I had discovered that the Rutherford B. Hayes library in Fremont, Ohio, holds an extensive file on Johnson’s Island. I requested a few files be pulled for me. When we got there what I had requested filled a library cart with boxes of files! Tom and I began taking notes and marking some things to photocopy. The bulk of what I looked at came from a small portion of the research the late historian Roger Long had done on the prison at Johnson’s Island. His work was detailed and extensive.
Besides general information that would give me a feel for the time and place (there were several diaries kept by prisoners and even some by the guards) I was looking for two topics: slaves and baseball. I found a file from Long’s collection marked baseball, but there was little in it. Much had been mentioned in the prisoners’ diaries about a big game played between two teams of southern prisoners, but little detail. I did find a copy of a letter written by a fellow SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) to Mr. Long, so I contacted the SABR guy (as I like to call them since the organization consists mostly of men) and as I’ve found over and over again with that group, this man, John Husman, was very helpful and encouraging. He suggested I contact another man, David Bush. I’d read several articles in the files by him and knew that Bush had done extensive archeological excavations on the island. Likewise, he was very helpful when I emailed him.
I did drive the librarians a little crazy when none of us could figure out a notation Roger Long had made in his files. They may yet figure out what it means. Librarians love a good research mystery!
After lunch in the small town of Fremont, (where there was a festival and car show going on!) we returned and finished up our dig through the records. Then we went to the museum where we were able to join a tour of the Hayes mansion, which is right next door to the library. The library and museum are housed together in one building.
The home and the museum/library are located in a park called Spiegel Grove. It’s a beautiful place. There was a wedding there as we were leaving that day. President Hayes’ uncle, Sardis Birchard, constructed the original portion of the home between 1859 and 1863 as a summer home. Then the Civil War happened (Hayes received five injuries during the war) so it took ten years before Hayes and his young family moved in, and then only for two years because he off to become Governor of Ohio and then President of the United States. In 1880 several additions and renovations were made the home, including a library to hold Haye’s 12,000 books! His books are now housed at the library.
The guided tour of the house was really interesting, although we weren’t allowed to touch anything! An extensive renovation has been done by reproducing what can be seen in photographs from the days the Hayes family lived there. So much of the house looks as it must have in 1880, not old but appropriate the time period.
I learned from the tour that Lucy Hayes was the first first lady holding a college degree and the first to be referred to as “first lady.”
The first two pictures show just a small portion of the books in the main parlor. The last one is of President Hayes’s library that he designed. Remember I said his books were in the official library next door? These books were donated by the public. They put out a request for books published prior to 1900. They still need a few hundred more to fill the space!
There are 31 rooms in this house. We were not allowed to see them all, but we saw several, including the lovely light-filled dining room and several of the gorgeous bedrooms. I took a ton of photos, but here are just a few more of them.
That was a full day. We ended it with dinner at an outdoor patio. The car show had completely wrapped up by 5:00pm. It was after all, small town Ohio!
