Adough M. Byrd
Cite this Page
"Adough M. Byrd," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/596.
- Position
- Butler
- Years in President's House
- circa 1905 – 1913
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
- Adough M. Byrd was born around 1882 in Virginia.1 Although records of his early life are scarce, Byrd likely began working as a White House butler around 1905. As a butler, Byrd served meals, attended to guests, and met the needs of the president, first family, and visitors with discretion and efficiency. He continued in his role under President William Howard Taft. When Woodrow Wilson assumed the presidency in 1913, the White House transferred Byrd to the War Department’s Quartermaster Corps. There, he worked as a messenger until his death on April 2, 1920. Byrd is buried in Remington, Virginia.2
- Ancestry.com, “Adough M. Byrd in the Washington, District of Columbia, U.S., Death Certificates, 1874–1931,” Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., accessed May 19, 2025,https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62876/records/158433?_phcmd= ('https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=A.+M._Byrd&birth=1883&death=1920_district+of+columbia-usa_11&count=50&gender=m&location=2&priority=usa&searchMode=advanced&successSource=Search&queryId=14e6102c-ec99-474b-a98e-b01a55f73a99','successSource').
- "Butler 7 Years at White House Is Dead," Times Herald (Washington, DC), April 3, 1920, [12] https://www.newspapers.com/image/79847618/?article=2d1ac03a-e321-451e-b93a-b3cd269f47e1&terms="Adough M. Byrd".
- Birthplace
- Virginia, USA
- Remington, Virginia, USA