White House Historical Association

Ella F. Sampson

Ask a Historian Download as PDF
Cite this Page
"Ella F. Sampson," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whitehouseworkers.org/Detail/workers/925.
Position
Maid
Years in President's House
circa 1939 – circa 1940
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidency
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Biography
Ella F. Sampson was born around 1908 in South Carolina.1 Around 1939, she joined the White House staff as a replacement for maid Katurah Brooks; she is also listed there in the 1940 Federal Census.2 According to White House Maid Lillian Rogers Parks, she was an “out-of-work schoolteacher” impacted by the Great Depression. Sampson worked on the Second Floor and lived on the Third Floor.3 Further information about her life is scarce, including the length of her service in the White House.
  1.  Ella F. Sompson in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00555; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 1-74, Ancestry.com.
  2. Lillian Rogers Parks, The Roosevelts: A Family in Turmoil (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1981), pg. 35 and 43.
  3. Ibid. Note– it appears that she has no relation to White House Head Butler Ellis Sampson, who worked there during the Hoover era.
Birthplace
South Carolina, USA
Burial Place
Unclear from Context
Blue markers indicate birthplaces and green markers indicate burial places. Black markers are used for places of both birth and burial.
Related Workers
Lillian Rogers Parks
Maid, 1929 – 1960
Katurah S. Brooks
Maid, Kitchen Assitant, 1931 – 1939