White House Historical Association

Matias Estella

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"Matias Estella," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/796.
Position
Pantryman
Years in President's House
1929
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Asian
Presidency
Herbert Hoover
Biography
Matias Estella was born around 1896 in the Philippines and later moved to the United States; in the 1910s, he began working for Charles and Florence Henry, the parents of future First Lady Lou Hoover.1 In 1921, he embarked on a cross-country road trip with Charles and Lou Henry, evidence of his close connection to the family.2 Following the death of Charles Henry, Estella joined the household of Lou Henry Hoover and Herbert Hoover in Washington, D.C., working as a pantry boy in the White House in 1929.3 However, he left White House service that year to return to the Philippines on a military transport arranged by the Hoovers, hoping to reconnect with his roots.4 Letters between Estella and Mrs. Hoover show that he struggled to make a living there, so that the first lady set up new work for him in California.5 Further details about his life are unclear.
  1.  Spencer Howard, “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Not Quite American,” Hoover Heads, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, April 25, 2018, https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2018/04/25/asian-pacific-american-heritage-month-not-quite-american/; Matias Estella in 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Monterey, Monterey, California; Roll: T625_122; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 19, Ancestry.com. 
  2. Ibid.
  3. CB Hodges to Quartermaster General, Letter, October 5, 1929, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, Matias Estella Papers, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Spencer Howard, “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Not Quite American,” Hoover Heads, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, April 25, 2018, https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2018/04/25/asian-pacific-american-heritage-month-not-quite-american/.
Birthplace
Philippines
Unclear from Context