John Vicar
Cite this Page
"John Vicar," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/92.
- Position
- Chef
- Years in President's House
- 1790 – 1791
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Information about John Vicar’s life outside of the President’s House is limited. Vicar joined George Washington’s second presidential residence in New York in May 1790 as a cook. He came from Baltimore and earned $15.00 per month. When Washington’s household moved to Philadelphia in the fall of 1790, Vicar and his wife, whose name is undocumented, went along.1 A letter from Washington’s secretary, Tobias Lear, states that he left the household in May 1791: “Vicar, the Cook, takes his discharge tomorrow. He requested it himself, from a determination, as he says, not to be under the immediate direction of [Washington’s steward] Fraunces in the Kitchen as he understands will be the case if he was to continue.”2
- It does not appear that Vicar’s wife worked in the household. “Tobias Lear to Daniel Grant, 28 February 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-05-02-0113. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 5, 16 January 1790 – 30 June 1790, ed. Dorothy Twohig, Mark A. Mastromarino, and Jack D. Warren. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 185–187.]; Stephen Decatur, Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington, from the records and accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, his secretary, (New York: De Capo Press, 1969), 121.
- Samuel Fraunces served as the steward, managing staff and the kitchen. “Tobias Lear to George Washington, 15 May 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-08-02-0148. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 8, 22 March 1791 – 22 September 1791, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 188–193.]
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- Samuel FrauncesUshers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1789 – 1790, 1791 – 1794
- Auguste LemuirKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1790