Rutherford B. Hayes was born on October 4, 1822 in Delaware, Ohio. His father was Rutherford Hayes and his mother was Sophia Birchard Hayes. He graduated from Kenyon College, and then went on to complete Harvard Law School. He served as our nation’s 19^th President from March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1881.

     Mr. Hayes was a lawyer. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as Governor of the State of Ohio. He was one of five Presidents with service in the Civil War, but he was the only one who was actually wounded in combat. Although nearly every President who preceded him was a lawyer, Mr. Hayes was the first to graduate from a law school. During his administration, the first telephone was installed at The White House. Its inventor, Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, personally installed it there. In the election of 1876, Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but Mr. Hayes defeated him by one single vote in the Electoral College.

     Rutherford B. Hayes married Lucy Ware Webb in 1852. They had eight children: Birchard, James, Rutherford, Joseph, George, Fanny, Scott and Manning. Mrs. Hayes was known as “Lemonade Lucy” because she refused to serve any alcoholic beverages in The White House. President and Mrs. Hayes hosted the very first annual Easter Egg Roll on The White House lawn.

     President Rutherford Birchard Hayes died on January 17, 1893 at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio. He was 70 years old.