Hoover-Evacuee Author…

Tags

Author, Ballroom, Children, company, downtown Canton, employees, England, Evacuee, foster families, historic hotel, History, holiday tradition, Hoover, Hoover Historical Center, Hotel Onesto, immersed, Indiana, London, North Canton, North Canton Heritage Society, novel, ohio, old historic building, President McKinley, Ramsayer Research Center, researchers, restoration, sojourner, Stark County, Thanksgiving, threads, transformation, United States, World War II

More often than we can count the Ramsayer Research Center is asked to provide information on an interesting topic concerning either Stark County or President McKinley. We are honored and consider it fun and a privilege to help these fellow researchers “Seek the Threads.” This is the story of one of our visiting researchers and her experiences here.

Hoover Evacuee Author

We were once again given the opportunity to host and help fellow sojourner, Rebecca McVay from central Indiana. We first met Rebecca and her father in 2015. She returned in 2019 to continue her search for the threads of history that tied together people in little North Canton and London, England.

Rebecca is writing a novel on the experiences of children of Hoover Company employees who worked at a branch of the company just north of London, England during World War II. Many children were brought to the United States to escape the war and placed with North Canton foster families. This is Rebecca’s third trip to Canton, Ohio to research in the Ramsayer Research Center, the North Canton Heritage Society, and the Hoover Historical Center, which is now maintained and administered by Walsh University, North Canton, Ohio.

Herb Hoover Sr. pictured here hosted at least one Thanksgiving dinner for the English evacuees in Hotel Onesto’s Ballroom. Rebecca was given the opportunity to visit the building, now known as the Onesto Lofts, located on North Cleveland Avenue and 2nd Street N.W., Canton, Ohio. Steve Coon and his team at Coon Restoration & Sealants were the people responsible for taking an old historic building in downtown Canton. Ohio and bringing it back to its former glory. Much appreciation goes to Brett Haverlick, project manager for the restoration and transformation of the historic hotel into condos. Brett is a good friend of the Ramsayer Research Center and on a Sunday morning he made a special trip from Akron, Ohio to Canton to show Rebecca the former hotel. She was immersed in a location visited by the English evacuees in the 1940’s. Rebecca walked on the same floors where these children had experienced American kindness and holiday tradition some eighty years earlier. There is much more to the story of her latest visit, but we will leave that for another time.

Mark G. Holland
February 14, 2023
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Advertisement

Wedded to the Sea…

Tags

Battleship Ohio, California, Columbus, Ida Saxton McKinley, Irving Scott, Mary Barber, Miss Helen Deshler, ohio, Pacific Coast, President McKinley, Riverside, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay, Slocum, Union Iron Works, Wedded to the Sea

Wedded to the Sea… (The Christening of the Battleship Ohio)

12:20 pm Pacific Time Mary Barber of Canton, Ohio daughter of Mary Saxton Barber stood by the apparatus that gave the signal to release the Battleship Ohio down the ways and into San Francisco Bay. Uncle William known to the world as President McKinley was nearby silently overseeing the entire celebration.

The trip of a lifetime for many began in Washington D.C. President McKinley was embarking on a Tour to the Pacific Coast. The train of the Southern Railway pulled away from the Washington station at 10:30 am Eastern time on Monday April 29^th, carrying the President and First Lady, most of the President’s Cabinet, and their spouses or relatives. The original plan was to cover over ten thousand miles out to California and back to Washington, during the greater part of fifty days. The official trip roster contained forty people. The trip would have to alter and history would turn out different than planned because of the health of Mrs. Ida Saxton McKinley. The most important objective was to witness the christening of the Battleship Ohio, named in honor of William McKinley’s home state. 

On Saturday May 18^th the President would rise in the home of Mr. Irving Scott, President of the Union Iron Works. He left his beloved wife the First Lady, Ida McKinley at the Scott residence where she was recovering from her, most accounts say “near to death” episode. Mrs. McKinley had a felon on her finger caused by an infection to a severe point. Now she was recovering and well enough for the President to leave her to attend the christening ceremonies.

President McKinley departed the Scott residence at 9:42 am for the transport dock where he would board the Slocum. He was joined by Ohio Governor Nash and a close family friend of the governor’s, Miss Helen Deshler. The Slocum made its way up the San Francisco Bay toward the Union Iron Works where the launching would take place. As the Slocum passed other ships in the bay they saluted President McKinley with cheers, and six inch guns thundering the twenty-one gun salute. Every boat, tug, and ship in the bay area was out to greet the President.

President McKinley boarding the Slocum May 18, 1901

Upon arrival at 11:15 am to the dry dock opposite the ways where the massive haul of the Ohio sat, President McKinley was greeted by the workers of the Union Iron Works. Several ships where either in dry dock or in the bay waiting to be completed including; the cruiser Tacoma, the torpedo destroyer Paul Jones and the Alaska. At precisely 12:22 pm with shouts of joy, countless national flags fluttering in the wind, the Chief Executive and his party, and the Governors of seven states and territories the mighty Battleship Ohio slipped into the waters of the San Francisco Bay “Wedded to the Sea.”

Mary Barber of Canton, Ohio Niece of the President and the First Lady pushes the button

Miss Mary Barber, of Canton, Ohio Niece of the President and First Lady pressed the button that activated the guillotine severing the rope restraining the ship to the ways.  As the ship made its way to the water Miss Helen Deshler of Columbus, Ohio released the ribbons and the net that held the bottle that christened the ship crushing the glass bottle on the iron. With a voice that was lost to the din of the crowd Miss Deshler shouted “I Christen Thee Ohio!” According to the Riverside Daily Press of Riverside, California, no other war ship’s launching has ever been so honored as the Buckeye State’s namesake. One hundred and twenty years ago today at the hour of this writing was launch the mighty Battleship Ohio.

Miss Helen Deshler of Columbus, Ohio “I Christen Thee

May 18, 2021

Mark G. Holland

Archivist

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Partnership With Walsh University…

Tags

#Team, Ida Saxton McKinley, immerse, Library, mobile app, Museum, partnership, President McKinley, Story, walkwiththepres potus canton ohio firstladieslibrary WalshUniversity Repository SalvationArmy McKinleyPresidentialLibraryandMuseum archivesbringgoodfeelings  seekthethreads, Walsh University, winter

Check out what is happening in our Library this Winter. Our museum is partnered with Walsh University to immerse you into the story of President McKinley and his wife Ida Saxton McKinley and how they fit into the Stark County Story. The Walk with the President is getting a major facelift. Our team is just getting started and this is what we did this morning.

The Walsh University Team on A Walk With The President Tour # 1

Inspection…

Tags

1899, aerial view, Air Force, battle of Plattsburgh, buildings, Clinton County Historical Association and Museum, Google Maps, government land, historian, MAPS, McKinley Presidential collection, New York, Photographs, Plattsburgh, President McKinley, Vice-President Hobart

President McKinley & Vice President Hobart Inspecting the Troops 1899

While going through the photographs we have in the McKinley Presidential collection I found three that were taken in Plattsburgh, New York.  I looked at the first two photographs and determined they could have been taken almost anywhere.  The third one, above, featured full views of two buildings that President McKinley and his party passed.

Going to Google Maps, I searched for the city of Plattsburgh, NY.  The program offers an aerial view in the maps portion, and a satellite view in Google Earth. The program also offers a street view where possible.  I went to the street view and it took me to this location, or a location with buildings very similar to the buildings in the above photograph.

Next, I found and called Clinton County Historical Association and Museum where I spoke to Julie, their historian.  She told me the area where President McKinley and Vice-President Hobart were in this 1899 photograph was government land from 1814 to 1994.  The government purchased this land after the battle of Plattsburg in 1814, and the Air Force last occupied this land in 1994.  The land and the buildings that occupy it now belong to the city, and are privately owned.

More Later…

A Man, Not to Be taken Lightly…

Tags

accomplishments, integrity, President McKinley, remembrance, trust

Son, Citizen, Teacher, Citizen turned Soldier, Lawyer, Husband, Father, Congressman, Governor, President. It is so easy to visit the sights where William McKinley lived, and brush over the fact that he was a man of extreme integrity. In the 2008 election, one of the questions asked of the general public was: “Which candidate would you like to have a beer with?” Well, I wouldn’t want to have a beer with President McKinley (because I don’t drink beer) but I would love to have dinner with him? The point of the question was which candidate would you feel most comfortable chatting with, and which would you trust most. William McKinley has my vote for being trustworthy. Integrity, friendship, loyalty, are rare qualities these days, and when you find them, you hang onto them.

When you study any person, or thing, or idea in history, please consider what happened before the monuments were placed in their honor.
They did a tremendous amount of work to deserve their remembrance.

The list of President McKinley’s accomplishments are the results of him working, caring, and honoring the people around him. More later…

My Day Part Two…

Tags

cataloging, Donations, preservation, President McKinley, Stark County, volunteers

Today, is dedicated to clearing this table of donations. Cataloging consists of recording the details of all of the objects donated to the museum. This is accomplished by recording text, and capturing an image of the object, or document. Next, we find a home for this donation. Part of the record tells us where to find the object later. Many researchers will benefit from the labor that is put into cataloging these treasures of Stark County, and President McKinley. Thank you to our volunteers, and our staff for contributing to this process. An orchestration of cooperation is key to keeping our standards high, and our quality of service to the community superior. Thank you to all that support our preservation! More later…

The day in the life…

Tags

Canton, Genealogy, McKinley Presidential Library, President McKinley, Research

The Mckinley Presidential Library has been monumentally busy. We sometimes have three or four research parties at once! Some people are interested in visiting the Presidential Library, and others who are researching Stark County. Genealogy questions have been very busy lately. Many people are looking for a connection, or a link to President McKinley. The day starts out viewing the first picture, looking to the left, and then looking right reveals the monument to the man who called Canton, Ohio home.