Paris

Paris’s birthdate is unknown, but he was likely born at Mount Vernon. He appears on George Washington’s 1786 list of enslaved workers as a “boy.”¹ He is also frequently listed as a coach “driver” in Mount Vernon account books. Paris received medical care in 1787 after a horse kicked and broke his jaw.² 

When Washington became president in 1789, Paris worked as a postilion, or person who rides a harnessed horse that also pulls the coach, in the presidential households in New York and later Philadelphia. This could be a very dangerous role with great risk of injury. In this role, he wore livery, a uniform including a woolen coat, vest, and breeches in the colors of Washington’s coat of arms: white and red.³ In addition, Paris may have earned small amounts of money from the Washingtons. A household expense account from March 1790 indicates that Paris received five dollars per month.⁴ He likely lived in quarters near the stables in both New York and Philadelphia. Paris also worked closely and likely roomed with Giles, another enslaved postilion from Mount Vernon.⁵

In the spring of 1791, Paris accompanied President Washington on a tour of the southern states. Following the tour, on June 19, 1791, Washington wrote to his private secretary, Tobias Lear, “Paris has become so lazy, self willed & impudent, that John (the Coachman) had no sort of government of him…for that purpose, has induced me to find Paris some other employment than in the Stable–of course I shall leave him at home.”⁶ Washington did not bring Paris back to Philadelphia, and Paris continued to appear in accounts at Mount Vernon and another Washington property, Ferry Plantation. Paris died in 1794 at Mount Vernon.⁷