Manning Force Hayes

Manning Force Hayes [1873-1874] was born August 1, 1873, the youngest child of Rutherford B. and Lucy Webb Hayes. Manning was the only child born at Spiegel Grove. He was named for General Manning Force, longtime friend of President Hayes. Manning was born after a difficult labor, during which Lucy Hayes suffered convulsions. At the age of three months, Lucy described him as "the brightest wee baby we have had." Manning survived only a year and 27 days. On his mother's 43rd birthday, August 28, 1874, he died of what his father described as "summer complaint," most likely a dysenteric disease. Rutherford B. Hayes believed Manning had not seemed "altogether healthy at any time" He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery beneath a white pine tree on the south side of the Hayes plot. On December, 2, 1890, President Hayes recorded in his diary that the remains of Manning Force Hayes were "taken up and re-interred by the side of his mother."

Courtesy of The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center