Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth president of the United States, was the fifth child born to Rutherford and Sophia Birchard Hayes. He was born October 4, 1822, at Delaware, Ohio, about two months after the death of his father. His parents had come to Ohio in 1817 from Dummerston, Vermont. [31]

Young Rutherford and his sister Fanny Arabella were raised by their mother and her younger bachelor brother Sardis Birchard. He was a successful businessman in Lower Sandusky (later Fremont), Ohio. Hayes attended school in Delaware and Norwalk, Ohio, and Middletown, Connecticut. In 1842, Hayes graduated from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, valedictorian of his class. After a year of study in a Columbus law office, he entered Harvard Law School and received his degree in 1845. He began his law practice in Lower Sandusky. Not finding many opportunities there, he left in 1849 for Cincinnati, where he became a successful lawyer. His opposition to slavery drew him into the Republican Party. [32]

Hayes fought in the Civil War, was wounded in action, and rose to the rank of brevet major general. While he was still in the Army, Cincinnati Republicans ran him for the House of Representatives. He accepted the nomination, but would not campaign, explaining, “an officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer… ought to be scalped.”

Elected by a heavy majority, Hayes entered Congress in December 1865, troubled by the “Rebel influences … ruling the White House.” Between 1867 and 1876 he served three terms as Governor of Ohio.[70]