Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Five, the Harter Homestead

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1896, 1896 Election, Archives, Aultman, Campaign, Canton, Cornelius Aultman, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Family, Front Porch Campaign, home, Intern, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Mckinley, Museum, ohio, POTUS, President, Presidential Campaign, Research, Stark County, William McKinley

The Harter family’s home, located at 723 North Market Avenue, would eventually be the site of William McKinley’s famous “Front Porch Campaign.” Before McKinley campaigned here, and before the Harters lived here, Elizabeth’s father Cornelius Aultman and step-mother Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman resided at 723 North Market for three years, from 1868 to 1871. The couple lived here while they waited for the completion of the Aultman mansion. 

From left to right: Elizabeth Aultman Harter, the Harter home during William McKinley’s front porch campaign, and Cornelius Aultman.

In 1871, The Aultman couple moved out of the house and future president William McKinley rented the home for over two years. From 1873 to 1899, Elizabeth and husband George DeWalt Harter, owned the home. The Harter family resided here for twelve of the twenty-six years they owned it, until 1885 when they moved to the Aultman-Harter Mansion. Finally, in 1896 presidential candidate William McKinley rented the Harter home for his “Front Porch Campaign.” During this campaign, citizens would gather on the front yard of the Harter home to hear William McKinley perform his speeches literally from the front porch.

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Four, the Matriarch

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Archives, Aultman, Banker, business, Canton, Children, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Family, George Dewalt Harter, History, Intern, Isaac Harter Senior, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Marriage, Museum, ohio, Research, Single Mother, Stark County

In 1868, Elizabeth became engaged to George DeWalt Harter, the son of well-established Canton banker Isaac Harter Senior, and a banker himself. George was also the first plant manager of Cornelius Aultman’s Mansfield factory. In March 1869, the two married and Elizabeth Aultman became Elizabeth Harter. In January 1870, the two had their first child, Eliza, named after Elizabeth’s mother. The newlywed couple was wrought with grief when their daughter passed away at only six months old. Over the next seventeen years, Elizabeth and George had five more children, consisting of four girls and one boy. Their only son, Cornelius Aultman Harter, passed when he was only four years old on May 17, 1880. On December 8, 1890, George Harter’s death made Elizabeth the sole parent of four daughters, aged 19, 12, 10, and 3. In addition to her professional responsibilities with inheriting her late husband’s business interests, Elizabeth now had to raise four young women on her own.

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy…Part Two

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Archives, Aultman, Banker, business, Canton, Children, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Family, George Dewalt Harter, History, Intern, Isaac Harter Senior, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Marriage, Museum, ohio, Research, Single Mother, Stark County

On May 14, 1847, Elizabeth Aultman Harter was born to Cornelius and Eliza Wise Aultman in Greentown, Ohio. Throughout her life, Elizabeth would leave a lasting legacy here in Stark County. She would serve on the board of directors for her father’s business, the Aultman Taylor Company, and bring great success to the corporation. She would provide the location for future President William McKinley’s front porch campaign and become the close friend of several other presidents. Along with her stepmother Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman, Elizabeth would create Stark County’s first hospital, which is still caring for hundreds of thousands of patients today. She would become the third president of Canton’s YWCA. Another thing that made Mrs. Harter so outstanding is that she, like her father Cornelius Aultman, was one of Cantons greatest ‘silent’ benefactors, putting many young men through college who otherwise would not have had the opportunity. She was also left a young widow and single mother to four children at the age of forty-three. She was a multifaceted woman who fulfilled numerous roles during her life, as well as overcame several devastating hardships. By the time of her passing on October 25, 1932, Elizabeth had reached various achievements throughout her lifetime, exceptional then, and still remarkable to this day.

Meet the Intern: Hamed Alwusaydi

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Canton, Communications, Family, Intern, learn, listen, McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, ohio, passion, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Stark County, Train, volunteer, Walk with the President, Walsh University

My name is Hamed Alwusaydi. I was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I am in the final semester to graduate from my BA at Walsh University in Communications. I have always wanted to be a part of the President McKinley Museum family because of my passion for learning about the history, interest in it and its care. I am currently working as a volunteer and seeking to learn and train and listen to the advice and guidance of Mr. Mark Holland, who has always made me feel his desire to train and mentor me. I am currently working on developing the visual aspect of the Walk with the President program, and I am working on adding some important pictures to present to those looking to understand the past and those interested in it.

Found Among The Cars…

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1830’s, 1886, 1892, 1937, accident, Aultman, Aultman Hospital, bicycle, Bicycle Club, brain injury, bullet proof, Canton, Canton Bicycle Club, Canton Police Department, Cars, Char Lautzenheiser, Deuble, Deuble family, Deuble Family Genealogy, Deuble Jewelers, dishes, Family, Found, glassware, High Wheeler, hospital physicians, Intern, jewelry, Library, Little Chicago, Martin, Martin Deuble, meant to be, member, merchants, Movers & Shakers, Norman Deuble, Ohio State University, operation, picture, relatives, request, Saxton Street, Studebaker, Tom Haas, Walsh University, watches

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Recently the library received a request from a member of the Deuble family who wanted to know about some of her relatives, specifically Martin Deuble.  She wanted a picture of Martin to complete a Deuble Family Genealogy that she is writing.  The Deuble family was synonymous with high quality jewelry, watches, dishes, and glassware.  Deuble Jewelers is one of Canton’s oldest merchants beginning in the 1830’s.  The requester also wanted to find a picture of Norman Deuble, Martin’s son.  It seems Norman was an active High Wheeler as far back as 1886 and an early member of the Canton Bicycle Club.  Norman was participating in a bicycle race in 1892 when he got in an accident. He fell off his bicycle, and was rushed to the newly built Aultman Hospital with a brain injury. This is what is believed to be the first operation ever performed by hospital physicians at Aultman. Unfortunately, Norman did not survive.  The requester knew of a studio photograph portraying the Canton Bicycle Club that included Norman. in 1886, at the age of twenty-one.  Our archives have a newspaper quality image that fits this description. Enter the phrase that we use in the library every day: “If it is meant to be it will find its way to you.

Our current intern, from Walsh University, Alyssandra Howe is researching the time in Canton’s history known as “Little Chicago.”  One of the major sources for her project is a master’s thesis from a student at Ohio State University who authored Saxton Street: The Reconstruction of a Red Light District.  In the course of her study she read about the 1937 bullet proof Studebaker the Canton Police Department commissioned, which now lives at the Canton Classic Car Museum.  Volunteer, Tom Haas, and I took Alyssandra to meet Char Lautzenheiser, the director of the museum.  Char gave Alyssandra a lot of rich history of “Little Chicago”, as well as a tour of the museum including the 1937 bullet proof Studebaker.

While Char and Alyssandra were playing around the cars, the photographs hanging on the wall drew my interest.  What did I find hanging on the wall in the shadow of the bullet proof car?  The very photograph of the Canton Bicycle Club in 1886 with Norman Deuble and other Canton “Movers & Shakers”.

Ancestral Home Discovered by President…

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ancestral, antrim, Archives, archivesbringgoodfeelings, ballmoney, belfast, correspondence, Family, findyourquest, findyourwhy, firstadministration, Genealogy, ireland, letter, may, mckinleymuseum, morethanamonument, rew, William McKinley

Podcast

On this day 121 Years ago, H. Rew wrote this brief note to President William McKinley on May 19, 1898.  He wrote from Belfast, Ireland giving the President information on his forefathers. Belfast, Ireland is the location where the Titanic would be built thirteen years later.  Mr. Rew enclosed two photographs of what is believed to be William McKinley’s ancestral home in Conagher near Ballymoney in the county of Antrim, Ireland. This information and much more is waiting for you to discover and explore in the McKinley Presidential Library.

Say Hello to Sarah…

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archivist, Canton, Chick fil A, Egypt, Environment, Family, findyourquest, findyourwhy, GlenOak, Hall of Fame, high school, History, Malone University, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, morethanamonument, ohio, parade, Requests, Research, seekthethreads, Stark County, Taggarts, travel, volunteers, welcome, William McKinley

Podcast

Sarah Buchtel – Research Coordinator

We invite our followers to get to know Sarah Buchtel, our Research Coordinator volunteer at the McKinley Presidential Library!

Sarah is a Stark County native. She grew up down the road from Taggarts and remembers going there all the time with her family. Some of her favorite memories as a kid was going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame parade. Her family would get up really early and go to Mary Ann Donuts for breakfast before setting up their seats to watch the parade. When she was about 6, her family moved to Plain Township, where she had a nice home with a big backyard to play in.

As for schooling, she went to Clarendon Elementary, moved to Frazer, and completed her elementary education at Taft Elementary school all in Canton, Ohio. She went to Glenoak High School and graduated in 2002. During high school, she worked at Chick-fil-A, and wanted to continue working there during college. She attended Malone University as a history major for a year, but found it hard to work while going to school. She worked at Chick-fil-A for 12 years and has been at her current job for the past 9 years. She works as a manager of a family owned business, Affordable Uniforms, near the Cuyahoga region.

When she is not working or volunteering, she loves to travel with her family and friends. Every 2 years, Sarah and her best friend plan a road trip to go places neither of them have visited. One of her favorite places to go when traveling is Walt Disney World Resort and she enjoys spending time riding the roller coasters and enjoying the Florida sun.

She loves to learn and enjoys reading about ancient Egyptian history. Sarah became interested in ancient Egyptian history, at a young age, and that continues to be one of her passions. Her grandmother used to read lots of books by the same author and many of the book covers included scenes or drawings of Egypt. In the future, she plans to hopefully travel with an archaeologist to Egypt and explore her passion.

Sarah started as a volunteer in the McKinley Presidential Library last September after one of her friends invited her to visit her while she was volunteering. She had always wanted to be a volunteer, but never had the time due to work constraints. After visiting her friend and seeing the Presidential Library for the first time, Sarah arranged her work schedule to make some time to volunteer.

Sarah loves how welcoming the environment in the library is. She finds learning about the other volunteers interesting because many of them have worked in different careers, but each found themselves in the same place because of their shared love of history and Stark County.

Sarah’s role in the Presidential Library is to go through all of the research requests that people submit to us using our online form. Occasionally she receives a written request through the regular mail that is difficult to answer.

She invites more people to become volunteers. The more people volunteering, the more projects can be completed and new projects can be started.

Sarah wants more people to understand how important history is and why it should be preserved. She finds it important for others to recognize the good and bad of history and how to learn from the past instead of romanticizing about how life used to be.

We want to thank Sarah for letting us interview her and allow us to share her story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too!

If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043

 

morethanamonument, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, William McKinley, high school, volunteers, archivist, ohio, canton, welcome, history, findyourwhy, findyourquest, seekthethreads, Malone University, Chick fil A, Stark County, Environment, Research, Requests, Egypt, travel, Taggarts, Hall of Fame, parade, family, GlenOak,

On Visiting the Monument (Installment 1)

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Canton, Family, Massillon, Mckinley, Monument, Stark County

Podcast

    

The following is a personal account of the first visit of the writer in 1965 to the McKinley National Memorial in Canton, Ohio

On Visiting the Monument (Installment 1):

My first visit to the McKinley National Memorial – a site that we as Massillonians had always just called, “the monument,” most likely came at the invitation of my first grade school- and Cub Scout-pal, Robert.

One fine June morning , just as our summer vacation was getting underway, Robert and his mother drove up in front of our house in their trusty blue Chevy.  Mom and I were out directly and got situated in the car – moms in front, kids in back.  A picnic lunch for four that mom had made the night before was folded neatly in waxed paper and packed in a basket with our drinks wrapped with equal care in aluminum foil so they’d stay cold, rested on the seat between Robert and me.  The moms both wore white “cat’s eye” rimmed style sunglasses to protect their eyes from the glare of the mid-morning sun.  Rob and I were men.  We didn’t need no glasses.

Driving from Massillon to Canton, we covered the eight mile trip in mere minutes.  As we rode the then familiar landmarks along Lincoln Way West and West Tuscarawas Street passed before us:  Lambrou’s Chicken Chateau, Brady’s Pink Cottage Restaurant and Stark Drive-In; ahead on the left, the orange roofline of Howard Johnson’s, Milk Maid Candies, the Ohio Bell Telephone Terminal Center and The Sachsenheim Club, Stemco’s, The Red Coachman, the Town & Country Buffet and little F’n E Dairy.  Construction was near finishing on the new St. Joan of Arc Church, then came Central Catholic High School, Kling Motors, The Dog House, McDonald’s Golden Arches, the Robert Hall Store and PDQ on the left, Laughlin Motors on the right; there’s Fishers and Country Fair Shopping Center.  Across the street on the south side of the block, the new Mellet Mall was getting signage in place on the wall of the huge new Penny’s store soon to open and in a few more blocks there was Heggy’s Nut Shoppe. A little farther on the left, there’s Schrock’s Hobbies and the bell tower of St. Joseph’s Church, Shopper’s Fair on the right and finally, there ahead on the right, the golden dome of First Baptist Church and just beyond, venerable Mother Goose Land.  We turned left off of West Tusc and entered the edge of the park but still at that point, the whole sweep of the monument itself was hidden from view.

We drove in heart-pounding silence up the right-hand side of the tree-lined boulevard where once, “The Long Water” formed the blade and tip of a figurative sword.  Just a little further and there at last was the monument!  First the motor court then the tiers of steps drew our eyes up to the bronze doors and the glistening white dome.  Big as it was, you almost had to refocus to capture the bronze statue of the president standing centered at a point about half way between the first step and the top step.  As I leaned over on Robert’s side of the seat to look out of the open window, the view took my breath away!  His mom brought the car to a stop in a parking space as he and I stared out the back window.  Before we left the car the moms, speaking almost in a whisper, reminded us that this was supposed to be a quiet and respectful place – like church.  Once outside the car, I still wasn’t sure of myself and I held my mom’s hand.  I remember being just caught up in the moment – dare I say, the majesty of the place – the glaring white granite, the brilliant blue of a cloudless late spring sky, the deep green of the grass and the leaves on the trees – and the silence; respectful, awesome and still.  Everybody’s mom must have had that talk in the car that morning because except for maybe the click of a camera shutter or the occasional robin or cardinal trill, there was no sound.  The American and Ohio state flags fluttered on their halyards but never scratched against the masts.  Busy West Tusc was just a few blocks away but not a sound intruded on that setting.  It seemed holy.  Then a little voice from someone who, in their own excitement, forgot the whispered reminder from their mom in the car, turned and hollered merrily from the top-most step, “One hundred and eight!”

The steps had a bit of an irregular stride so it took a few to get our climbing rhythm but it was quickly mastered and we were on our way up and up, “44,45,46…” a quick look back down to reckon how high we’d climbed and get a closer look at the statue.  “68,69,70…” gettin’ kinda sweaty; “106, 107, 108!”  We first turned to look behind us as we were standing above the tops of the trees and could see clear into downtown Canton.  The bell tower of St. Joseph’s on our right at about 2 o’clock; the fifth floor dome of Central Catholic much farther out at about 1 o’clock; directly ahead and to the left, the panorama of skyscrapers, church steeples, smoke stacks and signal towers that was the pulse of Stark County.

Now composed and reverent again, we turned to step inside.

Only one of the bronze doors was open and it was, it seemed, only open a crack but each of us entered with room to spare.  In the cool, quite stillness, taking a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, I remember making the sign of the cross and looking for a holy water fount – so very church-like was the atmosphere.   Gathered on the floor were several of the wreaths still on display from the Decoration Day program held just a few weeks before.  And there at last lying side by side in a very tall granite vault were the two McKinley’s.  Their daughters, the sign read, had been interred in the walls.  Looking up into the arch of the dome I noticed that there were flood lights shining on the vault that wasn’t black as I’d thought but instead a deep green.  This seemed an almost surreal spot, so cool and clean and quiet; right on the edge of a busy downtown but almost unaware of the hustle and bustle going on all around it.  Time suspended itself for those several minutes we spent inside reading and imagining and taking history by the hand.

Michael J. Bachtel Guest Blogger

Hidden Treasures

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Family, photos, treasures, volunteer

One of Our Volunteers, Rosemary shares her family stories of the 1930’s. You and I have hidden treasures everywhere we look. Our next exhibit in the Keller Gallery will be A Secret Gift. We thank you Rosemary, for your service to the museum, and for sharing your story! More Later…

Images from the Past

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concrete, diamond, Family, photos, Portland

A very nice Italian lady called last week, who had noticed our library website. Ramsayer Research Library She told me her father was president of the Diamond Portland Cement Co. in Plain Township, Stark County. She, and her family had donated a collection of photographs from this company. She stopped by the library and viewed her photos after 22 years. We posted a family picture, of them holding some of the photos. Diamond Portland Cement Images