Lucy Branch

According to the Brooklyn Daily Times, Lucy Branch was born in “Orange Court House” (likely Orange, Virginia) but later moved to Washington, where she cooked for D.C. Governor Alexander Robey Shepherd and Admiral Charles Steedman. 

Lucy also worked in New York and Cape May, New Jersey, where Benjamin and Caroline Harrison spent their summers.¹ Branch came to work for them in New Jersey, and then replaced White House Head Cook Dolly Johnson in D.C. after Johnson left the position during the summer of 1890. Branch first appeared on the government register in 1891 as a laborer in the War Department. However, she was listed among other known White House staff at the time, indicating that she too worked in the Executive Mansion by then. It is possible she started earlier, but information is scarce.² In 1893, Lucy Branch was featured in several newspaper articles about entertainment at the White House, highlighting her role as head cook. With only one assistant, Lucy “cook[ed] for the President and his family, for a domestic force numbering twenty-one persons, and she prepare[d] all the good things for the state banquets.”³ In March 1893, at the start of Grover Cleveland’s second term, the St. Louis-Post Dispatch reported: “Lucy has heard some alarming stories regarding the advent of Dolly Johnson,” and indeed, Johnson briefly returned to the White House as head cook that month at the invitation of White House Steward William Sinclair. However, she stayed only for a few months, reportedly returning to her home state of Kentucky by the summer.⁴ 

Lucy Branch either remained on staff during Dolly’s tenure or was re-hired after Dolly’s second departure, as the 1894 city directory listed Branch as a cook at the Executive Mansion.⁵ At this time, further information about Branch’s life and career are unknown.