Local History Collections

(Description ID: 607477)

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums  

Sally R. (Smith) Hutchinson  

LH-457

Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory 

Introduction
This collection was donated to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in 2022. 

Biographical Sketch
Sally Rose (Smith) Hutchinson was born October 21, 1931, in Bradner, Ohio.  She was the oldest daughter of Virgil Milton Smith (1920-2005) and Rosa Burgher (1920-2010).  She attended school in Bradner, Ohio and graduated from Montgomery Local High School in Wayne, Ohio, in 1957. She married James L. Hiser on 27 July 1957 and they divorced in 1966. Sally married Richard “Dick” Martin Hutchinson in 1967 and they remained devoted companions until he passed away in Sept. 2009.  Sally was known as “an avid gardener, a passionate nature conservationist, and a lifelong animal lover, especially her dogs. She loved reading, solving crossword puzzles, and writing letters to her many friends and family.”  She worked with her second cousin James R. Blum to compile family history for their Smith ancestors, completing most of their work during the 1990s.  Sally passed away April 15, 2022, in Lima, Ohio. 

Scope and Content
This set of genealogy scrapbooks was compiled by second cousins Sally Rose (Smith) Hutchinson and James R. Blum (their common great-grandparents were Richard Smith, Jr. [1844-1933] and Margaret Ann Von Thurn [1847-1923]).  Hutchinson and Blum engaged in widespread correspondence with extended family members, and included many of their findings on branches of their family tree in the various binders.  Photographs in the collection include prints of family headstones, pictures of individuals and families (historic and modern), and photocopies or prints of locations important to the family.  Important milestone family documents including; deeds, military service records, marriage and birth certificates, and death records are included with newspaper clippings and photocopies of local history volumes relating to the same events. Sally annotated photocopies and group sheets, and saved scraps of paper on which she had jotted questions, discoveries, and noteworthy items.   For example, of particular interest in Binder 3 are Sally’s research notes on family scandals (including rumors that Margaret Esther Smith murdered two husbands, and Jacob Van Thorn’s indictment for murder—to which another relative confessed on his deathbed). 

The scrapbooks are organized in reverse chronological order, with the most recent items (ca. 2010s) appearing in Binder 1 and the oldest (1500s) in Binder 5.  The bulk of the collection covers 19^th and 20^th Century family history in North America, England, and Germany. 

Most items were kept in the original plastic sleeves used by Sally R. (Smith) Hutchinson, and transferred into new binders. Some loose items, mostly photographs, were removed and placed in separate folders as indicated in the inventory.  

Box 1

Binder 1:  “The Virgil Smiths, 1920-2010, Volume I, by James R Blum & Sally R Hutchinson – Burgher, Haney, Carpenter” 

Family history group sheets, photographs, memoirs, correspondence, and other documents relating to ancestors & descendants (and their spouses) of Virgil Milton Smith and Rosa Marie Burgher.

Select individuals:

• Virgil Milton Smith
• Abraham Burgher
• Cornelius E. Burgher
• Martin Seiple
• Jacob Burgher
• Hazel (Burgher) Bragg
• Paul E. Burgher
• Mildred Burgher
• Anna Carpenter
• Violet Elsie Burgher
• Sally Rose (Smith) Hutchinson
• James L. Hiser
• Richard M. Hutchinson,
• Brian J. (Hiser) Hutchinson
• Ellen Rose (Hiser) Hutchinson-Burt
• Thomas Robert Burt
• Thomas J. Burt
• Gary Daniel Smith
• Wayne Allen Smith
• Jeffrey Lynn Dobbins
• Elisabeth Anne Smith
• Jeffrey Milton Smith
• Jennifer Marie Smith
• Rebecca Loraine Smith
• Brenda Kay Smith
• Steven J. Smith
• William Frueh
• Leyna LeAnn Smith 

Binder 2:  “The Smiths, 1878-1964, Volume II:  Benjamin, by James Blum & Sally Smith Hutchinson – Purcells, Harmon Isbell, George W. Garner, Mary Zimmerman, Henry D. Basor”

Family history group sheets, photographs, memoirs, correspondence, and other documents relating to ancestors & descendants (and their spouses) of Benjamin Louis Smith and Maud S. Garner.

Select individuals:

• Benjamin Louis Smith
• Richard Smith
• Rosanna/Rosehannah Howes Smith
• Richard Smith Jr.
• Daniel A. Smith
• Maxine Smith Blum
• William Isaac Garner
• John Purcell
• Emma (Purcell) Garner
• John Wesley Purcell
• Mariah Basor
• Harmon Isbell
• William W. Isbell
• Ruie Isbell
• Fred Stahler
• George W. Garner
• Mary Zimmerman
• Doris Leone Childs
• Floyd Garner
• Verna Eleta Garner
• Henry D. Basor
• Sarrah Basor
• Evelyn M (Parker) Barefoot
• Maria/Mariah (Basor) Purcell
• Patrick Ryan
• Archibald Purcell
• Albion Isebell
• Lucille Smith
• James Alderman Holcomb
• David Delmar Holcomb
• David Smith
• Ezekial Holcomb
• Thomas Holcomb
• David (Davy) Holcomb
• Richard Angus Holcomb
• Merle Holcomb
• George Holcomb
• William Holcomb
• Michael D. Holcomb
• John Holcomb
• Richard Smith Jr.
• Richard Smith
• Dolores Mae (Smith) Walker
• Benjamin Richard Smith
• James Edward Holcomb, Sr.
• Kenneth Edward Smith
• Herbert Floyd Smith
• David Paul Smith
• William Ogden Zimmerman, Sr.
• Norwood Lee Smith
• John Fletcher Lippert
• Harry Stiger
• Paula Jean Smith Lippert
• Robert Louis Smith
• William Thomas Rohrbach
• Sue (Smith) Rohrbach
• Jerry Clint Smith
• Benjamin Louis Smith, Jr.
• James L. Alcorn
• Grace (Smith) Alcorn
• Marvin J. Fisher
• Judith (Alcorn) Fisher 

Folder 1: Correspondence, 1962-2006 (20 items)

Folder 2: “Old Time Favorites” of Virgil Milton Smith (23 pp.)

Folder 3: Maud S. Garner Smith Memo Book (photocopy)

Folder 4: Photographs (9 items)

Folder 5:  Binder 1 – Loose items (65 items)

Folder 5:  Binders 2, 3, 4 – Loose items (57 items)

Folder 6: Binders 4&5 – Loose items (textual) (2 items)

Folder 7: Book – Civil War Soldiers buried in Wood County, OH (removed from Binder 4)

Folder 8: Resource Binder materials (17 pp.)

Folder 9: “Extra Copies” binder (16 pp.)

Folder 10: Ephemera (3 items) 

Box 2

Binder 3:  “The Smiths, 1844-1933, Volume III: Richard, compiled by James Blum & Sally Smith-Hutchinson – Von Thurn, Jacob, Catherine”

Family history group sheets, photographs, memoirs, correspondence, and other documents relating to ancestors & descendants (and their spouses) of Richard Smith and Margaret Ann von Thurn. 

Select individuals:

• Richard Smith Jr.
• Margaret Ann Von Thurn
• David Smith
• Daniel Alexander Smith
• Rosehannah Smith
• Harry W. Wolfe
• Rose Smith Wolfe
• Ethel Wolfe Jacobs
• Clarence Jacobs
• Margaret Esther (Smith) Hull
• Jesse Freedom Steinman
• Merritt A. Hull
• Jacob R. Smith
• Sara Etta Smith
• Michael Bruce Smith
• Benjamin Ludwig (Louis) Smith
• Warren Thomas Smith
• Haven DeWitt Smith
• James Blum
• Johann Jacob/Jakob von Thurn
• Nicholas Waggoner
• Johann Friedrich Adam von Thurn/ Frederick Adam Thurn
• Maria Catharina Hopfinger
• Maria Katharina Waggoner/Wagner
• Johannes Leonhard Hopfinger
• Juliana Elisabeth Becker
• Conrad von Thurn
• Margaretha Schmidt (Smith)
• Fred H. Thurn
• Mary (Mollie) Von Thurn
• Rose (Von Thurn) Koons
• Charles Koons
• George Von Thurn 

Binder 4:  “Smiths, vol. IV: Richard, 1817 – England, Germany – Rosehannah Howse – by James Blum & Sally Smith Hutchinson”

Family history group sheets, photographs, correspondence, and other documents relating to ancestors & descendants (and their spouses) of Richard Smith and Rosehannah Howe.

Select individuals:

• Alexander Smith
• William J. Smith
• Annie Rowe Smith
• Richard Smith (Sr.)
• Rose Anna/Rosannah/Roshannah/Rosehannah Howes/Howse/Howe
• David Smith
• James Smith
• Arthur Lee Smith
• Anna (McKelsey) Smith
• William Albert Bowser
• John Donnel
• James Donnel Sr.
• George W. Peterson
• Leah (Smith) Peterson
• James Lewis Donnel
• John William Smith
• George Albert Smith
• Eliza Jane Currier
• Rosa Jane Smith
• Charles Henry Dixon
• Edward Howes
• W. Howes
• John Harrison
• Edmund Rowe
• John Smith
• William James Smith
• Jedediah Strong Smith 

Binder 5:  “The Smiths, Volume V: William, Ann, 1786-1620, compiled by James Blum & Sally Smith Hutchinson”

Family history group sheets, photographs, correspondence, and other documents relating to ancestors & descendants (and their spouses) of William J. Smith and Ann Rowe Smith

Select individuals:

• James Smith
• Alice Hayes
• William James Smith
• Ann/Anne (Roe/Row/Rowe) Smith
• David Smith
• Richard Smith
• John Smith
• Jedediah Strong Smith
• Captain John Smith 

Additional items in Box 2

• Certificate of Baptism for Mrs. B.L. Smith, Feb. 7, 1912
• Marriage Certificate of Benjamin L. Smith and Maud S. Garner, March 17, 1902
• Land grant certificate of Jacob Blantz, Erie County, New York, Dec. 7, 1835 (photocopy)
• Deed for cemetery lots 131, 136 (photocopy)
• Richard Smith promissory note, Sept. 15, 1910 (photocopy)
• Deed for cemetery lots 4, 5 (photocopy)
• Richard Smith mortgage deed, Sept. 15, 1910 (photocopy) (3 pp.)

Loose Material (unboxed): Land grant certificate of Jacob Plantz, Sandusky County, Ohio, April 21, 1835 (photocopy)