Catherine Tully
Cite this Page
"Catherine Tully," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/475.
- Position
- Cook
- Years in President's House
- circa 1881 – 1884
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- Chester A. Arthur
- Biography
- Catherine “Kate” Tully worked at the White House during the presidency of Chester A. Arthur. Little is known about her life or service at the Executive Mansion. Born in Ireland sometime in the early nineteenth century, Tully appeared in the Official Register of the United States in 1883 and was also mentioned in several 1884 newspaper articles discussing White House employees whose salaries were paid by the federal government. These accounts reported that Tully had worked as a cook for the Arthur family in New York and accompanied them to Washington, D.C., when Arthur became president.1
- The Official Register of the United States listed Tully’s position as laborer; contemporary newspaper accounts described her as a cook serving the Arthur family. “White House Bills,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri), May 20, 1884, 1, https://www.newspapers.com/image/137820459/?match=1; "Private Servants on Public Pay," The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pa.), May 21, 1884, 6, https://www.newspapers.com/image/167618309/?match=7; The Clarion (Jackson, Mississippi), June 4, 1884, 1, https://www.newspapers.com/image/264361411/?match=1; Official Register of the United States Containing a List of Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military and Naval Service, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883), 370, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Official_Register_of_the_United_States/qbBDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1.
- Birthplace
- Ireland
- Unclear from Context