State Dinner at the White House, March
9, 1871. The shorter man in the lower left foreground,
facing right, is believed to be Valentino Melah. Frank
Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper April
1, 1871; hand-colored 1960s.
|
|
The frigate United States left
Port Mahone, Sicily, on December 25, 1834.
On board was an orphan boy about seven years
of age, Valentino Melah, bound for New York.
His fortunes would lead him into the hotel
business in Manhattan (the Astor House),
New Orleans (the St. Charles), Long Branch,
New Jersey (the Stetson), and his own establishment
in Yonkers, New York.
It was from the Stetson in Long Branch, where
President Ulysses S. Grant had a resort home,
that Melah came to Washington to be the White
House steward.
Newspaperwoman Mary Clemmer Ames observed in
1871 that Melah was known around Washington
as the “Silver Voiced Italian.” Ames
credited him with the signature White House
recipe for a smooth and “aristocratic” stew
that lent untold elegance to the 29-course
State dinners for which he was renowned.
But President Grant was a man of simple tastes
and careful economy. By 1871 he had begun to
ease Melah out. Valentino Melah left Washington
for Chicago, where he died in 1872.
Read more:
Mary Clemmer [Ames], Ten
Years in Washington (Hartford:
Worthington, 1874), 171–172.
Also see Emily Edson Briggs, The Olivia
Letters, Being Some History Of Washington
City For Forty Years As Told By The Letters Of
A Newspaper Correspondent (New
York and Washington: Neale): 204–205. |
