John E. Hiser was born on March 27, 1884, in Washington, D.C.¹ He first appears on the government register as an engineer in the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds in 1901– at some point in his career there, he was assigned to the White House. His uncle, also named John Hiser, worked at the White House as a gardener/florist for many years and may have helped him get the job.² In the 1940 and 1950 census records, Hiser is listed as chief engineer at the White House.³ The last known reference to his employment there was in a 1953 newspaper about long-time employees at the White House; the article listed him among staff members who had served for over forty years.⁴ Hiser died on November 19, 1972, and was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Maryland.⁵

John E Hiser in the U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War Ii Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) For the State of Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M1939, Ancestry.com. Official Register of the United States Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1901), 546.
John Hiser’s brother, Paul Jr., was John E. Hiser’s father. See John Hiser Family Tree, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/842481/person/274406387/facts?_phsrc=GAH501&_phstart=successSource; Paul Hiser Jr. Family Tree, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/842481/person/632852545/facts; For more on John Hiser, see “Former White House Employe Succumbs,” Evening Star, April 4, 1932, pg. 9.
John E. Hiser in the 1940 US Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00563; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 1-302A, Ancestry.com; John E. Hiser in the 1950 US Federal Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Bethesda, Montgomery, Maryland; Roll: 2548; Page: 14; Enumeration District: 16-75, Ancestry.com.
Raymond Welcome, “White House Republicans: Some Have Been on the Job Since Days of T. R.,” The Clinton Illinois Journal and Public, April 15, 1953, pg. 4.
“Hiser, John E.,” Washington Post, November 21, 1972, C6.

Birthplace

Washington, D.C., USA

Cedar Hill Cemetery

Related Workers: John Hiser
Gardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, Trades, circa 1895 – 1929; Eddie G. Thomas
Trades, Gardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, Transportation, 1931 – 1964; Pearl E. Eagleberger
Trades, 1938 – 1958