Lt. Alfred H. Rice: 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Civil War

Lt. Alfred H. Rice

Rutherford B Hayes Library and Museums

 Alfred H. Rice, son of Robert S. Rice and Elisa Caldwell was born in Fremont, Ohio in 1840.  He enlisted in the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry with his older brother Dr. John B. Rice. He rose to the rank of lieutenant. He became ill when with the regiment during the siege of Vicksburg, His illness led to seizures.  His brother, surgeon of the 72nd, requested a medical discharge. After regaining his health, Lt. Rice returned to the regiment. However, only a short time later he once again developed seizures.

Permanently discharged after more than two years of service, Rice returned to Fremont and studied law.  He married Mary James in 1864, daughter of Isaac James. They had one daughter, Edith, born 1872. During the following years, Rice acquired a significant amount of property in and around Sandusky County. 

The couple later moved to Los Angeles. Alfred was admitted to the Los Angeles Soldiers' Home in October 1913 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. He died the following month; November 3, 1913 at the age of 74. Alfred was buried in the National Cemetery located on the grounds of the Los Angeles Soldiers' Home. Mary lived with her daughter Edith and her husband Richard Mansfield in Glendale, California.

Alfred H. Rice Grave, Los Angeles National Cemetery 

Courtesy Find a Grave

  

Davis' Boat Works, Sandusky, Ohio

 Adelbert Davis was born in 1857, the son of Sandusky, Ohio businessman Ira T. Davis. At the age of six, he became deaf after one term in public school. He attended and graduated from the Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus, Ohio.  Following graduation, he worked as a printer, clerk, quarryman and other occupations until he discovered his skills as a draftsman and carpenter.  He married Lucy Cook, who also attended the Ohio School for the Deaf, graduating in 1878.  The couple had two children; both employed at the Boat Works. He opened the Davis Boat Works around 1890, located in Sandusky at the foot of Sycamore St.  

. 

 

Davis Boat Works

Charles E. Frohman Collection

In an issue of the "Silent Worker," Mr. Davis stated that experience and brains were built into his boats.  He claimed that skilled labor, good materials, and ample shop facilities made the boat works a success. His business grew so much that orders came in from as far away as Texas, California, Maine, and Wisconsin.  

Davis agents took orders for the company for dingeys, motor boats, launches, yachts, and pleasure boats; one from St. Petersburg, Russia and another from Alexandria, Egypt.  Among his most famous yachts were the "Companion," a 55-foot power cruiser and the "L. E. R. Jr., a 65-foot power boat built entirely of mahogany.

Weldon B. Cooke

Charles E.Frohman Collection

When California aviator, Weldon B. Cooke, settled in Sandusky to create his aeroplanes, he became interested in developing hydroplanes.  It was the Davis Boat Works who converted his hulls. The "flying boats" were constructed in sections so they could be disassembled, shipped by rail, and reassembled. While Cooke's "Irene" flying boat became a local sensation, she never achieved flight.

Irene, Hydroplane

Courtesy Sandusky History Blog

Davis' Boat Works continued in business until about 1920, providing many of the boats that sailed and raced on Lake Erie. Adelbert  Davis died of pneumonia in 1937 at the age of 80 in Columbus, Ohio

Lucy Webb Hayes: College Essay

 Lucy Webb Hayes was the first First Lady to attend and graduate from college. She attended  the Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College and graduated in 1850. Below is a transcript of one of the handwritten  essays she was assigned to write during her years in college.  This essay is one of several preserved in her collection at the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums. It is undated.

Lucy Webb Hayes

Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

Does gentility always imply morality.

 

What connection is there between gentility; and morality?  The one has reference only to the manner, appearance and society. But what does it mean? It is an expression which we hear daily, and hourly; who of us has not asked the question, when speaking of strangers, are they of a genteel family, are they genteel looking and thousands of others questions, concerning their gentility, which must be ascertained before they are admitted to our companionship.  How much importance attached to a word of nine letters. But in the eyes of many it is one of the most important words in the world, from the estimation in which they hold them who possess a large share of it.

Morality refers to the character & it too is a very common expression though not considered as important as the former.  It does not imply religion, though a religious person must necessarily be moral, but a moral man may  be far from living religious.

In the sense that we understand it, it refers to freedom from any degrading vices, to which one may be addicted, he is a very moral man, this would be a good recommendation to anyone, for by it we know that their life had been free from any disgraceful act conduct But to return, Does gentility always imply morality?  For answer to this go with me and visit some of the very genteel of the world possessed of of beauty added to their other advantages. They are received into the best society, and indeed while in the presence of ladies, may appear to be very moral.  But observe them when with old companions.  Are they characterized by any moral traits, no on the contrary we would be shocked at the depravity and wickedness which they disclose when unmasked. 

This leads me to think of the folly and wrong we share when judging by the external appearance.  The dress may be faultless, the manners unexceptionable, and yet it may conceal a nature deeply depraved, and a mind which has no just standard of good, or appreciation of merit.

And how often in the scriptures are we warned against trusting to external appearance, one passage which occurs to my mind, “Where the outside is clean, but within they are full of all manner of wickedness and uncleanness.  But what will constitute a genteel gentleman and lady, of the present day.  

First, The gentleman must have a coat cut in the latest style, fitting neatly his slender form, high heeled and long toed boots, and an abundance of all sweet smelling perfumes, and last but not least the drawling tone of voice, affected gait, and tie of the cravat, but the education, oh that is finished when he arrived came to the pictures in the old spelling book and, learned the multiplication table. A lady should be dressed in the latest Parisian mode, no matter how indelicate or inappropriate to the time or place, from the esteem in which most are held we are led to think, that the dress and manner are all that is necessary to constitute a genteel person or gentility; 

And if this be the case we can rest assured that possessing a great degree of gentility, they may be totally with out morality. Would you expect to find a moral man frequenting the theater, gambling house, or bar room, and the various places of sinful amusements with which our city abounds.  However genteel they may appear, the fact of their visiting such places, would take from them any claim to morality. These very genteel persons think it beneath their dignity, to attend the house of God, and would be horrified at the idea of lending the helping hand to the poor and unfortunate, and think it derogatory, to their character to be engaged in any business, glorying in the title of a genteel young loafer.

 

Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College

Hayes Presidential Library and Museums