Rutherford Hayes Platt Collection at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

Rutherford Hayes Platt

Hayes-32

Introduction

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content

Inventory

Introduction

The Rutherford Hayes Platt Collection was donated by David D. Platt and Mrs. Robert S. (Nancy) Platt in 2000 and 2001. Joan Evans Taylor, a descendant of Laura Platt Mitchell, donated several additional letters to the collection in 2002. For further information on the Platt family, see the Platt/Day Families Collection (Hayes-27).

Biographical Sketch

Rutherford Hayes Platt (1853-1928) was the only surviving son and youngest child of William A. and Fanny Arabella Hayes Platt. Named for his uncle, President Rutherford B. Hayes, Rutherford Hayes Platt was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1853. He attended Phillips-Andover and then traveled abroad from 1874-1876 studying languages and literature at the University of Hanover. He returned to the United States and entered New York’s Columbia Law School, graduating in 1879. He practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, from 1879 until his retirement in 1913. From 1891-1895, he was a professor of law at The Ohio State University. He was a member of the board of directors of the Columbus Workhouse and the Board of State Charities, a trustee of the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, and chairman of the Franklin County Draft Board (1917-1919), and a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and the Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus. From 1914 until his death in 1928, he was president of the Columbus and Xenia Railroad.

He married Maryette Andrews Smith (1863-1929) in Columbus in January 1887. She was the daughter of Captain Robert Swanton Smith (1836-1912), and Ann Floyd Swan Smith. Captain Smith served in the regular United States Cavalry during the Civil War and was later the counsel and secretary-treasurer for the Columbus-Xenia Railroad. Maryette’s maternal grandfather was Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joseph R. Swan. Of the six children of Rutherford Hayes and Maryette Andrews Smith Platt, four survived to adulthood: Robert Swanton, Rutherford Hayes, Jr., Joseph Swan, and Emily (Mrs. W. Ellsbury Benua). Ann Swan and William Andrews died in infancy.

Justice Swan was born in 1802 and settled in Columbus, Ohio, where he practiced law in the firm of his uncle Gustavus Swan. Judge Joseph R. Swan was the son of Jonathon (1770-1820) and Sarah Rockwell Swan (1777-1871). He served as Franklin County prosecutor and was then appointed to a judicial circuit. Swan was well known as the editor of Swan’s Treatise. He married Hannah Anne Andrews in 1832. The Swan family was Irish Presbyterian from Ulster, Ireland and had settled in Peterboro, New Hampshire, by 1750. Jonathon Swan joined the Society of Friends and moved his family to Aurora, New York, around 1810 where Judge Swan spent much of his childhood. Swan died in Columbus, Ohio in 1884.

Rutherford Hayes Platt had three older sisters: Laura Arabella (1842-1916), who married General John Grant Mitchell; Fanny Hayes (1847-1896), who married Dr. Erskine Fullerton; and Emily Hayes (1853-1928), who married General Russell Hastings.

Scope and Content

The collection is comprised largely of family correspondence, including five letters from Rutherford Hayes Platt’s mother Fanny Hayes Platt, and two letters by William A. Platt. Several documents, vouchers, and invoices of William A. Platt are included as well. The bulk of the collection is the correspondence of Rutherford Hayes Platt and wife Maryette Andrews Smith Platt to Rutherford’s older sister, Mrs. Russell (Emily Platt) Hastings, then living in Bermuda. The correspondence begins in 1882 and extends to 1915. Topics included family property; plans for visits, travels, vacations, family traditions; children’s activities; and health. Letters, documents, and clippings preserved by Rutherford Hayes Platt are also a part of the collection.

The collection contains information about Maryette Andrews Smith Platt’s ancestors, the Andrews and Swan families, including several sermons written by Reverend Samuel Andrews (1737-1818). Andrews, an Anglican priest was born in Meriden, Connecticut, and served as a missionary at Wallingford, Connecticut. He was forced to flee the country with members of his parish during the American Revolution. He settled in New Brunswick, Canada, and was the first rector of the Anglican Church at St. Andrews, N. B. The sermons date from 1793 to 1812. A printed memorial entitled A Discourse Delivered at the Funeral of Captain Lothrop Tyler by Reverend Samuel Andrews, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1775 is also part of the Reverend Samuel Andrews’ material. More than fifty family photographs round out the collection.

The collection provides minimal information on the business and legal career of Rutherford Hayes Platt; however, it does offer insights into the personal lives of Platt, his mother, and his siblings as well as information about his wife’s family, particularly the Swan and Andrews ancestors.

Inventory

Ac. 5500, 5511. 5557

3/4 linear ft.

Box 1

1. Correspondence of Fanny Hayes Platt, 1840 - 1854
        FHP to William A. Platt, May [n. d.] [Ac. 5557]
        FHP to William A. Platt, July 3, 1840
        FHP to Miss Harriet Platt, "summer evening coming" 1843
        FHP to Harriet Platt Solace, October 4, 1846
        FHP to Harriet Platt Solace, November 15, 1846
        FHP to Harriet Platt Solace, August 24, 1851
        FHP to Harriet Platt Solace, December 30, 1854

2. Correspondence of William A. Platt, 1856 - 1862
        WAP to Laura Platt Hickok, August 3, 1856 (re: death of wife Fanny Hayes Platt)
        Herron, John J. to William A. Platt, September 16, 1862 (re: Hayes’ Civil War wound) [Ac. 5557]
        Bank notes (1830s - 1850s), bank book, Sandusky Tool Company stock purchase.
        Esther Institute Certificates
        Columbus Astronomical Society

5. Correspondence of Maryette Andrews Smith Platt, 1886-1906
        MAP to Emily Platt Hastings, November 14, 1886
        MAP to Emily Platt Hastings, January 15, 1887
        MAP to Mrs. Robert S. Smith, January 20, [ 1887]
        MAP to Emily Platt Hastings, March 21, 1887
        MAP to Emily Platt Hastings, [1906]
        MAP to Emily Platt Hastings, August 4, 1907

6. Correspondence of Erskine Fullerton, 1909
EF to Emily Platt Hastings, June 30, 1909

7. William Dean Howells to R. H. Platt, October 31, 1928

8. Phillips Academy RHP Term Report, Nov. 12, 1869 [Ac. 5557]; Miscellaneous Correspondence

9. Clippings and Essays, World War I, Rutherford Hayes Platt

10. Special Occasion Poems, Rutherford Hayes Platt

11. Notes, Essays: Religion, philosophy, literature, Rutherford Hayes Platt

12. Notes, Essays: Government, politics, Rutherford Hayes Platt

13. Notes: Hospitals, Rutherford Hayes Platt

14. News Clippings: 1913-1927, Rutherford Hayes Platt

15. News Clippings: 1880's, General Russell Hastings

16. Swan Family: History and Correspondence
        A. Judge Joseph Rockwell Swan; 1858 letter to his wife and children, written during a nostalgic visit to
             his childhood home to Aurora, New York, where his father Jonathon had moved when Joseph was
             seven years old.. The letter provides reminiscences of his childhood, information about early
             Aurora landscape, old friends and family members.
        B. 1865 letter written by Joseph R. Swan, Jr. to his mother re: a trip to Nantucket Island and New
             England.
        C. Memorial, Mrs. Robert Ann Floyd Swan Smith, 1909
        D. Correspondence from Jonathon Swan of Aurora, New York to his son Joseph R. Swan, 1819.
        E. Letter from Hanna Anna Andrews Swan to her daughter Ann Floyd Swan Smith, ca. 1860s.

17. Andrews Family
        A. Family History
        B. Sermons of Reverend Samuel Andrews
        C. Mr. Andrew’s Discourse, at the Funeral of Capt. Tyler, 1775.

18. Andrews Family
A. Character sketch of Hanna Anne Andrews Swan

19. Printed Memorials and Obituaries
        A. In Memoriam: Robert Swanton Smith, [1912]
        B. Memorial Address Spoke at the Dedication of the Andrews Memorial Tablet in Trinity
            Church, Columbus, Ohio, February 7,1901, [John Whiting Andrews]
        C. First Principles [Hugh Miller Thompson]; Sermon Preached in St. Luke’s Church,
            Lanesborough, Massachusetts, October, 16, 1892, on the 125^th Anniversary of the
            Organization of the Parish by Rev. Charles J. Palmer.
        D. Rutherford B. Hayes printed memorial
        E. Rutherford Hayes Platt biographical sketch
        F. Rutherford Hayes Platt obituary
        G. Laura Platt Mitchell printed memorial

Box 2

Photographs
1. Hastings family
2. Laura Mitchell
3. John Grant Mitchell, Jr.
4. Barry Wall
5. Lucy Webb Hayes and Rutherford Birchard Hayes
6. William A. Platt; children, Laura; Willie
7. Rutherford Hayes Platt
8. Maryette Andrews Smith Platt
9. Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. (Ann Floyd Swan) Smith
10. Swan family members
11. Neave family members
12. Andrews family members
13. Unidentified Images

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