White House Historical Association

Abraham Holland

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"Abraham Holland," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whitehouseworkers.org/Detail/workers/437.
Position
Attendant
Years in President's House
circa 1870
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidency
Ulysses S. Grant
Biography
Abraham R. Holland was born in Virginia around 1840. Freedman’s Bank records identify him on staff at the White House as an attendant.1 An 1870 newspaper article lists that he was a Black man “in charge of East Room and vestibule” during Ulysses Grant’s presidency.2 Further information about his life is unclear.
  1. Abraham R. Holland in the U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874; ARC Identifier: 566522; Record Group Number: 101; Record Group: Records of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 1863-2006, Ancestry.com.
  2. “The White House-The Retinue of a Republican President,” The Greeneville Democrat (Ohio), June 1, 1870, pg. 2.
Birthplace
Virginia, USA
Burial Place
Unclear from Context
Blue markers indicate birthplaces and green markers indicate burial places. Black markers are used for places of both birth and burial.