John M. McElderry
Cite this Page
"John M. McElderry," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/804.
- Position
- Custodian
- Years in President's House
- circa 1929 – 1932
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- Herbert Hoover
- Biography
- John M. McElderry was born in Maryland around 1870. (1) McElderry worked for the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks as a laborer. (2) From 1929 to 1931, he was detailed to the White House Executive Offices (known today as the West Wing), according to First Lady Lou Hoover’s annual Christmas lists. It is possible he was assigned there prior to the Hoover administration, but documentation is scarce. (3) He was listed as both a janitor and laborer, meaning that he would have been tasked with general maintenance and cleaning of the office spaces. McElderry likely remained on staff through his death the following year on August 28, 1932. (4)
- (1) Census data suggests 1870 for his birth year, while a newspaper obituary places it closer to 1868. See John M Mcellery in the 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0293; FHL microfilm: 2340035, Ancestry.com; “Deaths,” Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), September 1, 1932, pg. 24.
(2) Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia (R. L. Polk and Co., 1926), 1003; Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia (R. L. Polk and Co., 1931), 1104.
(3) Employees on Duty at the Executive Office, 1929, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1929, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Christmas 1930, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1930, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Xmas List 1931, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
(4) “McElderry, John M.,” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), August 31, 1932, pg. 9. Burial information was not included in his obituary. - Birthplace
- Maryland, USA