Biography

Frances Miller Seward (FMS) mentions in letter dated April 26th, 1856 that she has visited Gautier's in preparation for dinner Henry is hosting in Washington, D.C. ***Excerpt from blog entry, Streets of Washington - "How Sweet it Was: Washington's Caterer-Confectioners," posted 13 June 2014: "One of the most prominent of mid 19th century caterer/confectioners was Charles Gautier (1811-1884), who had immigrated to the U.S. in 1838. In 1846, Gautier advertised a “Great Christmas Display” at his Ville de Paris on the northeast corner of 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, promising he could “supply parties and balls with every thing that is rich and good and needed on such occasions, at reasonable rates.” He invited visitors to see his display of “a large number of superb Cakes, most tastefully and richly ornamented, ranging in weight from five pounds up to near twelve hundred pounds!” The Evening Star’s James Croggon recalled that Gautier’s Christmas display also included handsomely dressed dolls, which drew admiring crowds. Gautier was a master of haute cuisine. He catered inaugural parties for James Buchanan in 1857 and Abraham Lincoln in 1861. When not catering enormous parties, Gautier tended to his elegant restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue. 

A March 1865 advertisement proclaimed Gautier’s to be “the restaurant of this city, where a gentleman can take a lady to enjoy the luxuries of the season, as no improper characters are admitted here.” Ironically, that very month, one of the most improper characters in U.S. history, John Wilkes Booth, had met with his co-conspirators at Gautier's to plan the kidnapping of President Lincoln. Gautier was later questioned about the plotters, but he had no involvement in the conspiracy. After the war, Gautier got out of the confectionary and catering business and concentrated on wholesale liquor sales, including his trademarked Native Wine Bitters. He died at his home in Washington in 1884.