rried, at Wilmington, Vermont, to Sophia Birchard,
daughter of Roger Birchard and Drusilla Austin Birchard, of that place.
The Birchards had emigrated from England to Saybrook and Norwich,
Vermont, as early as 1635. They soon became men of note in Norwich and
Lebanon, and many of their descendants have continued to be men of mark
since that time. The family has had representatives in Congress from
Illinois and Wisconsin, and noted members of it in the pulpit in New
York and elsewhere.

Rutherford Hayes was engaged in business as a merchant at Dummerston,
Vermont, until 1817, in which year he removed to Delaware, Ohio, with
his family, consisting at the time of a wife and two children. In
January, 1820, a daughter--Fanny--was born, and in October of the
following year, a daughter, at the age of four, was lost. In July, 1822,
Rutherford Hayes, the father, died of malarial fever; at the age of
thirty-five; and on the 4th of the following October was born Rutherford
Birchard Hayes, the since distinguished son. Three years later, the
widowed mother was called to suffer a most distressing calamity in the
death, by drowning, of Lorenzo, aged ten, a hopeful and helpful son.

The father of Governor Hayes was a quick, bright, accurate, active
business man. He possessed both energy and executive ability. He had the
independence which intelligence gives, and his dry humor served him well
in exposing shams and exploding humbugs. He was rigidly honest, and was,
in the words of one of his neighbors, "as good a citizen as ever lived
in the town of Delaware." He could do a great deal of work, and do it
well. He was a witty, social, popular man, who made warm friends and few
enemies.

The mother of Governor Hayes united force of character with sweetness of
nature. Her self-reliant energy is shown by her making a trip, in the
summer of 1824, to Vermont and back--a distance of sixteen hundred
miles. The journey had to be performed by stage, and consumed two months
in going and returning. She made a second journey to New England when
Rutherford was nine years old. Her amiability of disposition made her
the favorite guest at the homes of her neighbors. The straightened
circumstances of a family deprived of its head required the aid of
industry and economy. She was known, in village parlance, as a "good
manager." Afflictions which would have made perfect a more faulty
character purified her own. She died in Columbus, Ohio, October 30,
1866