White House Historical Association

Hannah Heffernan

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"Hannah Heffernan," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/734.
Position
Cook
Years in President's House
1926 – circa 1930
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Biography
Hannah Heffernan was born around 1898 in Moyvane, Ireland.1 Little is known about her early life, except that she immigrated to the United States in 1922 and became a naturalized citizen sometime thereafter.2 The Heffernan sisters were related to Katherine “Kathy” Buckley through her brother-in-law, Hugh Goulding.3 Kathy joined the White House kitchen staff in 1926; Hannah and her sister Mary joined Kathy as assistant cooks.4 Kathy helped secure their positions in the White House kitchen.5 Hannah served specifically as the second cook; her primary responsibility was preparing meals for the White House domestic staff and assisting Katherine with events, including dinners and receptions.6 That same year, she accompanied President Calvin Coolidge on his summer trip to Wisconsin as second cook.7 Little about Hannah’s time at the White House is known.8 Beyond this, details of her later life remain scarce.
  1. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population Schedule for President Herbert Hoover, National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/files/research/census/presidents/images/hoover-1930.pdf; Vincent Carmody, Kathy White House: Kathy Buckley, Her Culinary Odyssey (Vincent Carmody, 2023) 31.
  2. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population Schedule for President Herbert Hoover, National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/files/research/census/presidents/images/hoover-1930.pdf
  3. Vincent Carmody, Kathy White House: Kathy Buckley, Her Culinary Odyssey (Vincent Carmody, 2023) 47.
  4. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Servants and Aides, 1929–1933, box 167, folder 5, digitized April 8, 2015; Vincent Carmody, “Kathy White House,” IrishCentral, February 27, 2024, https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/kathy-white-house; Vincent Carmody, Kathy White House: Kathy Buckley, Her Culinary Odyssey (Vincent Carmody, 2023) 31.
  5. Vincent Carmody, Kathy White House: Kathy Buckley, Her Culinary Odyssey (Vincent Carmody, 2023) 31.
  6. "President's Office Force Sets Record For Summer Duty," Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), June 7, 1928, 4, https://www.newspapers.com/image/618548834/; Vincent Carmody, Kathy White House: Kathy Buckley, Her Culinary Odyssey (Vincent Carmody, 2023) 33.
  7. "President's Office Force Sets Record For Summer Duty," Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), June 7, 1928, 4, https://www.newspapers.com/image/618548834/.
  8. She may have remained on staff as long as Katherine Buckley, who served until 1933; however, we can only confirm the documented years.
Birthplace
Moyvane, Ireland
Unclear from Context
Related Workers
Mary Heffernan
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1926 – 1931
Katherine Buckley
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1926 – 1933