The surprising first jobs of 18 US presidents

• That's the case even for people who go on to become the president of the United States.

• American presidents took on some memorable first roles across history.

The road to the White House isn't always glamorous.

Sure, most US presidents throughout our history have had experience in law, politics, or the military— or some combination thereof.

But many future presidents had rather unconventional first gigs— from plucking chickens to working at a circus to selling comic books at a grocery store.

It's definitely encouraging for anyone who suffered through a weird start to their career.

Here are the surprising first jobs held by Washington, Lincoln, Obama, and 15 other US presidents:

George Washington started working as a surveyor in Shenandoah Valley at age 16

When Washington, the first US president, was 16, Lord Thomas Fairfax gave him his first job surveying Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia, according tothe official site of Historic Kenmore, his sister's plantation.

Surveyors measure land, airspace, and water, and explain what it looks like and how much there is for legal records.

The next year, at age 17, Washington was appointed the official surveyor of Culpeper County. By the time he was 21, he owned more than 1,500 acres of land, according toAmerican Studies department at UVA.

John Adams was a schoolmaster

After graduating from a class of 24 students, Adams took his first job as as a schoolmaster in Worcester, Massachusetts, according tothe University of Groningen's biographyof the second US president.

However, the career was not fulfilling for Adams and he was often filled with self doubt, as evidenced by the personal entries in hisfamous journal, which the Massachusetts Historical Society has posted online. To keep up with his own reading and writing, Adams would sometimes ask the smartest student to lead class.

Thomas Jefferson was a lawyer

Before he became the third president of the US, Jefferson handled 900 matters while specializing in land cases as a lawyer in the General Court in Williamsburg, Virginia, according toEncyclopedia Virginia.

Influenced by his political ideology, Jefferson served clients from all classes. As he wrote in his "Autobiography" in 1821, he wanted to create a "system by which every fibre would be eradicated of ancient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a government truly republican."

Andrew Jackson was a courier during the Revolution

Martin Van Buren was a teen-aged delegate

It's not surprising that a future president would kick off their career in the world of politics and act as a delegate to a political convention.

What is remarkable about Van Buren's early career is that he got such an early start to it.

Van Buren first entered the world of state politics at the age of 18. According to the early 1840 biography "Sketches of the Life of Martin Van Buren, President of the United States," "such was the high estimation in which he was held at that early age, that he was elected a delegate from Kinderhook to the convention of the counties of Rensselaer and Columbia."

There, the future eighth president exerted an impressive influence over the other delegates when it came time to nominate a representative to the New York state legislature.

Abraham Lincoln worked as a clerk in a general store

Lincoln's first job was as a clerk in a general store in New Salem, Illinois, according toMiller Center.

This may seem like a menial job, but it actually worked to Lincoln's advantage. The store acted as an unofficial town meeting spot. Lincoln, who would later become the 16th president of the US, was able to build relationships with nearly everyone in town.

He quickly became known as a friendly and intelligent man around town and six months later he launched his first political campaign for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.

Andrew Johnson was an apprentice tailor for his mom

James Garfield tended to mules

James Garfield's tenure as the 20th president of the US was cut short by an assassin's bullet in 1881. His presidency was so brief that most historians exclude him from presidential rankings.

However, there was a time when Garfield's career was on the rise. According to the "Erie Canal" by Ralph Andrist, the "Ohio farm boy" got his start working for his cousin who owned a canal boat. Garfield made $8 a month driving the boat's mules.

Benjamin Harrison yelled for a living

In 1888, Benjamin Harrison was elected as the 23rd president of the US — following in the footsteps of his grandfather, William Harrison.

Years earlier, when he had yet to establish a law career, Harrison began a rather archaic side hustle — working as a court crier for $2.50 a day,according to his official presidential website.

Herbert Hoover worked in the geology and mining field

Hoover — the 31st president of the US — worked as a geologist and mining engineer to pay for his living while he explored the Western Australian gold fields in the late 1890s, according toCNN.

At the tender age of 23, he was promoted to mine manager and worked in various gold fields until taking a well-earned less physical job as an independent mining consultant.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was an apprentice lawyer at a respected firm

At the age of 25, Roosevelt became an apprentice lawyer with Wall Street firm Carter, Ledyard and Milburn, according to theFranklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum website.

Although it was a prestigious firm, it was the custom to not receive a salary for the first year.

Roosevelt would later become the 32nd president of the US.

Lyndon B. Johnson worked as a shoe shiner and a goat herder

Richard Nixon worked as a chicken plucker and ran a game booth

Gerald Ford was a park ranger who helped feed bears

Ronald Reagan was a circus worker and a superstar lifeguard

At age 14, Reagan briefly worked for the Ringling Brothers circus as an unskilled laborer for $0.25 an hour, according toThe Week.

A year later, he took a summer job as a lifeguard at Rock River outside of Dixon, Illinois, according toPBS. There he worked 12 hour-days, seven days a week, for seven summers.

The "lean, tall, and tan" teenager became somewhat of a hero here after pulling 77 people from the danger of the swift river over the course of those seven summers, according toHeritage.

In 1981, he became the 40th president of the US at age 69.

Bill Clinton was a grocer and a comic book salesman

At age 13, Clinton started working as a grocer in Arkansas,according to Convenience Store News. Ever the businessman, he persuaded his boss to let him sell comic books at the store, too, and was able to rake in an extra $100 for his tenacity.

In 1993, Clinton became the 42nd US president.

George W. Bush was a landman in the oil industry

After graduating with his MBA from Harvard, George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the US, took a job as a landman for an oil company, in which he scouted potential sites to drill for oil, according tothe Miller Center

It wasn't glamourous, according toThe Week: "It was hard, hot work," he said. "I unloaded enough of those heavy mud sacks to know that was not what I wanted to do with my life."

Barack Obama was an ice cream scooper

Life used to be a lot simpler for the 44th president of the US.

President Obama toldNew York Magazinethat he used to be an ice cream scooper for a Honolulu Baskin-Robbins. But not every job is as easy as it seems. "Chocolate ice cream gets real hard," he told the magazine. "Your wrists hurt."

Although the current president has beenphotographed eating ice cream many timesover his two terms, he insists that he ate too much of it during this first summer job to really like it anymore.

Jacquelyn Smith and Natalie Walters wrote a previous version of this article.

The surprising first jobs of 18 US presidents

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