Rutherford B. Hayes Collections

(Description ID: 594030)

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

Day-Platt Families

HAYES-27

Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory
Addenda

Introduction
Descendant David D. Platt donated the Platt/Day manuscript material to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in 1998 and 2001. For further information on the Platt family, see the Rutherford Hayes Platt Collection (Hayes-32).

Biographical Sketch
Rutherford Hayes Platt, son of William Augustus and Fanny Hayes Platt, was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1853. In 1887, he married Maryette Andrews Smith, the daughter of Captain and Mrs. Robert Swanton Smith and the granddaughter of Judge Joseph Swan. They were the parents of six children, including Joseph Swan Platt, born in 1902. Joseph S. Platt was a partner in the Columbus law firm of Porter, Stanley, Platt & Arthur. He married Margaret Hubbell Day, daughter of Ohio Supreme Court Judge Robert H. Day and granddaughter of Ohio Supreme Court Judge Luther Day. She was also the niece of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William R. Day. They were the parents of five children, including David Day Platt, born in 1942.
Scope and Content

The Platt-Day Collection consists primarily of undated images of members of the Platt and Day families. Those images that are dated span the years from 1861 to 1943. The bulk of the approximately 105 images are of Mrs. Joseph (Margaret Hubbell Day) S. Platt’s relatives. They include daguerreotypes, carte de visites, and cabinet cards as well as twentieth century formal portraits. Several miscellaneous items, including certificates, posters, and a speech, round out the collection. The photographs have been indexed in the Hayes Photographic Database.

In addition to the photographs, eight letters written by James H. Hunt to his father Salmon Hunt and sister Helen Hunt during the Civil War were added to the collection in 2001. Hunt enlisted from Stark County, Ohio, in the 19^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a musician. He ran away from his Massillon, Ohio, home, using his father’s watch to cover some of his enlistment expenses. Hunt took part in the Battle of Stone’s River and was at Nashville, Chattanooga, and the Atlanta Campaign. Hunt became part of the Quartermaster’s Department of the Third Brigade, First Division. His letters provide brief descriptions of war-torn Atlanta and the fearful state of its residents. Hunt survived the war and returned to Massillon where he eventually took over his father’s interests in the First National Bank He married Clara Zerbe and together they had a son, Per Lee, and daughters Mary Louise and Helen (also known as Nell). Mary Louise married Judge Robert H. Day and were the parents of two daughters, Margaret Hubbell Day Platt and Elizabeth Hunt Day.

Hunt’s papers also include a memorandum (author unidentified) of a "trip to the Falls of St. Anthony" in August of 1861. A second group of Hunt’s papers include his will, estate inventory, final accounting, and correspondence regarding the distribution of his estate, a well as shares, stock certificates, checks, and bank statements for the First National Bank of Massillon.

For more information on the Platt and Day families, see: Biographical Files and information compiled on the Platt Family in the Hayes Presidential Center Library.

Inventory
Ac. 5458

BOX 1

Carte de visite album, daguerreotypes, and small framed images
Brayton, Edward S.
Hayes, Lucy Webb

BOX 2

Hastings, Emily Platt
Smith, Robert Swanton
Platt, Rutherford Hayes
Brown, Mrs. Walter Wood
Swan, Jane Parsons
Swan, Sophia M.
Edwards, C. Roxa
Wilcox, Milton
Wilcox, Starling
Platt, Maryette Andrews Smith
Swan, Joseph Rockwell II

BOX 3

Folder 1 - Platt-Smith:
   Platt, Rutherford Hayes
   Platt, Joseph Swan
   Platt, Maryette Andrews Smith

Folder 2 - Day:
   Day, William
   Day, Marie Hunt
   Day, Robert Henry
   Day, Luther
   Day, Elizabeth
   Day, Ellen Isabelle Barnes

Folder 3 - Elizabeth Day:
   Day, Elizabeth Hunt
   Day, Margaret
   Day, Ellen Barnes
   Day, Mrs. Hunt
   Zerbe, Christina Gorgas
   Hunt, Clara Zerbe

Folder 4 - Margaret Day:
   Day, Margaret (Platt)
   Day, Mary Hunt
   Day, Elizabeth
   Platt, Emily (Hilburn)

Folder 5 - Hunt-Day:
   Hunt, Katherine (Allman)
   Allman, Margaret (daughter of Katherine)
   Hunt, Helen (Rinald)
   Rinald, David (son of Helen)
   Hunt, Anne (Ketterer)
   Hunt, Per Lee
   Day, Robert H.
   Day, David B.
   Day, Charles F.
   Day, Mary Hunt
   Platt, Joseph
   Day, Margaret Platt
   Hunt, Anna Day
   Day, Mary Burton Berryman

Folder 6 - Miscellaneous:
   Zerbe, Jerome Bayliss
   Strong, Ursula
   Ingersoll, Col.
   Smith College women, 1921-1922

Folder 7:
   James H. Hunt: Civil War correspondence, pension and G. A. R. material [Ac. 5540]

Folder 8:
   James H. Hunt: Will, estate papers, and bank statements [Ac. 5540]

BOX 4
Platt, Rutherford Hayes
Miscellaneous certificates- Robert H. Day, 1902, 1916

Oversize
Poster (2)
Some Prominent Members of the Ohio Bar

Transferred to Museum: Four frames and an engraving plate: Rutherford Hayes Platt

Addenda
Ac. 5468

Oversize:
Commissions: Luther Day, 1870 Ohio Supreme Court Justice, 1876 Ohio Judicial Commission