Daniel Leah
Cite this Page
"Daniel Leah," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/651.
- Position
- Painter
- Years in President's House
- circa 1909
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Presidency
- William Howard Taft
- Biography
- Daniel Leah was born around 1868.1 Further details of his life outside of his White House employment remain unclear at this time. Leah worked as a painter at the White House. The only known information about his employment comes from an August 1909 newspaper article detailing how falling scaffolding outside the East terrace injured Leah and two other painters, Milton Barnes and Robert McClennan. A “force” of painters was scraping paint from the exterior of the White House to make way for a new coat of paint when the accident happened. The painters fell twelve to fifteen feet and suffered lacerations and contusions. They were not seriously injured and none went to the hospital.2
- “White House Painters Hurt,” The Washington Evening Star, August 31, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/330906389/?match=1&terms=white house painter.
- “White House Painters Hurt,” The Washington Evening Star, August 31, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/330906389/?match=1&terms=white house painter.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context