Frances Fink
Cite this Page
"Frances Fink," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/48.
- Position
- Laundress
- Years in President's House
- 1789 – circa 1793
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Information about Frances “Fanny” Fink’s life outside of the President’s House is currently unknown. In December 1789, Fanny replaced Lenah Kicker, the previous washerwoman. Fanny worked for President George Washington at both presidential residences in New York City. At first she earned $4.00 a month. However, she became a “much-esteemed servant” and her wages increased to $5.00 per month.1 When President Washington prepared to move to Philadelphia in 1790, Fanny asked whether her four children could also join the household. Although Washington declined, stating in a letter to his private secretary Tobias Lear, “I shall not be burthened (sp.) with Fanny’s Children after they arrive,” Fanny continued to appear in household account records at the President’s House in Philadelphia. She likely lived separately with her children and continued to work at the President’s House.2 Her last recorded payment occurred in July 1793.3
- Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington: from the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933), 107.
- “Tobias Lear to George Washington, 12 September 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0204. [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. 419–424.]; “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 20 September 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0222. [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. 481–484.]; Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington: from the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933), 107, 264.
- “References to People from the Presidential Account Books,” The President’s House in Philadelphia, accessed October 1, 2025, https://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/history/references.php?srsltid=AfmBOopFiYUZUdcz3kbbBsBpIznmonPRPLxke0tEsvIlh3pLFLeNRZ1Z.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Worker
- Lenah KickerHousekeeping and Laundry, 1789