Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/303

270 the college instructors, by whom she was prepared for the Western Female College at Cincinnati, entering that institution at the same time that her brothers entered the medical college. Mrs. Hayes was very fortunate in having a home in Ohio, which was among the first states to advocate the equal education of men and women. She was a great favorite of Rev. and Mrs. T. B. Wilbur, the principals of the college. She was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, following in that respect closely in the footsteps of her mother. It was while she was a student that she met Rutherford B. Hayes. They were married December 20, 1852. Mrs. Hayes' chief characteristics were her womanly and wifely qualities and devotion to her religion.

Rutherford B. Hayes was a graduate of Kenyon College and of the Cambridge Law School. He practiced law before the Supreme Court of Ohio and established himself at Fremont, Ohio, but subsequently removed to Cincinnati, where he remained for many years. He was made city attorney twice. At the outbreak of the Civil War he volunteered in the 23rd Ohio Regiment (Infantry) and was subsequently made major of the regiment of which General Rosecrans was colonel and the late Stanley Matthews was the lieutenant-colonel. They were assigned to the army of the Potomac. He was four times wounded and served to the close of the war notwithstanding the fact that he was urged to enter politics. Mrs. Hayes spent two summers and a winter taking care of her husband and his soldiers in the field. After his return from the service he was twice elected to Congress, after which he was made Governor of Ohio and they occupied the executive mansion at Columbus. Mrs. Hayes made a national reputation by her pre-eminently social qualities while occupying the executive mansion at Columbus. She seemed to feel that a state or national executive mansion belonged to the people of the state and the nation