Elizabeth Jaffray

Elizabeth Jaffray (December 26, 1860, in Canada West – May 2, 1934, in Ontario, Canada) was an American employed as a servant at the White House in the early 20th century.

Jaffray was retained as White House head housekeeper in 1909, a position then equivalent to that of a majordomo. Recruited from an "exclusive New York employment bureau", she became the first female chief servant in White House history.[1][2] One of Jaffray's earliest, and most controversial, moves was to order the segregation of dining among White House staff.[1] Prior to Jaffray, Caucasian and African-American butlers and valets would dine together, while lower-ranked servants such as maids and footmen would dine separately, though also at a racially integrated table. Jaffrey ordered that the two dining tables be arranged by race, instead of rank.[3] When servants rebelled against the move she threatened mass firings, gaining their ultimate obedience. During her time at the White House she came to be regarded by employees as "a real terror".[4]

According to Major Archibald Butt, the aide de camp to President William Howard Taft, Jaffray claimed to have "seen and felt" the ghost of a child she believed was William Wallace Lincoln on several occasions in 1912, around the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The same year she would fret over the corpulent Taft's eating habits, prompting him to promise to go on a diet.[5]

Jaffray used horses as a means of transport longer than anyone else at the White House, continuing to be chauffeured in a brougham for her daily shopping excursions into the mid 1920s.[6]

Jaffray remained at the White House for 17 years and left in 1926 during the presidency of Calvin Coolidge. Jaffray had reportedly become disgusted by Coolidge's austere spending on White House entertaining; Coolidge, in turn, referred to Jaffray by the nickname "queenie". Grace Coolidge expressed relief at Jaffray's departure, musing that "she has come to consider herself the permanent resident and the President and his family transients". Following her departure Jaffray wrote Secrets of the White House. Published by Cosmopolitan, the book was a tell-all about her time at the executive mansion. She was portrayed by actress Cloris Leachman in the 1979 NBC mini-series Backstairs at the White House.[7][8]

She died May 2, 1934, and is buried in an unmarked grave in Ontario, Canada. [9][10][4]

References
  1. Hendricks, Nancy (2015). America's First Ladies. ABC-CLIO. p. 215. ISBN 978-1610698832.
  2. Bromley, Michael (2003). William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909-1913. McFarland. p. 41. ISBN 9780786414758.
  3. "Housekeeper Elizabeth Jaffray Makes Some Changes". whitehousehistory.org. White House Historical Association. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  4. Kelly, Brian (1992). Best Little Stories from the White House: More Than 100 True Stories. Montpelier. ISBN 0962487538.
  5. "White House housekeeper frets over presidential waistline". history.com. History Channel. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  6. "Working Horses at the White House". whitehousthistory.org. White House Historical Association. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  7. “Eight Stars Set for NBC’s Series on the White House.” The Los Angeles Times, 6 April 1978
  8. Hanauer, Joan.“New mini-series unveils White House family life.” Hutchinson News, 29 January 1979
  9. "Davenport Woman in the White House". Annals of Iowa. 38 (7): 558–560. Winter 1967. doi:10.17077/0003-4827.7834.
  10. Whitcomb, John (2000). Real Life at the White House. Psychology Press. pp. 276. ISBN 0415923204.
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