William Mine
Cite this Page
"William Mine," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/85.
- Position
- Unclear from Context Unclear from Context
- Years in President's House
- circa 1795 – 1797
- Legal Status
- Unclear from Context
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Information about William Mine’s life is generally unknown. He only appears once in letters related to George Washington’s presidential household. In January 1798, after Washington’s presidency ended, his former steward, Fred Kitt, wrote to Washington and mentioned the death of two individuals: “The Boy Henry & wm Mine died during the contagious disorder.”1 The “contagious disorder” was yellow fever, which struck Philadelphia in 1797 and 1798. Washington replied and stated he was “sorry to be informed that two, who had been my domestics, had fallen victims to it.” Neither letter specifies what job Mine performed in the President’s House, but he likely worked for Washington in Philadelphia sometime between 1794 and 1797.2 The fact that Kitt knew of his passing suggests Mine remained in Philadelphia after Washington left the presidency, since that is where Kitt lived.
- “Frederick Kitt to George Washington, 15 January 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0026. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 25–26.]
- “George Washington to Frederick Kitt, 29 January 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0053. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p. 60.].
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Worker
- Boy Henrycirca 1793 – 1796