White House Historical Association

Franklin H. Hall

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"Franklin H. Hall," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/591.
Positions
Doorkeeper
Messenger
Clerk
Years in President's House
circa 1903 – 1915
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Biography
Franklin H. Hall was born around 1860 in New Gloucester, Maine. He married a woman named Mary Ann and they had eight children.1 Hall initially worked for Theodore Roosevelt as a coachman in Oyster Bay, New York. In October 1901, Roosevelt wrote to Franklin Hall stating: “The messengership shall be ready for you on November 1st. You had better be here at that time. It pays $900 a year.”2 Hall traveled to Washington to begin his messenger position. By 1903, he was earning $1,200 per year.3 He likely continued in this position until at least 1911, when he appeared on a staff organizational chart from President William Howard Taft’s White House.4 However, a 1909 Boston Globe article also identifies him as a doorkeeper. The article may have misidentified his role, or he may have served as both doorkeeper and messenger while at the White House. The article goes on to detail a meeting between Hall and his older brother, W.B. Hall in Beverly, Massachusetts, while traveling with Taft to his summer White House. His brother told the paper, “I haven’t seen Frank in 21 years. I saw in the paper that he went from Washington to Oyster Bay to vote when President Roosevelt went home and I knew he was with Roosevelt. That’s the last I heard of him until I picked up a paper a few weeks ago and saw that he was in Beverly, getting the executive offices set up…Frank did not know me at first, but I recognized him as soon as he came to the door and we have had a pleasant chat together this afternoon.”5 Hall appeared in Washington, D.C. directories between 1913-1915, listed as a clerk working for the White House.6 He died on April 11, 1916, at his home in Oyster Bay, New York.7
  1. “Funeral of F. H. Hall,” The Washington Evening Star, April 14, 1916, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332089616/?article=95446dc5-30a2-4ac5-8a4f-d71dc28ead38&terms="Franklin H. Hall"; “Clasp Hands at Beverly,” The Boston Globe, September 2, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/430883226/?match=1&terms="Franklin H. Hall".
  2. “Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Hall," October 17, 1901.
  3. “U.S. Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1903 Volume 1,” Ancestry, accessed April 28, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2525/records/1257525?tid=&pid=&queryId=742e9900-e2da-4162-a27b-e625692b4234&_phsrc=OuO1033&_phstart=successSource.
  4. William H. Taft, William H. Taft Papers: Series 6: Executive Office Correspondence (Presidential Series No. 2), 1909-1913; 500K-502A, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss42234.mss42234-396_0020_1132/?sp=1053&r=0.166,0.409,0.543,0.239,0.
  5. “Clasp Hands at Beverly,” The Boston Globe, September 2, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/430883226/?match=1&terms="Franklin H. Hall".
  6. “Franklin H Hall in the U.S., City Directories, 1913,” Ancestry, accessed April 30, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1030229990?tid=&pid=&queryId=156db9ce-75fe-40da-8471-586a8f0f201d&_phsrc=OuO1080&_phstart=successSource; “Franklin H Hall in the U.S. City Directories, 1914,” Ancestry, accessed April 30, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1030439267?tid=&pid=&queryId=156db9ce-75fe-40da-8471-586a8f0f201d&_phsrc=OuO1080&_phstart=successSource; “Franklin H Hall in the U.S. City Directories, 1915, Ancestry, accessed April 30, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1022938272?tid=&pid=&queryId=156db9ce-75fe-40da-8471-586a8f0f201d&_phsrc=OuO1080&_phstart=successSource.
  7. “Funeral of F. H. Hall,” The Washington Evening Star, April 14, 1916, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332089616/?article=95446dc5-30a2-4ac5-8a4f-d71dc28ead38&terms="Franklin H. Hall".  
(1) “Funeral of F. H. Hall,” The Washington Evening Star, April 14, 1916, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332089616/?article=95446dc5-30a2-4ac5-8a4f-d71dc28ead38&terms="Franklin H. Hall"; “Clasp Hands at Beverly,” The Boston Globe, September 2, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/430883226/?match=1&terms="Franklin H. Hall". (2) “Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Hall, October 17, 1901. (3) “U.S. Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1903 Volume 1,” Ancestry, accessed April 28, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2525/records/1257525?tid=&pid=&queryId=742e9900-e2da-4162-a27b-e625692b4234&_phsrc=OuO1033&_phstart=successSource. (4) William H. Taft, William H. Taft Papers: Series 6: Executive Office Correspondence (Presidential Series No. 2), 1909-1913; 500K-502A, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss42234.mss42234-396_0020_1132/?sp=1053&r=0.166,0.409,0.543,0.239,0. (5) “Clasp Hands at Beverly,” The Boston Globe, September 2, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/430883226/?match=1&terms="Franklin H. Hall". (6) “Franklin H Hall in the U.S., City Directories, 1913,” Ancestry, accessed April 30, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1030229990?tid=&pid=&queryId=156db9ce-75fe-40da-8471-586a8f0f201d&_phsrc=OuO1080&_phstart=successSource; “Franklin H Hall in the U.S. City Directories, 1914,” Ancestry, accessed April 30, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1030439267?tid=&pid=&queryId=156db9ce-75fe-40da-8471-586a8f0f201d&_phsrc=OuO1080&_phstart=successSource; “Franklin H Hall in the U.S. City Directories, 1915, Ancestry, accessed April 30, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1022938272?tid=&pid=&queryId=156db9ce-75fe-40da-8471-586a8f0f201d&_phsrc=OuO1080&_phstart=successSource. (7) “Funeral of F. H. Hall,” The Washington Evening Star, April 14, 1916, https://www.newspapers.com/image/332089616/?article=95446dc5-30a2-4ac5-8a4f-d71dc28ead38&terms="Franklin H. Hall".
Birthplace
New Gloucester, Maine, USA
Unclear from Context