Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Wilson Shannon, January 20, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 20, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am collecting in the Executive Office portraits of the governors of the State. The portraits of sixteen are already on the walls of the office. Those obtained are mainly the pioneer governors — Tiffin, Meigs, Worthington, Morrow, Trimble, McArthur, and others. Some have been presented by relatives and others bought by me with my contingent fund. I am desirous to obtain your portrait. If you have one taken about the time you were governor, a copy of that would be preferred. In some cases originals have been sent by express and copied here and then returned. But, of course, your wishes will control.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE WILSON SHANNON,
        Topeka, Kansas.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 84

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.

DEAR UNCLE: — I have been in correspondence with Jay Cooke about his new town of Duluth at the head of Lake Superior. It will be the great town of that region. The Northern Pacific Railroad will begin work there next spring, and finish about three hundred miles as fast as work can do it. A railroad to St. Paul will be completed by the Fourth of July. It will then be the lake port of two-thirds of Minnesota. I want to put in five or six thousand dollars if I can raise it in the next sixty or ninety days. It will double by next fall, and may do a great deal better than that. I can buy on the most favorable terms allowed to anybody, and have my own separate property without mixing up with the company. I don't want you to bother about it at all, but if you see where notes secured by mortgage can raise the money, let me know.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 84-5

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Dr. George R. Morton, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — The present incumbent of the librarianship is a faithful, painstaking old gentleman with a family of invalid girls dependent on him. His courtesy and evident anxiety to accommodate all who visit the library have secured him the endorsement of almost all who are in the habit of using the books; and under the circumstances I cannot remove him. Old associations, your fitness, and claims draw me the other way; but you see, etc., etc.

Very sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

DR. GEORGE R. MORTON,
        North Bass, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 85

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Julius Dexter, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your note of the 29th enclosing a memorial from the Historical Society of Ohio in relation to the purchase by the State of the St. Clair papers. I will transmit the memorial to the Legislature with a favorable recommendation. There is a fair prospect of the success of the measure.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

P. S. — Personal communications to cach of your senators and members of the House will be of service.

MR. JULIUS DEXTER,
        Cincinnati, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 85

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 31, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — Having secured portraits of almost all of the early governors, I began a few weeks ago a correspondence with a view to obtaining the portraits of those who are now living. I found there would be no trouble in getting yours. Mr. L'Hommedieu undertook it, and with your friends Jay Cooke, Carson, Yeatman, Hoadly, and Spooner, proposed to present the State as fine a one as they could get. Last Friday I received by express from Chicago a capital picture, three-fourths length — the work of W. Cogswell, — which is perfectly satisfactory to all of your friends who have seen it. It is given to the State by Jay Cooke, and is the finest of the seventeen portraits in the office.

I write this note with a double object: First, to let you know what your friends intended to do, and what one of them has done; second, to learn from you where the original picture was taken — assuming this to be a copy — and by whom.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE S. P. CHASE,
        CHIEF JUSTICE, Washington.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 85-6

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Mr. A. M. Searle, February 3, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 3, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — Your favor of the 31st ult. came duly to hand. I have no information as to the chances of an Insurance Act beyond what the general public possesses. If the appointment you refer to is to be made by me the considerations you suggest will have, as you suppose, due weight. When such qualifications are found, I need hardly say, it will be no objection if the person having them is also a personal friend. Of course, it would be premature to venture on a committal until all sides are heard.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

MR. A. M. SEARLE,
        Cleveland, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 86

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to [Unidentified], February 4, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 4, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — The Soldiers' Orphans' Bill has been under consideration one day in the Senate. No serious opposition has been developed and decided support was given in quarters not heretofore relied on. I entertain no doubt of its passage within a week or ten days through the Senate, and in the House its passage is only a question of time. I anticipate the necessity of naming a board about the last of this month.

Your views of General Keifer and General Barnett are also mine. I think I gave you my notions also of Generals Buckland and Coates. Think over the good loyal Democrats for one name. A well known party man, loyal during the war but in the Democratic party, if he can be found, is preferred if friendly to the institution.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

[Unidentified.]

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 86-7

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Judge William Dickson, February 4, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 4, 1870.

DEAR JUDGE: — I am in receipt of your letter of yesterday in relation to the appointment of members of the board of trustees of the Ohio Medical College. Unless there is some reason for delay, the nominations to fill vacancies occurring January 1, 1871, should be sent to the Senate at the present session. In the absence of reason for a change, the present members should be reappointed, and the vacancy filled by a person those actively interested in the institution will name, or at least approve. I take it all this is what you wish. If you have other views as to any member, I will thank you to let me know. You need have no hesitation on account of your own name being in the list. You will be reappointed in any event, so that the only open question is as to your associates. I agree fully with your views about Drs. Wright and Dodge, and Messrs. Ball and Dutton.

Your address is good reading. The short paragraph about the waste of talent and genius in politics is of more account than perhaps you thought. Why not make it the theme of an address? The idea is often seen in sermons or the talk of non-politicians, but with your knowledge of the inside of politics, and with your ability justly to estimate a politician's value, you could make much of it.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE WILLIAM DICKSON,
        Cincinnati, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 87

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Mr. A. T. Goodman, February 4, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 5, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th as to the St. Clair papers. I hope there is a fair prospect of the passage of an act authorizing their purchase, but I am not sanguine. Of course, nobody would think of the State buying them for the Cincinnati or any other local society. If bought they will be deposited in the State Library. I agree with you that your title by discovery, if they are to be given away, would give you a claim to be considered.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

A. T. GOODMAN, ESQ.,
        Cleveland, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 88

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Jesse Hawley, February 5, 1870

COLUMBUS, February 5, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your favor of the 3d in relation [to] codifying the laws of Ohio. It is undoubtedly a great inconvenience and a serious evil that our laws are so voluminous. I quite agree with you that a revision as often as once in ten years is necessary. But I fear we shall never see our statutes again in a single volume of proper size for common use. If we can have them in two or three volumes with one index, it perhaps is doing as much as can be expected.

Very respectfully,

R. B. HAYES.

JESSE HAWLEY, ESQ.,
        Salem, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 88

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Captain Alfred E. Lee, February 16, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 16, 1870.

DEAR LEE: — Your note came during my absence north. A note to Delano from me, if my friends at Cincinnati are well informed, would do you more harm than good. But I send you a note, not addressed, in general but strong terms. I do not feel like interfering with Colonel Powell, and do not wish the note used to procure his removal. But I doubt the wisdom of your using it at all with Mr. Delano.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

CAPTAIN A. E. LEE,
        Delaware, Ohio.

_______________

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 16, 1870.

Captain A. E. Lee, of Delaware, Ohio, is a gentleman whose ability, integrity, and business experience fit him to fill with acceptance and creditably to the Administration any revenue office he is likely to desire. He has a capital record as a soldier, is a Republican whose soundness and effective work are beyond commendation. No worthier appointment could be made.

R. B. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 88-9

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, February 20, 1870

CINCINNATI, February 20, 1870.

DEAR UNCLE: — I came here to meet the Kentucky Legislature and spoke to them from the same platform with Mr. Pendleton. All satisfactory.

Just before coming Jay Cooke advised me to take my choice immediately of certain Duluth property which he could get me. I dispatched him that I would take one hundred and sixty acres for eight thousand dollars. I know nothing of terms of payment, but am satisfied that it is a great bargain. No doubt the terms of payment can be complied with somehow. It is one and one-fourth miles from the dock and depot and next to the town property.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 89

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to [Unidentified], February 22, 1870

COLUMBUS, February 22, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your "History of the Guilford Branch of the Dickeman Family," and am greatly obliged to you for it. My father came to Ohio in 1817, thus separating from all his New England relatives, and died before my birth, so that I have not had an opportunity to learn much of his family. A Hayes record was published by George W. Noyes, of the Oneida Community in the State of New York, but the fullest account of my grandmother's family I have ever seen is in your pamphlet. There is an impression in the family that Grandmother Chloe Smith Hayes was a very superior woman possessing real genius. The Mead family, all having talent as artists, trace this quality to grandmother. The most distinguished member of the family is Larkin G. Mead, a sculptor of wide reputation. You may have heard of him as the boy who made the snow statue in Brattleboro twelve or fifteen years ago. He is the sculptor and architect of the great Lincoln Monument at Springfield, Illinois, and his studio in Florence probably receives as many orders as that of any artist.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

[Unidentified.]

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 89-90

Diary of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, January 2, 1870

We have enjoyed the holidays better than ever before. All the boys at home, happy, well-behaved, and promising; little Fan a sunbeam; Lucy improved and appreciated. Our large, fine house, belonging to Judge Swayne, our re-election, and many circumstances combine to make this a time of great satisfaction and enjoyment. My inaugural, I thought of at church. To be very short; a sentence or two of acknowledgment and then, as the Constitution is to [be] amendable in my time—in my new term suggest for consideration changes as to subscription to railroads, as to temperance, as to courts, as to suffrage, as to minority representation, as to local debts—all debts.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 80-1

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Jacob D Cox, January 5, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 5, 1870.

DEAR SIR:—My attention has been called to the claim of the State of Ohio against the United States for two per cent of the net proceeds arising from the sales of public lands within the State to be expended by Congress in constructing roads. It is believed that the State has a valid claim and Mr. William A. Adams visits Washington to investigate the facts. I trust you will afford him such facilities and assistance for his work as you may deem proper.

Respectfully,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE JACOB D. COX,
        Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 81

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Senator Oliver P. Morton, January 6, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 6, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR:—In reply to your favor of the 4th: I do not regard the organization of the [Ohio] House as an indication of any new difficulty. The House contains one hundred and twelve members as at present organized. One Republican member represents a county which Democrats claim is not entitled to representation. Mr. Blakeslee, of Williams County, feels confident that he can't be ousted. One Republican seat is contested, viz., Mr. Glover, of Scioto. I am confident he is also safe. The House therefore stands, and I think will stand to the end, Republicans, straight, 53; Democrats, straight, 49; Republican Reformers 5; Democratic Reformers 5. The Democratic Reformers will probably all vote against the Fifteenth Amendment making 54 negative votes.

We regard it as certain beyond contingency that three Republican Reformers will vote for the Amendment making 56 affirmative votes, or exactly one-half of the House. The other two Republican Reformers we think will vote for the Amendment, or at the worst will refuse to vote either way. In either event the Amendment is ratified. I say probably the Democratic Reformers will vote no. Many of our friends are confident that two of them will either vote aye or refuse to vote. They and others in the Democratic party want the Amendment ratified. But I do not reckon on their help.

In short, I regard the chances as good. If you can help us in any way, do not fail to do it. The Amendment will probably not be ratified in the Senate until a week from today, January 13. It then goes to the House, and the final struggle is there. I am quite confident of success.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE O. P. MORTON,
        Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 81-2

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Senator Oliver P. Morton, January 13, 1870

Confidential.

COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 13, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR:—I think we can now give the result of the struggle on the Fifteenth Amendment. The subject is under debate in the Senate and ratification will carry when the vote is reached—probably tomorrow. In the House of one hundred and twelve members we reckon certain fifty-seven votes, fifty-three straight Republicans and the Speaker (Mr. Cunningham), Mr. Bates, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Kleinschmidt, Republican Reformers. These are all openly and decidedly now with us on the main question, and on all questions likely to affect our strength on the main question. Besides, we have the best chance for the vote of Mr. Hambleton, Republican Reformer, and some chance of getting two or three Democrats to dodge the vote.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE O. P. MORTON,
        Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 83

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to John W. Glenn, January 15, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 15, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: - I congratulate you very heartily on the result of the election in your State. Having some knowledge by reputation and otherwise of General Hamilton, Governor Pease, and Judge Bell, I felt some doubt when I last saw you as to the true condition of affairs in Texas. I was unwilling to think that those gentlemen intended to abandon the Republican Party. I regret their course. Your opinions and conduct have been fully vindicated by the issue, and I trust your services will secure you the honorable recognition which I am told your friends propose to give you.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

MR. JOHN W. GLENN,
        Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 83

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Enoch Cobb Wines, December 19, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 19, 1869.

DEAR SIR:—I am exceedingly obliged by your prompt reply to my letter as to prison reform and for the volumes of valuable documents on the subject which you forwarded. No sudden or sweeping reform will be attempted here. But we desire to encourage the formation of correct opinions and hope that a gradual but steady advance may be made towards a reformatory system. The principles of the Irish system can I believe be introduced in practice without undertaking to copy in detail a scheme which may in some of its features be unsuited to our conditions.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

E. C. WINES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 77-8

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Brevet Major General Benjamin W. Brice, December 20, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 20, 1869.

DEAR GENERAL:—A scoundrel in Wisconsin is trying to blackmail me. He claims that on the morning of Sheridan's victory of Winchester, October 19, 1864, his son deposited with me from eight hundred to one thousand dollars, money lately received for pay and veteran bounty. The boy was killed in the battle. It is all false, and I now desire to get the amounts paid to the boy between January 1, 1864, and October 19, 1864. I will pay any clerk you may set at the job of digging it up for his trouble and be greatly obliged for a statement or certificate that I can show if necessary. The boy's name was Nelson J. Leroy, private Company I, Twenty-third Regiment O. V. I.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL B. W. BRICE,
        Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 78