Landon C. Peters

Landon Council Peters was born on February 3, 1876 in Virginia.¹ It is difficult to determine the start date of his service at the White House. However, he appears in the 1910 Census working as a waiter for a “private family.”² It is possible this was the first family. The following year, he appeared on a White House staff organizational chart working under Housekeeper Elizabeth A. Jaffray and earning $75.00 per month.³ His exact position at that time remains unclear. By 1915, Peters began to appear in city directories working as a doorkeeper at the White House.⁴ The 1920 Census shows he was still working at the White House as a doorkeeper and in 1922, he appears again in the city directory this time listed as a houseman.⁵ In his free time, Johnson was a member of the Chandelier Club– a social group of African-American White House domestic employees who gathered outside of work. ⁶

The date of his White House departure remains unclear. However, in the 1930 and 1940 Census, he is listed as a clerk, working for the U.S. government. It is unclear which department he worked for. ⁷

Peters died on October 7, 1960. He was buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Prince George’s County, Maryland.⁸