White House Historical Association

Louise W. Jongbloet

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"Louise W. Jongbloet," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/732.
Position
Cook
Years in President's House
circa 1925 – 1926
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidency
Calvin Coolidge
Biography
Louise W. Jongbloet was born around 1874 in Belgium. She immigrated to the United States in November 1907 with her infant son, Louis. (1) A few weeks later, her husband Jules Jongbloet also came to the U.S. Many sources incorrect identify Louise as “Julia Jongbloet” because of her married name, Mrs. Jules Jongbloet. (2) Louise Jongbloet worked as a cook at several embassies in Washington, D.C., including the Belgian Legation and the Embassy of Argentina.(3) In June 1925, she joined the White House staff, replacing Martha Peterson Mulvey as head cook. (4) Jongbloet traveled with the Coolidges aboard the presidential yacht Mayflower and on summer vacations to Swampscott, Massachusetts during the summers of 1925 and 1926. (5) Newspapers applauded her skill in cooking buckwheat hotcakes and sausages, calling her an “artist” who “has made a reputation along culinary lines with every senator and representative favored with a White House breakfast invitation…” (6) According to The Washington Herald, Jongbloet left service with the Coolidges in 1926 after she “was wooed and won by a neighboring gardener at the Swampscott summer White House,” although further information about this relationship and her departure is limited. Katherine Buckley replaced her on the White House staff. (7) After this point, Louise Jongbloet disappears from the historic record; presumably, this is because she changed her last name after remarrying– but records are limited. 
  1. (1) Mrs Jales Jongbloet, New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com;  Louis Jongbloet, New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85. 
  2. (2) The Jongbloets divorced in 1921. Jules Jongbloet, New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com; “Married in 1901, Sues,” Washington Post, March 13, 1921, pg. 24.
  3. (3) Ibid; “Thirteen-Year-Old Boy Missing from Embassy,” Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), January 27, 1921, pg. 1. 
  4. (4) “Latest Events at Washington,” Marylander and Herald (Princess Anne, MD), June 27, 1925, pg. 15, https://somersetcountymd.archivalweb.com/proxy.php/MH_06_1925_00063.pdf?t=pdf&i=388090. 
  5. (5) “THE PRESIDENCY: Mr. Coolidge's Week: Jun. 29, 1925,” Time, June 28, 1925, https://time.com/archive/6663727/the-presidency-mr-coolidges-week-jun-29-1925/; “White House Staff and Pets Sail Saturday On Mayflower, Coolidge Following Tuesday,” New York Times, June 18, 1925, pg. 1, https://www.nytimes.com/1925/06/18/archives/white-house-staff-and-pets-sail-saturday-on-mayflower-coolidge.html; “Housekeeper at White House Fired From Job,” The Omaha Daily News (Omaha, Nebraska), July 5, 1926, pg. 3. 
  6. (6) “Housekeeper at White House Fired From Job,” The Omaha Daily News (Omaha, Nebraska), July 5, 1926, pg. 3; “White House Staff and Pets Sail Saturday On Mayflower, Coolidge Following Tuesday,” New York Times, June 18, 1925, pg. 1, https://www.nytimes.com/1925/06/18/archives/white-house-staff-and-pets-sail-saturday-on-mayflower-coolidge.html. 
  7. (7) This article states that Louise left service in 1925; however, she appears to have cooked for the Coolidges through 1926. “Mrs. Coolidge is Led Through Huge Mansion,” The Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.), February 8, 1927, pg. 3. 
Birthplace
Belgium
Related Workers
Martha Peterson Mulvey
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1909 – circa 1933
Katherine Buckley
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1926 – 1933