Paul Resal
Cite this Page
"Paul Resal," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/503.
- Position
- Cook
- Years in President's House
- circa 1889
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Biography
- Paul Resal was born in France around 1850 and immigrated to the United States. In 1880, Resal is documented in the federal census as a cook for New York Representative Levi P. Morton in Washington, D.C.1 Afterward, newspapers reported that he had worked as a chef in various locations, including New York City.2 Resal is first reported to have worked at the White House in February 1889 for President Grover Cleveland and was complimented as “an artist in his line” who has “pleased the president very much.”3 Resal worked at the White House for only a few months before being replaced by a woman named Madame Pelouard in May 1889, early in Benjamin Harrison’s presidency.4 After leaving the White House, Resal was often consulted for food questions for newspaper articles and had his recipes published in The Standard Cookbook.5 Information on the rest of Resal’s life and his death is sparse.
- Ancestry.com, "Paul Riesal in the 1880 United States Federal Census," accessed May 14, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/records/35444764?_phcmd=u('https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Paul_Resal&birth=1850&count=50&location=2&priority=usa&searchMode=advanced&successSource=Search&queryId=bc6ee805-eaba-43cd-9ddb-baddfd86d4fb','successSource').
- The Sun (New York, NY), "New York's Best Chefs," April 8, 1888, [6] https://www.newspapers.com/image/79114921/?terms=paul resal&match=1.
- The Critic and Record (Washington, DC), "A Change of Cooks," February 15, 1889, [2] https://www.newspapers.com/image/1041831374/?match=1&terms=paul resal.
- The Sunday Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA), May 19, 1889, [2] https://www.newspapers.com/image/166961071/?match=1&terms="paul resal".
- The Tribune (Scranton, PA), "Testimonials on Cassard Ham," July 22, 1892, [5] https://www.newspapers.com/image/48320671/?match=1&terms="Paul Resal"; The Tribune (Scranton, PA), "A Letter from the White House," April 26, 1892, [5] https://www.newspapers.com/image/48316304/?match=1&terms="Paul Resal"; The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), "Latest and Best Cook Book Published," April 22, 1895, [4] https://www.newspapers.com/image/814242813/?match=1&terms=Paul Resal.
- Birthplace
- France
- Unclear from Context