Ragna Halsnas
Cite this Page
"Ragna Halsnas," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/670.
- Position
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- circa 1910 – 1914
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Biography
- Ragna Halsnas was born in Norway around 1866 and immigrated to the United States in 1891. Halsnas appears in the 1910 Census living at the White House with President William Howard Taft and working as a chambermaid.1 Halsnas also appears on a 1911 organizational chart from President Taft’s White House. She earned $25.00 per month and worked under Head Housekeeper Elizabeth A. Jaffray.2 She is also listed in the 1912 and 1914 city directories working at the White House as a maid.3 Details about her later life remain unclear. However, she may have moved to New York. A newspaper article from October 1928, describes a woman named Ragna Halsnas, “a domestic, employed at 39 Park ave.”4
- “Ragna Haknas in the 1910 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry, accessed April 2, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7884/records/2758545?tid=&pid=&queryId=0f7dc816-9217-420b-b026-1ed008b30a68&_phsrc=OuO848&_phstart=successSource.
- 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/item/mss4223400443/.
- “Ragna Halsnas in the U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry, accessed April 2, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1033964417?tid=&pid=&queryId=1078ea4b-96df-4e8f-be0c-b9d0fd2b2655&_phsrc=OuO854&_phstart=successSource; “Ragna Halsnas in the U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry, accessed April 2, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1030439644?tid=&pid=&queryId=8b89972c-916e-4e04-a25f-683757766f8c&_phsrc=OuO856&_phstart=successSource.
- “Mystery Strangler Murders Woman, 62,” Daily News (New York), October 22, 1928, https://www.newspapers.com/image/411387344/?match=1&terms=Ragna Halsnas.
- Birthplace
- Norway
- Unclear from Context