William T. Sinclair
Cite this Page
"William T. Sinclair," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026 , https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/493.
- Positions
- Valet
- Steward
- Cook
- Years in President's House
- 1885 – 1889
- 1893 – 1902
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
- William T. Sinclair, born in November 1855 in Erie, New York, worked as a steward for Governor Grover Cleveland in Albany before joining him in the same role at the White House in 1885.1 He served throughout Cleveland’s first term and resigned shortly after President Benjamin Harrison’s Inauguration.2 Sinclair then returned to New York to resume working for Cleveland.3 When Cleveland began his second term in 1893, Sinclair filled the role of steward once again.4 In this role, Sinclair oversaw food, furnishings, beverages, deliveries, and other household operations. According to one newspaper, “It is his boast that he has prepared refreshments for more great men than any other chef in the country.”5 Sinclair had an office in the White House basement and earned $1,800 per year.6 Sinclair continued as steward through President William McKinley’s assassination, but in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt dismissed him and appointed Henry Pinckney as his replacement.7 After leaving the White House, Sinclair remained in Washington and became a recording clerk for the Federal Pensions Bureau.8 By 1910, he retired and returned to New York.9 Sinclair died in Albany, New York, on September 28, 1936, and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.10
- William Henry Crook, Memories of the White House: The Home Life of Our Presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt (Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1911), 243; “1900 Federal Census,” Year: 1900; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 0051; FHL microfilm: 1240160.
- “Some White House Appointments,” The Times, March 6, 1889.
- “White House Chef Out,” Jamestown Weekly Alert, May 15, 1902.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- “White House Housekeeping,” Evening Times, January 21, 1899.
- "Steward for Two Presidents Dead," The New York Age, New York, NY, October 3, 1936, 11, https://www.newspapers.com/image/40814036/?match=1&terms="Steward for two presidents dead"; “White House Chef Out,” Jamestown Weekly Alert, May 15, 1902; United States. Department of the Interior, Official Register of the United States, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1901), 35, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Official_Register_of_the_United_States/ZmA9AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=sinclair.
- "Steward for Two Presidents Dead," The New York Age, New York, NY, October 3, 1936, 11, https://www.newspapers.com/image/40814036/?match=1&terms="Steward for two presidents dead"; United States. Department of the Interior, Official Register of the United States, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1903), 1021, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Register_of_Officers_and_Agents_Civil_Mi/3rZDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Sinclair.
- “1910 United States Federal Census, digital image,” Ancestry.com, accessed July 17, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449292_00605?pId=16946913.
- "Steward for Two Presidents Dead," The New York Age, New York, NY, October 3, 1936, 11, https://www.newspapers.com/image/40814036/?match=1&terms="Steward for two presidents dead"; "William T. Sinclair," Remember My Journey, accessed July 17, 2025, https://forest-lawn.com/genealogy/.
- Birthplace
- Erie, New York, USA
- Forest Lawn Cemetery
- Related Workers
- Henry PinckneyUshers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1901 – 1911
- William SladeValets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1861 – 1868
- Lucy BranchKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1891 – 1894
- Marie V. BarbieryHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1899 – 1901