White House Historical Association

Washington R. Price

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"Washington R. Price," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/440.
Positions
Doorkeeper
Usher
Clerk
Policeman
Years in President's House
1869 – circa 1879
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
Biography
Washington R. Price was born in New Castle, Delaware in May 1847.1 At eighteen, he enlisted in the Union Army and served in Company K, Fifth Cavalry during the Civil War.2 In 1869, he was hired by President Ulysses S. Grant at the White House; in fact, several veterans from the Fifth Cavalry were on Grant’s staff.3 Price worked as a doorkeeper on the Second Floor of the White House, where he guarded the door to the president’s private rooms and office and managed the flow of visitors.4 In 1876, President Grant’s Private Secretary Orville Babcock was placed on trial for his role in the Whiskey Ring scandal in which distillers bribed government officials to evade liquor taxes, and several White House employees, including Price, were sent to St. Louis, Missouri to testify.5 The following year, incoming President Rutherford B. Hayes promoted Price from doorkeeper to executive clerk, and it appears that he served there through about 1879.6 Then, he continued to work for the federal government in the War Department as a clerk in the Arizona Territory and Santa Fe, New Mexico.7 Price passed away on July 3, 1930, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.8
  1. Washington Price in the 1870 United States Federal Census, Year: 1870; Census Place: Washington Ward 1, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M593_123; Page: 129A; Washington R Price in the 1900 United States Federal Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Santa Fe Ward 3, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: 1002; Page: 27; Enumeration District: 0127.
  2. Washington R Price in the U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914, Ancestry.com. U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007; Washington R Price in the U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962, Ancestry.com. U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
  3. “Personal,” The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), March 17, 1877, pg. 2; Official Register of the United States (Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1870), pg. 215.
  4. Price was also sometimes listed as a policeman and usher. Ibid; “The White House-The Retinue of a Republican President,” The Greeneville Democrat (Ohio), June 1, 1870, pg. 2; “Personal,” Washington Chronicle, July 9, 1869, pg. 2; “Babcock,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 12, 1876, pg. 4.
  5. “Babcock,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 12, 1876, pg. 4; “White House Witnesses for Babcock,” Evening Star (Washington DC), February 7, 1876, pg. 1.
  6. “Personal,” The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), March 17, 1877, pg. 2; “The New Administration,” The Scranton Republican (Pennsylvania), March 21, 1877, pg. 2; “Personal,” National Republican (Washington, DC), August 2, 1877, pg. 1.
  7. W R Price in the U.S., Returns from Military Posts, 1806-1916, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Returns from U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; Microfilm Serial: M617; Microfilm Roll: 1325; W. R. Price in the 1880 United States Federal Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Fort Lowell, Pima, Arizona; Roll: 36; Page: 264d; Enumeration District: 006, Ancestry.com.
  8. “Price, Washington R.,” Army Cemeteries Explorer, https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgVQcmljZRIKV2FzaGluZ3Rvbg--/; “Price, Washington R.,” Evening Star (Washington D.C.), July 6, 1930, pg. 5.
Birthplace
New Castle, Delaware, USA
Arlington National Cemetery