White House Historical Association

Selina Rolfe

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"Selina Rolfe," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/519.
Position
Maid
Years in President's House
circa 1885 – 1889
1893 – circa 1895
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Grover Cleveland First Term
Grover Cleveland Second Term
Biography
Selina Rolfe was born in England on May 20, 1835, and immigrated to the United States in 1873; she later became a naturalized citizen.1 Rolfe lived with her husband, Charles, in Fayetteville, New York. Fayetteville was also the childhood home of President Grover Cleveland, which may explain Rolfe’s hiring. As early as 1885, she worked for the War Department on assignment at the White House as a servant.2 It appears that she remained on staff through the end of Cleveland’s first term in 1889, and then returned with the Clevelands to New York until Cleveland returned for his second term in 1893.3 The Detroit Free Press reported “Many of the White House servants— as many as [First Lady Frances Cleveland] could take— went with her to New York, and are now again in the White House.”4 Selina served as a chambermaid during Cleveland’s second term, taking on general cleaning duties in the private areas of the home.5 Documentation places her there through at least 1895, though she may have remained on staff through 1897, when Cleveland’s tenure as president ended.6 Afterward, she returned to New York and appears to have retired.7 Selina Rolfe died on November 13, 1913, and was buried at Pine Plains Cemetery in Sullivan, New York.8
  1. Salina Rolfe in the 1900 United States Federal Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manlius, Onondaga, New York; Roll: 1135; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0063; Saline Rolfe in the 1880 United States Federal Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Fayetteville, Onondaga, New York; Roll: 906; Page: 20a; Enumeration District: 181, Ancestry.com; “Selina Rolfe,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33324310/selina-rolfe.
  2. Official Register of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885), 336; Official Register of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1887), 353.
  3. Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C., 1887), 725; Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C., 1888), 755.
  4. “Mrs. Cleveland At Home,” Detroit Free Press (Michigan), December 17, 1893, pg. 26.
  5. “Four Years More,” The World (New York, NY), March 3, 1893, pg. 5.
  6. Official Register of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1895), 444.
  7. Salina Rolfe in the 1900 United States Federal Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manlius, Onondaga, New York; Roll: 1135; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0063.
  8. “Selina Rolfe,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33324310/selina-rolfe.
Birthplace
England
Pine Plains Cemetery