african-americans and the circumstances surrounding their visits. this is 1:10.

>> as we learned this morning, many did not enter service at lafayette square vounl taele vv. jefferson, madison, monroe, jackson, tyler, polk, taylor, owned slaves and brought them to the white house and from their plantations in the south. until 1862, when slavery was abolished in district of columbia slaves worked alongside paid black freemen and european servants at the white house. for most of the 19th century, the structure of the white house staff remained generally the, the same. at the top was a steward, federal employee who was bonded. the congress created this

position to safe guard the silver and furnishings in the white house. the steward was on the government pay ll lroll. it required patience, strayed tiff -- administrative ability and great sense of discretion. beneath him, maids, footmen, cooks, laborers, and about 1/3 of the servants lived there in the basements. some in a dormitory-style, some in private rooms. the steward, a number of times, as an african-american dealt with each employee and there was no specific hierarchy. most of the servants were southern blacks who had entered the president's service after a similar experience in a hotel or private residents or through a family connection, a brother, sister, parent, aunt, who was already working there. the tone of the house was

distinctly southern. pace was slow, relationships personal, and social life, and, was characterized by comfortable elegance. 20th century historical forces left their marks on the working house. as we learned from dr. crew this morning, in 1800, 86,702 inhabitants or 31% of the population of washington were black americans. forming the largest urban community of african-americans anywhere in the united states. nevertheless, racial segregat n segregation, endorsed and enforced in the tacft white houe would become an acceptable management and household policy in the white house for decades. world war i and 2 would deplete the white house resident staff as workers were called for military service. the great depression meant tight wages and war rationing, affecting the types of meals

prepared for the first family. although there was a moratorium on entertainment from 1941 to 1946 which also curtailed employee tasks, workers continued to play a vital role in the operations of the white house. first lady eleanor roosevelt, widely known for her human rights efforts, made it a point to seek out the advice and counsel of white house workers during the roosevelt administration. as a result, many white house workers encountered improved attitudes towards the household staff, and african-americans in particular. throughout the century working conditions at the white house would improve. over the 20th century, hundreds of people have worked behind the scenes at the white house, preparing family meals, serving state dinners and welcoming visitors. today a household staff of approximately 95 full-time, domestic and maintenance

employees, ushers, doormen, carpenters, plumbers, all work together under one roof to maintain and preserve the 132 room residence. many of these workers today are african-americans and many notable figures of the past have also been african americans who have spent decades employed at the white house. some of the most famous are lillian rogers parks who was a seamstress and maid who first came to the white house as a young girl helping her mother, a white house maid, during the taft administration. her tale would eventually become a book and tv mini series called "backstairs at the white house." she and other long time workers such as alonzo fields, butler mater -- mate ra de and chief

butler from 1952 to 1987, have been integral to the white house and have helped define its culture over these many years. alonzo fields eloquently observed i don't feel like a servant to a man, i feel i was a servant to my government and to my country. for more than 200 years, the white house has depended on workers, whose orgins can be traced to many nations and cultures reflecting the racial and ethnic composition of our population have kept the white house running smoothly over the years. thomas jefferson, famously employed french men, as well as irish servants. john quincy adams retained belgium. ulysses s. grant and william

howard taft brought filipino to the white house when he become president in 1909. between 1860 and 1940, waves of african-american migration from the south brought an influx of new comers to the nation's capital. almost a reverse tide as we've heard from alexander this morning. related to the forced migration of blacks southward. some found jobs in the white house and established decade long careers at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. this afternoon, we are going to hear stories of a free man enterprising labor and life on the square. and a singular event often called the white house tea incident that reflect the growing tide of black contribution to economic, social and political life in washington in the 19th and early 20th centuries. first we'll hear from don graves

a descendant of hotelier, who has spent decades researching his family's contributions. don called me out of the blue one day to inform me about his research and out of that conversation has grown a wonderful relationship with him with a goal toward integrating wormley's legacy into our studies and presentations of history on la fayette square. please welcome warmly don. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. thank you all for joining us today. thank you also to president neal horschtman, and his colleagues and staff for the opportunity to open for

public examination this relatively seldom reported aspect of 19th century life in the district. i have self designated my role in this forum as a history reporter because i come to you to report on just a few aspects of the story of the wormley family. my purpose is not to interpret but just report on a few aspects of the family and to bring forth matters of interest as evidence evidenced by historical reportage and ephemera and others contemporaneous with that era. i selected the title because only recently has will been an expanding public interest in the impactful historical existence of blacks in this area of washington. primarily through the internet and search engines such as genealogybank.com, and the existence of clarence davis and bill branch of the d.c. archive, i

can now assemble firsthand records of the details behind the existence of these every day people. this is an abbreviated story of a family free blacks who lived and worked in and around the presidents park. to help us keep track the players in the family, i will share with you a truncated version of the wormley family tree during the first full century of our nation's existence. we begin with lynch and his wife mary who reportedly came to the district in the second decade of the century. two of their sons, william and james, became the first most well-known members of the family through the middle years of the century, with james achieving the greatest prominence. in turn, james and his wife anna, raised four children in the golden era of life in washington with two of their sons, james t. and william h.a., expanding on that solid found indication into the 20th century. today we will see how the family interfaced on a daily basis with almost all of those who lived,

worked and toiled in this internationally famous yet intimate neighborhood. lynch was the illegitimate son of an unknown black woman, and ralph wormley whose wife was elizabeth talo wormley. the wormleys were a wealthy family of virginia plantation owners. whose primary residence was rosevale, in virginia, and elizabeth was the daughter of john talo, a planter who built the octagon house near here. her brother, benjamin olo talo, was a residents of la fayette park on madison place. as we will see later, this connection played in to the emergence of the wormley family as the reputation grew in the hospitality industry. most accounts indicate that lynch and his wife and his

family arrived in d.c. near the end of the water of 1812. by the 120s, lynch owned a two-story dwelling on square 66 on 18th street between pennsylvania avenue and h street. during this time, not only were blacks held as slaves in the district, free blacks were so restricted that it became nearly impossible to eke out a living except in a few narrow and closely related businesses. one enterprise available for free blacks was to enter the hat business. in order to obtain a hat license, applicants would have to show evidence of their freedom. lynch wormley was obligated to purchase such evidence even though he was reportedly always free and by 1818 already had entered in to the trade by buying carriage and harness from william galloway for $175 for this series of promissory notes. unfortunately then as now the poor were at true economic

disadvantage. in less than one year, this very same used carriage was in such disrepair that the $135 in repair costs exceeded the remaining balance of the purchase price. still owing on his initial purchase with his means of income shut down, there was no way that lynch could prevail. galloway sued him for the balance of the purchase price and repair costs in february of 1820 and seized the carriage causing lynch to be incarcerated in debtor's prison. no wonder lynch bought the certificate. the law in the district at the time required that any negro residing in the city who could not establish his or her title to freedom, quote, shall be committed to the jail of the county of washington as absconding slaves. things became so bad that lynch's house on 18th street was put up for tax sale in 1826. this practice was common for

insolvent debtors at the time. a nearby park resident, richard cutts, the comptroller of the currency in the 1820s, who originally had built the dolly madison house across the street, became unable to pay his own debts. around 1827 when threatened with imprisonment for these debts, he was forced to liquidate. cutts, by good fortune, he had a relative by marriage named president james madison who redeemed the house and thereby allowed the cutts family to retain their homestead. interestingly, as part of that cutts catastrophe, richard smith, another neighbor, and bankruptcy trustee sold another property of mr. cutts. on e street near 14th to our patriarch lynch for a new residents in livery. the early decade was a time for growing slavery

and oppression in the united states. william wormley, one of the sons of lynch, was a founding member of laurel lodge number 7 of the free masons in 1823. he and his associates, john cook and francis thatcher, formed columbian harmony society to establish a cemetery for free blacks. he also was the district of columbia agent for william lloyd garrison's abolition publication the liberator in the 130s. around that same time, he built a schoolhouse for his sister, mary, on i street between 15th and 16th for the education of free blacks which was damaged in the riots of 1835. that would be right on the next street from where we are today. anecdotely, it should be noted that, francis scott key of star spangled banner fame, who happened to be a vestrymen in this very same church, was the district attorney at the time

and was tasked with prosecuting young black man whose alleged transgressions of being drunk and attacking a white woman precipitated the snow riot. during this time, the children of lynch were actively employed. throughout the con -- community. samuel, owen, william and james were finding other means of employment by serving as laborers in the various government agencies in the immediate area while also developing the family hat business. several of the sons were paid for cleaning rooms in the treasury after its construction completion in 1 838. i'm chilled when i think of the fact that my son, don jr., who presidents council on jobs and competitiveness and an assistant second of the u.s. treasury has an office in that building where an ancestor worked as a laborer over 170 years ago. imagine working in an office as

a senior executive where a great uncle three times over was paid to clean rooms for more than a few cents a day. today we have heard much about the legacy of the decatur house. built by william and susan decatur. you may have heard about how susan fell upon hard times after the death of her husband. it is particularly germane to our discussion today as part of her way to see herself through those times, she ultimately transferred a property nearby on i between 15th and 16th to lynch and mary wormley. which hand happened to be next door to the building where he lived. she did this because she was unable to pay lynch and mary for the services by their son, john, as a servant to her. it this property was ultimately used by james wormley to be used as yet another component in this hotel enterprise. during the 20-year period lead ing up to the civil war, the wormley

family had become firmly el else -- else sconced in the hat business in the city. lynch and at least four of his sons were actively using the carriage trade as their primary business. lynch was living and operating his business on the site purchased from the cutts liquidation on e street, pier 14, with his family, right at the corner where the -- yes, the commerce building is. his eldest son, william, had been living in his house on i street for well over a decade and was listed there at least 1827. their patrons frequented the white house, capitol, various government entities and home and businesses in between. james having also been trained as a steward began to attend to the needs of most famous states men of the age. in several newspapers he's reported to have attended to