknown. Mira first began working for George Washington as a housemaid at the President’s House in Philadelphia in November 1790. She replaced the previous housemaid, Jane Imhoff. In her role, she earned $5.00 per month. Her sister, Katy, also joined the household as a kitchen maid.1 Mira only worked for President Washington for a few months. In March 1791, she began working for Mary Lear, the wife of Washington’s private secretary, Tobias Lear. In her new role, she assisted Mary, who was pregnant. Despite Mira’s new employer, she continued working within the President’s House because the Lears lived there in quarters on the third floor.2 It is unclear how long she worked for the Lears, but Mary Lear died during a yellow fever epidemic in 1793. It is unlikely Mira continued to work for Lear beyond that point.3
- Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington: from the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933), 163, 193.
- Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington: from the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933), 205; Meredith Eliassen, “Tobias Lear,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/tobias-lear.
- Meredith Eliassen, “Tobias Lear,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/tobias-lear.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- Mary Wilson LoefflerHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1790 – 1792
- Jane ImhoffHousekeeping and Laundry, 1789 – 1790
- Katy LeffertsKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1790 – 1791