Polly Channing
Cite this Page
"Polly Channing," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/60.
- Position
- Unclear from Context Unclear from Context
- Years in President's House
- circa 1793
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Polly Channing worked at the President’s House in Philadelphia for President George Washington. Polly appears in a single entry from a household account book in May 1793, earning $5.00 for a month of work. It is unclear whether she worked for the household prior to 1793. Polly’s position in the household remains unknown. However, there is another woman listed in 1793 in several entries earning the same wage with a very similar name, Patty Channing. It is possible this is the same person. There is also another woman named Polly Glenn listed in 1795 and another woman referred to as “Polly washwoman” listed in 1796. It is unclear whether these are different individuals or possibly the same person. Glenn could be a married name.1
- “References to People from the Presidential Household Account Books,” The President’s House in Philadelphia, accessed September 16, 2025, https://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/history/references.php?srsltid=AfmBOopFiYUZUdcz3kbbBsBpIznmonPRPLxke0tEsvIlh3pLFLeNRZ1Z; “Washington’s Household Account Book, 1793-1797, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1906, vol. 30, no. 1, 48, accessed September 16, 2025, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20085321.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default:d39c2855a1f340d57d7bc09397c69b81&ab_segments=&initiator=recommender&acceptTC=1.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- "Polly washwoman"Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1796
- Patty ChanningHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1792 – 1794
- Polly Glenncirca 1795