Community Day at Schedel Gardens in Elmore Ohio



Hayes Presidential Center display manned by Events Coordinator Joan Eckermann and Curator of Manuscripts Nan Card at beautiful Schedel Gardens during Community Day at Elmore Ohio on May 10.
Saturday was weather-perfect for organizations to publicize their events and artists to display their creations. Visitors delighted in the extraordinary natural beauty of the grounds and the lovely Celtic music by the Twisted Strands while  watching featured artist Jan Pugh founder of Packer Creek Pottery create her fabulous ceramic pieces.

Northwest Ohio Veterans Oral History Project: Preserving the Past

Northwest Ohio Veterans Oral History Project

Hayes Presidential Center

              On this Memorial Day...

"As citizens we must listen to our veterans. If we do, we will hear stories of pride and courage, anger and pain, laughter and joy. We'll hear of actions that humble and inspire us. We'll also hear of moments that break our hearts. These stories represent the best of our nation."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey

2014

 A large part of the  Hayes Presidential Center's mission has been to preserve the letters, diaries, pictures, and objects of past generations. To that end, the Hayes Presidential Center has launched the Northwest Ohio Veterans' Oral History Project. The program has met with immediate success. More than 50 veterans of WWII, Vietnam, Korea, and the Iraq War have shared their experiences and memories. 

The program focuses on recording and collecting the personal recollections of America’s war veterans in order to preserve an authentic record of wartime events from World War II to the present day.

If you or someone you know, is a military veteran or is active military and would like to participate, please contact Julie Mayle, Manuscripts Assistant (jmayle@rbhayes.org), or Nan Card, Curator of Manuscripts (ncard@rbhayes.org), at the Hayes Presidential Center, 1/800-998-7737 x239. Julie and Nan would be pleased to arrange an interview at a time and place that is convenient for you. We also would encourage participation of U S citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting the war efforts - USO workers, defense workers, WAVES, medical volunteers, etc.

We are deeply grateful to the following individuals who have helped support our efforts with financial contributions

Ann Cain

Anonymous Donor

Patty D. Pascoe
In memory of her father Christopher Dahm WWII veteran

Glenn Kuebeler

Dorothy Damore

In memory of her father Malcom Taylor WWII veterans

Kristie Miller

Privy to History: Civil War Prison Life Unearthed

              'Digs' add to prison's history

The Hayes Presidential Center’s latest exhibit - Privy to History: Civil War Prison Life Unearthed – opens May 1, 2014 for a seven-month run. Visitors are presented with new information about the Johnson's Island Civil War Prison, near Marblehead, gleaned during archaeological exploration of the prison site.
The exhibit, funded by the Sidney Frohman Foundation and the Friends & Descendants of Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison, continues through Jan. 4, 2015. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $7.50/adult, $6.50/seniors age 60+, and $3/children ages 6-12.

                                     

                                      

Privy to History: Civil War Prison Life Unearthed advances the history of Johnson’s Island with facts uncovered since the 1965 publication of “Rebels on Lake Erie” - the seminal history of the prison written by Charles E. Frohman. Collaboration with David R. Bush, Ph.D. of Heidelberg University’s Center for Historic & Military Archaeology, makes possible the display of numerous artifacts recovered from the site during excavations of the prison latrines. A visual timeline chronicles the prison’s creation, arrival and treatment of prisoners, and diversions POWs employed during their imprisonment - including jewelry making, theatrical productions, and photography. 

An episode of the History Channel’s History Detectives is included in the exhibit. It explores the amazing story of a particular Confederate officer who fashioned a camera from a tobacco box and used oyster tins to produce photographs of his fellow prisoners. 

U. S. S. CROCUS: Coast Guard Lighthouse Tender

U. S. Coast Guard Cutter CROCUS and Her Crew
date unknown
Captain Frank Hamilton Photographs
Charles E. Frohman Collection

The Crocus was built at Shooter's Island in Richmond, New York by the Townsend-Downey Company in 1905.  She was a steel-hulled Inspector's Tender assigned to duty at the 10th Lighthouse District and was based at Buffalo, New York. In 1932, she was converted to oil-fired boilers and transferred to Detroit. During WWII she was based in Toledo, Ohio, continuing her peacetime duties of servicing navigation aids. She was decommissioned in 1946.

In December 1942, she assisted the United States Coast Guard vessel Ossipee in recovering the bodies from the wrecked oil barge Cleveco and the tug Admiral after both foundered in a raging winter storm some nine miles from the harbor at Cleveland, Ohio. Loaded with nearly a million gallons of fuel oil, the Cleveco with 18 hands aboard, was being towed from Toledo to Cleveland by the tug the Admiral when suddenly the tow line went limp. The Admiral disappeared beneath the surface after encountering 18-foot waves in a blinding snowstorm.  The crew of the 260-foot barge radioed for help, but without power, they could do little more than hope for the best. The Ossippee arrived, but failed in her attempts to get a towline to the Cleveco.  A short time later, the barge and her crew met the same fate as the Admiral. In all, 32 sailors perished.

The wreck of the Cleveco remained a concern. With a full cargo of oil, an environmental catastrophe would result if a ship collided with the sunken barge. In 1961, salvage crews attempted to bring the big tanker barge to the surface and pump off the oil. Once again, bad weather played a role. Failing in their efforts, the salvage crews towed the Cleveco to deeper waters and sunk her once more. 

In 1995, leaking oil appeared on the Lake Erie surface. This time, the Coast Guard and salvage crews were successful in reaching the overturned tanker barge and pumping off more than 340,000 gallons of oil. Resting some 14 miles from Euclid, Ohio, in 78 feet of water, the  ill-fated Cleveco no longer poses a threat to the environment or as a navigational hazard. Instead she remains a popular site for shipwreck divers. 

Col. Webb C. Hayes and Mary Miller Hayes; Traveling the Pacific Rim

Traveling the Pacific Rim
Colonel Webb C. Hayes and Mary Miller Hayes
 (standing second from right) with Missionaries
1913/1914

When Colonel Webb Hayes married Mary Miller Brinkerhoff in 1912, he delighted in finding a global traveling companion. For months at a time, they traveled the world, spending brief periods between trips at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio – always their touchstone.

Before Christmas in 1913, Webb and Mary set sail aboard the S.S. Mongolia out of San Francisco. For the next six months, they toured the Pacific Rim. In the Age of Steam, their travels became longer and farther. They packed everything they would need in four steamer trunks, two suitcases, and bundles of steamer rugs. After leaving Hawaii, they booked passage on the S.S. Mauara for Australia via the Fiji Islands, New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea, the Philippines, China, Korea, and Japan.
  

The colonel reveled in seeing exotic wildlife, meeting old comrades, and sharing memories of past military campaigns. For Mary, it was a time of adventure and discovery. She rode out rough seas and the remnants of hurricane winds and rain on the steamer’s deck. She played cricket, fished, and faced the last of a small pox epidemic.
  

Well educated and a keen observer, she was fascinated with the native peoples and their “strange” cultures, customs, foods, languages and dress. The colonel happily arranged journeys by train, car, and boat far into the back country so that Mary could gain a deeper understanding of native peoples’ ways. She attended festivals, rituals, and poi dances. Sensing that the cultures and customs soon would disappear, Mary Hayes purchased sea grass steamer chairs and willow furniture. She filled her trunks with fabrics, bracelets, skirts, rattan mats, painted tea sets, blackwood carvings, beads, baskets, and bags – all with the intent of displaying them at Spiegel Grove. 

She and the colonel became immediately aware that it was the native peoples who provided the labor on large sugar, tobacco, hemp, and coconut plantations controlled by foreign powers. They questioned missionaries about education, working conditions, and entire islands that served as European penal colonies.

Steaming more than a thousand miles in three weeks, they reached the heavily fortified post at Manila and then journeyed by mail train, car, bus, sampan, ferry, and rickshaw to see former battlefields, memorials, and military posts, where Colonel Hayes had served at the turn of the century. As Colonel Hayes reminisced, Mary, ever the diarist, recorded every detail, leaving an amazing historical record. 

U.S.S. West Point During World War II

U.S.S. West Point

Originally built as the U.S.S. America, this ship was the largest merchant vessel built at the time of World War II. She was converted to a transport vessel, carrying U. S. soldiers to both the Pacific and the European theaters of the war. During WWII, she traveled more than 350.000 miles, more than 14 times around the world, transporting soldiers, the wounded, prisoners of war, and auxillary wartime personnel. Despite her mammoth size, 723 feet overall and 93 feet at the beam, the West Point was as graceful as a clipper ship. She traveled without escort around the world, even though her size made her a prime target of the enemy, particularly the wolf packs. that prowled the North Atlantic. 

Officers of the U.S.S. West Point

Her captain was Webb C. Hayes II (seated second from the right)

During one of his return trips across the North Atlantic during the winter of 1944/1945, Admiral Hayes guided her through a raging storm in which waves swelled to 50 feet. The West Point pitched and rolled. One wave struck the forward gun platform, 50 feet above the water line. The waves demolished the gun platform, crushing a gunner on lookout. Steel ladders were crumpled into shapeless debris and gun shields were ripped to shreds. Only her size and the sea worthiness of her construction allowed her to escape with only the loss of one sailor and minor damage. 

G.Is aboard the U.S.S. West Point

U.S.S. West Point transporting U.S. soldiers home from Europe after V.E. Day. The vessel had a crew of more than 800. She could carry as many as 7.,700 passengers

U.S.S. West Point
July 11, 1945
New York Harbor

Tugs nose the U.S.S. West Point  into her slip in the New York Harbor. Thousands of soldiers stand on  the top deck as they await a hero's  welcome home

U.S. S. West Point arriving in New York Harbor

July 11, 1945

These photographs are part of the Admiral Webb C. Hayes Collection at the Hayes Presidential Center

Seeking a Dream in the Far West

 

 





Captain Orin O  England
72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Vicksburg, 1863
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

General Ralph Buckland spoke of Orin England as one of his most trusted aides during his Civil War service with the72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Enlisting as a private at the age of 21, England rose rapidly through the ranks to company command. After the loss of the regimental colors at the Battle of Shiloh, it was England whom Buckland entrusted with carrying the new colors from Fremont, Ohio to the headquarters of the 72nd.  Buckland appointed the steadfast soldier his aide-de-camp and then inspector general of the Military District of Memphis.

 

But the military was not for him. After the war, England returned to Fremont and married his sweetheart Cordelia Norton. He dreamed of becoming a"tin man," better known today as the owner of a hardware store. What happened to this fine Civil War officer? Did he achieve his dream?

 

The records of the Homestead Act, signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862, held the answer. Under the act, Civil War veterans, women, African Americans, and immigrants  from throughout Europe could claim 160-acre tracts from the government by "proving up" their claims. The agreement included building a house, cultivating a portion of the ground, and living on the tract for 6 months each year for five years. No one knows how many thousands of Civil War veterans took advantage of the Homestead Act, but the deal was especially attractive for them.  The government allowed veterans to deduct their time in the military from the 5-year rule.  In ten years, homesteaders claimed more than 4 1/2 million acres!

The Homestead Act lured England and his wife west. With their 6 children, they "proved up" a tract outside Wessington Springs, South Dakota nearly a 1,000 miles from Fremont. They were part of what became known as the "Third Dakota Land Boom." This rush for land was triggered by the Great Northern Railroad that was pushing west. Also joining the boom were Charles and Caroline Ingalls, who became famous through the writings of their daughter Laura Ingalls Wilder in the "Little House" books. Their 160-acre homestead was near De Smet, a mere 70 miles from where the Englands settled. No doubt the England family faced similar hardships: backbreaking labor, loneliness, crop failures, and harsh winters.  Orin England eventually claimed three 160-acre tracts and another under the Timber Act, a law that encouraged homesteaders to plant trees.

The Homestead Act gave many Americans an opportunity for a new life, but fraud and failure were just as common.  Railroads, land jobbers, and states often acquired enormous tracts of the best lands.  Native Americas were frequently displaced and cheated. And valuable public timberlands fell prey to speculators.

One thing was certain. Homesteading made it possible for Captain Orin England to achieve his dream.  He started a successful hardware store on Wessington Springs' main street and later owned a blacksmith and woodworking shop, and a feed mill.  He helped establish a coal and grain co-op and was elected Jerauld County commissioner. The England homestead outside town became one of the finest ranches in the area.  In their last years, the Englands passed on that hardware store to the next generation and spent their final years  with their daughters in Pasadena, California's warm sunshine.

 

Mountain View Cemetery
Courtesy of Find a Grave