Flora Hamilton
Cite this Page
"Flora Hamilton," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/649.
- Position
- Cook
- Years in President's House
- 1910 – circa 1914
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Biography
- In the fall of 1910, newspapers announced that Flora Hamilton had been hired to serve as the new White House cook. She had been a cook for prominent households in New York, and was recommended for the job by acquaintances of First Lady Helen Taft.1 She is mentioned as head cook there again in 1913 and 1914, but further details about her service at the White House and life outside of this role are scarce.2
- “Goddess of the Taft Kitchen,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), November 27, 1910, pg. 15.
- “More Years of Joy for Diners at White House,” Cairo Bulletin (Illinois), February 6, 1913, pg. 6, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn93055779/1913-02-06/ed-1/seq-6/; Mary Eleanor Kramer, “Housekeeping at the White House,” Kansas Farmer Vol. 52 (February 14, 1914), pg. 18.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context