FREMONT – During an Aug. 9 gathering of descendants of 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, the Hayes Presidential Center was recipient of a pair of personal items belonging to the President and his wife.
 
Stephen A. Hayes, great-great-grandson of the President, presented a cased photograph and a diamond bracelet to Hayes Presidential Center Executive Director Thomas Culbertson.

Stephen Hayes, his wife Theo and daughter Elizabeth chose to make the presentation during “Celebrating Presidential Memories,” an all-day public event that featured the first-ever meeting of descendants and relatives of Rutherford B. and Lucy Hayes. He explained that the tintype photo-graph contained in a hinged case belonged to Rutherford Hayes. The image is of the President’s beloved wife Lucy.

“He carried this photograph in his pocket where ever he went … during the Civil War, in the White House … everywhere,” said Mr. Hayes.

The tiny portrait is a profile of Lucy Hayes, taken when she was a young woman. It most likely was copied to a tintype format from an original albumen photograph. Commonly referred to as a “cased photograph” its thick, two-sided plastic frame was especially popular during the Civil War.

Theo Hayes offered a brief history of the diamond bracelet that belonged to Lucy Webb Hayes. She said the item of jewelry was a gift from President Hayes to his wife on the occasion of his in-auguration as our nation’s 19th president. Although now refashioned into a wide bangle bracelet, the diamonds are those from Lucy’s original narrow-band wrist adornment.

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center is located at the corner of Hayes and Buckland avenues in Fremont. For more information call 800-998-PRES or visit www.rbhayes.org.

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