White House Historical Association

Arthur Dunn

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"Arthur Dunn," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/46.
Position
Coachman
Years in President's House
1790
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidency
George Washington
Biography
There is no definitive information about Arthur Dunn’s early life.1 He first appears in the 1790 Census in New York City. On July 7, 1790, he became President George Washington’s coachman at the President’s House in New York. He only worked for Washington a short time. On November 23, 1790, Washington wrote to his private secretary, Tobias Lear, complaining about Dunn’s performance: “Dunn has given such proofs of his want of skill in driving, that I find myself under a necessity of looking out for another Coachman. Before we got to Elizabeth Town we were obliged to take him from the Coach & put him in the Waggon. This he turned over twice; and this Morning was found very much intoxicated.”2 Several weeks later, Lear received a letter from Attorney General Edmund Randolph describing an incident with Dunn, “...the Coachman of the President of the U.S. was very insolent in the use of his whip among the people yesterday at the church door.”3 Following this incident Dunn was fired. No further information is currently known about his life at this time.
  1.  It is possible Arthur Dunn was born in Ireland. An Arthurus (Arthur) Dunn does appear in baptism records in Killenaule, Tipperary, Ireland in 1766, but it is difficult to know whether this is the same individual. In addition, an Arthur Dunn appears in a 1784 marriage record in New York City with his spouse, Rachel Warner. This is likely the same person. “Arthurus Dunn in the Ireland Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915.” Ancestry, accessed September 4, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61039/records/4792030?tid=&pid=&queryId=6910733d-ba4c-4250-8ae7-7adbf0d88771&_phsrc=OuO441&_phstart=successSource; “Arthur Dunn in the New York City, Compiled Marriage Index, 1600’s-1800,” Ancestry, accessed September 4, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7854/records/5361?tid=&pid=&queryId=618eb6dc-5967-478c-ab74-55cf082f9470&_phsrc=OuO451&_phstart=successSource.
  2. “Arthur Dunn in the 1790 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry, accessed September 3, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058/records/263627?tid=&pid=&queryId=915c92ec-fb5b-45e5-9992-52d59c390486&_phsrc=OuO454&_phstart=successSource; “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 23 November 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0333. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 6, 1 July 1790 – 30 November 1790, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 689–690.]; “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 23 November 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0333. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 6, 1 July 1790 – 30 November 1790, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 689–690.]
  3. “Edmund Randolph to Tobias Lear, 6 December 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-07-02-0018. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 7, 1 December 1790 – 21 March 1791, ed. Jack D. Warren, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p. 34.]
Birthplace
Unclear from Context
Unclear from Context
Related Worker
Jacob Jacobus
Transportation, 1789, 1791