Henry Waskan
Cite this Page
"Henry Waskan," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/86.
- Position
- Unclear from Context Unclear from Context
- Years in President's House
- circa 1794 – 1795
- Legal Status
- Unclear from Context
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Information about Henry Waskan’s life outside of the President’s House remains unknown. Henry Waskan worked for George Washington at the President’s House in Philadelphia. He appeared several times in household records beginning in 1794 through November 1795, receiving items like stockings and a hair ribbon, but his role is unclear. Typically, Washington supplied enslaved workers and indentured servants with clothing items, but not a wage, indicating Henry Waskan may have been indentured.1 In July 1793, President Washington acquired several German indentured servants from a ship including a “German boy & two women–the former to serve 5 years & the two latter 3 years for their passage,” which totaled $185.16.2 It is possible Henry Waskan is the same person as “Boy Henry,” “boy,” or “Henry,” names that also appeared in household accounts around the same time.
- “Washington’s Household Account Book, 1793-1797 (continued),” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 31, No. 1, 63, 65, https://www-jstor-org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/pdf/20085371.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default:b1a31e013816c6edfc275a2744ab46c1&ab_segments=0/spellcheck_basic_search/control&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1. (2) “George Washington to Frances Bassett Washington, 28–29 July 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-13-02-0204. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 13, 1 June–31 August 1793, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007, pp. 295–299.]; “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.]
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Worker
- Boy Henrycirca 1793 – 1796