BACKGROUND AND YOUTH OF THE SEVENTH OHIO
PRESIDENT1
BY RAY BAKER HARRIS
News still traveled slowly in the
1860's. Although the tele-
graph was by that time in use between
principal cities, news, to a
large degree, continued to be
transmitted by stagecoach, by trains
[such as they were], by boats and by
human carriers. However be-
lated its appearance in print, the news
in the public press during
the week of October 30, 1865, was of
considerable historic im-
portance. In England it was the ending
of a long era which had
been largely dominated by Lord
Palmerston, and the delayed report
of his death was received in America
with a renewed optimism that
the tense differences between the two
countries might now be more
easily reconciled. It was the ending of
an era in America too, and
the beginning of after-war
readjustments. The words "return to
normalcy" had not then been
devised. The end of war brought,
as it always does, a new economic and
social day, frought with
difficulties, uncertainties and many
dangers. The Emancipation
Proclamation and the termination of the
War between the States
had cleared the air by the end of 1865,
and the national politics
turned largely upon the President's
program of reconstruction.
President Johnson was having his
hardships and was soon to have
greater ones.
During the week of October 30, with all
its eventful news,
no newspaper reported that on November
2, at Blooming Grove,
Ohio, a son had been born to George
Tryon and Phoebe Dicker-
son Harding. The New York Times, with
all of its superior fa-
cilities for gathering and presenting
the news of the day, did not
report it; and not even the Ohio
State Journal at Columbus, fifty
miles from the scene, took notice of the
event. There was abun-
1 Other Presidents of the United States
whose native State was Ohio were: U. S.
Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A.
Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William Mc-
Kinley and William H. Taft.
(260)
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 261
dant news of Henry Ward Beecher and
General George W. Mor-
gan who were quarrelling loudly, but not
in any Ohio paper was
there so much as mention that Warren
Gamaliel Harding was the
"talk of the town" at the
crossroads community called Blooming
Grove.
The romance between George Tryon Harding
and Phoebe
Dickerson, who lived on adjoining farms
near Blooming Grove,
began during the early days of the Civil
War. The war feeling
was strong all through Ohio, and it had
been strong even before
the war began. One of the routes of the
underground railroad
ran through Marion, and the Ohio River
was one of the means
of ready escape to the north. General
sentiment had long been
favorable to fugitive slaves, and
because of all this, "Black Laws"
began to accumulate from the very first
meeting of the Ohio State
legislature. Lincoln spoke at Columbus
and Cincinnati during the
campaign of 1859, and little by little
the ties which bound the
North and South had been breaking under
the strain of northern
attacks on slavery and the southern
defense of it. When the war
finally came, regiments from the Old
Northwest territory were
in every important campaign from Bull
Run to Appomattox. These
western men and boys comprised the bulk
of Sherman's marching
army, and thousands of them died at
Vicksburg, Gettysburg, in
the Wilderness and in the constant
engagements near Richmond.
The war was a deep, tragic, living
reality to every community in
Ohio, and Morgan's men had been as near
as Cincinnati.
It was the first week in May, 1864, that
Tryon Harding, then
only nineteen, determined to enlist in
the war. A regiment was
being mustered in at Camp Chase
on May 13, and they would al-
low him to enlist as a musician, as
"a drummer boy." He told
Phoebe Dickerson that he was going, and
that he wanted her to
marry him before he left. He was not the
only one who was
courting the youngest daughter of Isaac
Dickerson, and during the
100 days or more that he would be away
he wanted the assurance
that she was his.
They knew what Isaac Dickerson would say
if they asked his
blessing on the marriage. A
nineteen-year-old boy, just leaving
262
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
for war, would not have been his idea of
a suitable husband for
his eighteen-year-old daughter. He would
have told them to wait.
They also knew what Charles Harding
would have said to
his only son's marriage. The Hardings
didn't want him to go to
war in the first place, because of his
age and the fact he was needed
on the farm, and they were using every
device to persuade him to
remain at home. It was bad enough to
them that he was leaving
his family, but what a row they would
have raised if they knew
he had a bride.
So it was that on May 7, 1864, Tryon
hitched up the horses
and drove up to the Dickerson farm to
"take Phoebe and her sister
Deb [Deborah Dickerson] for a
ride." They drove to Galion and
were married, with Deborah as witness,
"at the Methodist preach-
er's house," returning at once to
Blooming Grove so as not to
arouse suspicion by a too long absence.
On the way back Phoebe
had asked her husband for his watch, and
when she returned it
to him she had scratched in the back
case these four lines:
Phoebe Dickerson is no more
May 7th 1864
Phoebe Harding now it is
Didn't we fool Mal and Liz?
Leaving the girls at the farm, Tryon drove
on to his own
home to pack, take leave of his family
and start for Camp Chase.
In Blooming Grove, not even Bets
Johnston, who had the repu-
tation of knowing everyone's business
almost before it happened,
was aware that there was a new bride in
their midst that night.
The 136th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer
Infantry was
mustered in and ready to leave Camp
Chase [Ohio] by the eve-
ning of May 13. Tryon Harding was in
Company I, under Cap-
tain John Craven, and when the regiment
left Camp Chase that
evening it was on the march for
Washington City and arrived after
seven days. The regiment was placed on
garrison duty at Forts
Ellsworth, Williams and North, which
constituted part of the de-
fenses of Washington, just south of the
Potomac. Company I
was at Fort Williams.
In the same Company there was a young
friend of Tryon's
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 263
who had enlisted with him, and who also
had ideas about marry-
ing Phoebe Dickerson. He wrote to her
frequently and at length,
and his letters did not go unanswered.
She replied with friend-
liness and her letters were always
filled with so much impersonal
but entertaining news of home that they
were magnanimously
shared with his "rival."
Letters came to Tryon, too, but these
were love letters and were not shared.
Not until he was mus-
tered out and returned to Blooming
Grove, did the friend discover
that all the time he had been writing to
Tryon's wife. The secret
had been well kept.
The regiment was scheduled to return to
Camp Chase and to
be mustered out on August 31, but toward
the middle of that
month word reached Blooming Grove that
Tryon had contracted
typhoid fever and was in the Army Post
Hospital at Fort Wil-
liams. This report was followed shortly
by another that the en-
tire regiment was on its way back to
Ohio, that Tryon was con-
valescing and would be admitted to the
Seminary U. S. General
Hospital as soon as the regiment reached
Columbus.
Phoebe Dickerson's distress at the news
of Tryon's illness was
a source of some surprise to her
parents, and of downright as-
tonishment to the Hardings when she went
so far as to offer to go
to Columbus to help take care of him. It
was regarded as some-
what unseemly that an
"unmarried" girl should proffer such serv-
ices, especially when Tryon had eight
sisters, any one of whom
could nurse him with more propriety if
the need arose. When
Isaac Dickerson heard of this he
commanded an explanation from
his youngest daughter, and he received
it. Whatever their amaze-
ment, Phoebe's parents were apparently
by no means displeased.
They held their peace, and permitted
Phoebe and Tryon to break
the news to the rest of the family in
their own way, after Tryon
returned.
The secret had been confided to only one
other, or really to
two, although the letter was to
"poor Charley." Charley was the
twelve-year-old boy of Phoebe's sister,
Malvina. He had never
been well, and his life was destined to
be a very short one. So,
although Malvina had been
"fooled" on the seventh of May, she
264 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
did learn of the marriage before the
others, because when Charley's
days were finally numbered, and the end
was near, Phoebe wanted
the small boy who had always been a
favorite with the family, to
know about the marriage.
Tryon Harding, meanwhile, was an
impatient invalid. He
was admitted to the Seminary U. S.
General Hospital at Colum-
bus on August 24, as a convalescent from
typhoid fever. After
four days he was granted a certificate
of disability "arising from
an attack of typhoid contracted while in
the service" and was told
to report to his regiment the following
day to be honorably dis-
charged. On August 29, he left Columbus
and started for home,
several days before the rest of the
regiment was mustered out at
Camp Chase.
On September 5, 1864, Phoebe's brother,
Thomas Wiley
Dickerson, wrote to his sister, Clara
[Mrs. David K. Mitchell]:
Well, Clarie, I suppose you will hear
before you get this that Phoebe
has been playing sharp and getting
married. Tryon and her and Deb went
to Galion on the 7th of May and
she and Tryon were married at the Metho-
dist preacher's house, and his sisters
nor no one else but Deb knew of it
till near the time he was to come home
from war. Then she told mother
and she told father, and that was all
the family that knew it until after he
came home. They fooled Bets Johnston
completely. They have been mar-
ried almost four months. He had the
fever and by that means got home
first. He was going back to be mustered
out and then they were going to
let it be known. She had written to poor
Charley before his death and told
him all about it.
Tryon took his bride to live in the old
homestead on the
Harding farm, the house that had been
built by his great great
grandfather, Amos Harding, when he had
come to Ohio with his
family, by covered wagons from Clifford
[Wyoming Country]
Pennsylvania in 1821. With Amos Harding,
at that time, had
come his son, George Tryon, and his
family. George's second
wife, who had been Elizabeth Madison,
was related to President
Madison. The year before they left for
Ohio their second son
was born, and they named him Charles
Alexander. It was this
Charles Alexander Harding who welcomed
Phoebe Dickerson to
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 265
his home as the bride of his son, George
Tryon II, that late
August day in 1864.2
The Dickersons, on the other hand, had
not come to Blooming
Grove as early as had the Hardings.
Natives of Washington,
Pennsylvania, Isaac Haines and Charity
VanKirk Dickerson had
come to Ohio with the many new settlers
who emigrated from
Pennsylvania and other seaboard states.
Phoebe Dickerson's an-
cestors in arriving in America had also
followed the Hardings.
Jan Jansen ver Kersen [vanKirk] came
from Holland and set-
tled in King's County on Long Island in
1663, and his descend-
ant, Josiah Van Kirk, Phoebe's
great-grandfather, was famed for
his seven sons who all served in the
Revolutionary War.
To return to Phoebe and Tryon in their
new home, it had
been hoped that the War between the
States might end during
that Winter of 1864, but early Spring
found the armies still in
the field. Late in March, 1865, Phoebe
wrote to her sister, Clara,
that she dreaded the possibility that
Tryon might go to war again:
I almost wish Tryon had a bad leg so he
would not be liable [to go to
war]. Oh no, I'll take that back, for I
am glad that he is sound in body as
well as in mind. For if his body was one
bit weaker than it is, then his mind
would be entirely too strong for his
body and would go soaring around like
a raging lion seeking whom it might
devour.
On April 9, 1865, Abbie [Abigail
Dickerson] wrote from
Blooming Grove to her sister Clara that
Tryon was soon to go to
war again, but although Abbie had not
yet heard the news, it was
on that very day that General Lee
surrendered to General Grant
at Appomattox Court House.
2 Amos Harding, who had taken his
children and grandchildren into the wilder-
ness of the frontier, was remembered as
a high-spirited man of adventurous nature,
stern and unbending in matters affecting
his convictions, "a hard-shelled Baptist of the
old school, but generous and kind in
dealing with his family and neighbors." Indeed
those were still the days when the men
of small frontier communities, leading a primi-
tive life and intimately sharing their
common problems and hardships, prospered only
in proportion to their capacity to
assume responsibilities and deal with their neighbors
honestly and fairly.
The men who founded Ohio were simple
men, judged by certain conventional
standards, but they knew instinctively
more of public policy, more of public morals,
"than all the philosophers put
together who were at that time torturing the feverish
body of France with their terrible
political experiments"--as John Hay was later to
express it. They knew how to govern
themselves. They knew the necessity of religion:
the need of laws and of obedience to
them. This was a heritage from ancestors who
had worked together to win food and
shelter in the New England wilderness. Amos
Harding had learned these simple rules
of human conduct from his father, Abraham
Harding [1744-1820], who had been
Governor of Connecticut, directly descended from
the Stephen Harding who emigrated from
England in 1624 and who joined the Plymouth
Colony at Weymouth, Massachusetts.
266
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Soon afterwards both the North and the
South were stunned
by the assassination of President
Lincoln in Ford's Theatre in the
Capital. Mrs. Lincoln, who had suffered
from gossips and scan-
dal-mongers more cruelly than did any
First Lady for another
sixty years, was not to be left in peace
after she had buried her
dead and had withdrawn from the official
scene. Vice President
Andrew Johnson became President and was
soon involved in all
the suspicions and hatreds of the
reconstruction. It was an event-
ful year in the history of the Republic,
but as 1865 drew to a close
Phoebe and Tryon Harding awaited
impatiently the arrival of
their first born.
"I'll bet you'd like to see
Phoebe's baby," [Lida Dickerson]
wrote to her sister Clara in January,
1866: "It grows so fast that
she can't keep its clothes large enough
or alter them fast enough
as he grows out of them. She calls him
Warren Gamaliel, and
for a pet name she calls him
'Winnie.'"
Toward the end of 1866 Phoebe wrote to
Clara:
I have plenty of housework, sewing,
knitting to do, besides taking care
of the sweetest, dearest little brother
you ever saw, and you would say so
if you could be with him awhile. But I
tell you, Clara, they are a trouble-
some comfort, when I think of the great
charge that is upon my shoulders,
the responsibility of training him as he
should be, and the care and anxiety
I feel about his future. But still I
would not part with him for anything
in the world. I think if every child
just knew the love a parent has for a
child, they would never wound their
feelings or do anything contrary to
their wishes; but that, they will never
know until they see their own off-
spring figuring on the stage of this
life. Winnie is always walking. He
will walk all along the walls,
but does not go alone. He has a head as
large as Jo Flack, and a beautifully
shaped one too. It attracts a great deal
of attention. Oh, we think he is all
right, but it is an impossibility to get
his picture taken. We have tried several
times, but to no effect--he won't
sit still. So you will have to come to
see him. ... I have a large house
and everything in it that any farmer's
wife around here has to do with.
Tryon has bought property, and we will
move there in the Spring so as to
be by ourselves. His father gave him the
deed by [Tryon] paying six hun-
dred dollars.
In this letter Phoebe also described the
new minister and his
family, general conditions on the
different farms nearby, her own
"preserves of 14 cans of tomatoes,
9 of blackberries, 3 of peaches,
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 267
4 of molasses, 6 of elderberries,"
apple butter and cider, ending
with "Oh, we really live up our
way; and I have made a piece of
carpet in my loom for my sitting room
this Winter. I made 23
yards last Fall for our parlor."
Phoebe's sister Priscilla [Mrs. Jo
Flack] had also written to
Clara, this letter being dated on the
first day of the new year,
1867:
I have written four letters since
yesterday noon and now my arm is so
tired carrying Winnie around that I can
scarcely write at all. Phoebe and
Try were here today. Tryon is cutting
wood and Pa is hauling it while
there is snow, and then Pa is going to
get the woodsaw and have it sawed
on the shares.... And New Year's eve we
had an oyster supper here at our
house. Those three boys, Abner, Hat and
Chat, Lizzie Chandler, Mrs. Tip-
ton, Gust and Liddy Harding, Josie
Harbison, Sarah McFarland, Isaac
Dickerson, Ellie Wheeler, Wiley, Phoebe
and Try were here. We had a
good old time indeed. There were 12 of
them staying all night and then we
had lots of fun the next day, riding
down hill on the hand sled and caveing
around in the snowdrifts. For the supper
I baked 8 mince pies, 5 cherry pies,
2 jelly cakes, 1 white and 1 golden
cake, 24 light cakes and some bread....
We have a fresh cow and are making lots
of butter, but it has come down
to 22 cents and other things in
proportion.
A
few days after Tryon and Phoebe had moved into their
own small house, on their own land adjoining
the Harding farm,
a daughter was born to them on March 1,
1867. A week later
Elizabeth Ann Dickerson [Liz] wrote to
her sister, Clara:
Phoebe's time was up two weeks ago last
Friday. She brought forth a
daughter which weighs 7 pounds. She
calls her Charity. Winnie was 16
months old the next day after she was
born. There was no one there but
Sillie until about five minutes before.
She ran to the Hardings and gave
Mrs. Harding a pluck by the sleeve and
she followed her out and they had
the young one on hands before anyone
knew it. Tryon was at a raisings at
Dr. Mac's, and they didn't send for him
or the Doc either. Sillie says she
only called Mrs. Harding in for the
looks of the thing, and not because she
really needed her. She is getting along
very well; has had two or three
baths and sits up a little each day.
Both Mother and I went up there Satur-
day, and while we was up there Winnie
upset a tinful of hot water on his
bosom
and scalded himself so badly that when we took his clothes off his
skin came too, as big as your hand on
his left shoulder and breast. His hands
and face were scalded too but they
didn't blister.
268
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Tryon and Phoebe enjoyed the freedom of
their own home,
and there was usually "an
awful sight of company" in their house.
Her sisters commented in wonder that she
never seemed to mind,
nor did it ever appear to be much
trouble for her to "get up a
meal" for strangers on short
notice. She never knew when Tryon
would bring a new acquaintance home for
dinner, or when rela-
tions might "drive over" for
the day. No telephones or telegrams
brought fore-warnings in those days, but
Tryon was "a great one"
for keeping abundant provisions on hand
at all times. So Phoebe's
days were even more crowded than they
ordinarily would have
been with two young babies and a new
farm home. Both Warren
and Charity had the whooping cough in
June of that year [1867],
and all these happenings in the home
seemed more important than
the news from outside Blooming Grove
which she would hear the
men discussing after church on Sundays.
The past year [1866]
the Atlantic cable had been completed
and news came from
Europe in a day; the Civil War had
officially been ended; severe
race riots had occurred in New Orleans;
and the menace of In-
dians had been vividly demonstrated by
the massacre of nearly
100 United States troops in Wyoming that
December. In March,
1867, Nebraska had come into the Union
as a new State, and in
October the territory of America was
further extended by the
purchase of Alaska. All these events,
however, seemed distant
and unimportant to Phoebe Harding in the
third year of her mar-
riage.
On April 26, 1868, another daughter was
born to them and
they named her Mary Clarissa. It was
about this time that Tryon
began to "read medicine" in
the office of Dr. MacFarland who was
the local doctor and also the Methodist
minister at Blooming
Grove. The standard of medical education
at that time was to
study with some local physician for
about three years before seek-
ing a degree from a recognized school of
medicine. Almost all
medical students in rural communities
did this, and then if they
attended two sessions of lectures a
degree could be obtained.
There is some conflicting evidence on
the point, but it appears
that Tryon, after an extended period of
studying with Dr. Mac-
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 269
Farland, attended one session in
1870-1871 and then received his
degree from the Homeopathic Hospital
College in Cleveland after
attending a second session in 1873. Dr.
MacFarland had attended
this college and graduated from it in
1852 when it was known as
the Western College of Homeopathy. Its
name was changed six
times during the next twenty years, but
when Tryon received his
degree in 1873 it was known as the
Homeopathic Hospital College.
After attending his first session at
medical school in the 1870-1871
term, Tryon returned to Blooming Grove
where he divided his
time with working his farm, assisting
Dr. MacFarland in the local
practice and continuing his studies
toward a medical degree. The
passing of time was noted more by
seasons than by days or
weeks.
Five days after Warren's seventh
birthday another sister,
Persilla, arrived on November 11, 1872.
There were now four
children. Warren was seven, Charity
["Chat"] sixteen months
younger and Mary was four. Warren and
his sister Chat were
old enough to start in at school. Tryon
wished to return to Cleve-
land for another college session in
order to obtain his degree, and
so, everything considered, they decided
to "move into town." It
would be easier for Phoebe, with Tryon
away in Cleveland, not
to have the farm to look after in his
absence. So they bought a
house and a little land in Caledonia, a
town which was not much
larger but at least less isolated than
Blooming Grove.
By summer of the following year, 1873, Tryon had his
degree
and was licensed to practice medicine.
Warren and Chat had fin-
ished their first term in the two-story
school house across from
the Caledonia Methodist Church. In the
following spring, April
8, 1874, a second son was born and he
was named Charles Alexan-
der for Tryon's father. In the months
that followed both of the
two youngest children were healthy and
active, giving no warning
that their lives were soon to end.
Warren by this time was approaching his
tenth birthday. His
father bought him a cornet and a drum,
whereupon he placed his
sisters under very strict injunction not
to touch these valued in-
struments, and of course they
continually did so for the pleasure
270 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of teasing him. There was an old harness
maker in the town of
Caledonia who took more time than was
good for his business to
instruct members of the town band. Here
Warren practiced sev-
eral evenings a week and soon became
reasonably proficient, en-
joying his first associations with other
boys of about his own age.
Life on the little farm at Blooming
Grove had been to Warren
Harding mostly a matter of visiting
neighbors and relations much
older than himself. A new world opened
for him when the family
moved to Caledonia. There was the
school. There was the
church, where the congregation was much
larger than the one at
Blooming Grove; and there was the town
band composed of young
men and boys. Tryon was now practicing
medicine and the
Harding household was thereby
continually in touch with the
whole community. When Tryon was at home
there were not many
dull moments. He was energetic and unpredictable, handsome
and popular.
Perhaps it was because many of his
patients, having little
cash, paid him in farm implements and
commodities that Tryon
was forever "trading." Phoebe
became increasingly apprehensive
as to what he might bring home next.
Livestock, land, farm im-
plements, teams, wagons--all passed
through Tryon's ownership
and the exchange excited and pleased
him. Occasionally he found
himself with something he did not know
how to handle. This
was true when he came into possession,
about 1876, of a local
newspaper known as the Caledonia
Argus. The issues of the
paper appeared at very irregular
intervals, but the little plant had
some small trade in job printing. With
the Argus had come its
printer, who carried on under Tryon's
uncertain sponsorship; but
Tryon did draft the services of his son
to help as a printer's devil.
There was precious little money in it
for Warren, but it was some-
thing new to do when he was not in
school or helping with the
chores around the house. Here he had his
first experience, en-
tirely elementary, in typesetting and
working about the print shop.
The experience was not especially
valuable, except in the sense of
the interest it aroused in the boy.
Warren had been so much occupied with
his various interests
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 271
that the arrival of another sister, May
31, 1876, named Abigail
Victoria, had not seemed the all
absorbing event that the earlier
arrivals had rated. Vaguely, perhaps, he
might have been an-
noyed that there was another sister who
would probably grow up
to "bother" his musical
instruments and show scant respect for
his authority.
It was about this time that Warren
initiated his oldest sister,
Chat, into the task of milking the cow.
Tryon and Phoebe had
taken their youngest children for a few
days' visit to the not dis-
tant farm of one of their relations for
some sort of family occasion.
Warren and Chat were left to look after
the place, and it was at
this opportune time that the brother
decided that his sister might
as well learn to relieve him of at least
one of the household chores.
He was patient and explicit in the
instructions, and Chat was not
permitted to leave the barn until she
had learned the task to his
complete satisfaction.
The seventh child arrived on March 11,
1878, and was named
for his father, George Tryon Harding,
Jr.; but this year was
destined to end sadly for the Hardings.
In November Charles
and Persilla became ill. It seemed to be
only a mild form of
jaundice and there was no apprehension.
On November ninth,
however, both children suddenly became
much worse. Tryon was
away, and despite the desperate efforts
of Phoebe both children
had died within a few hours. Phoebe and
Tryon were tense with
their grief. Of the other children only
Warren and Chat were
old enough to comprehend. It was the
first time death had closely
touched the Harding household; and while
the house of Phoebe
and Tryon Harding was not overly rich in
worldly goods, it was
a home full of friendliness and life and
affection. This was the
first real tragedy in the family life.
Warren was nearly fourteen when his
youngest sister, Phoebe
Carolina, the last of the eight children
of Phoebe and Tryon
Harding was born on October 21, 1879. He
was old enough to
try his hand at odd jobs that would
bring in a little money. The
new leader of the Caledonia town band
was a painter by trade,
and Warren sought instruction from him.
It was not long before
young Warren prided himself on his ability
to convert honest white
272 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
pine into imitation oak, cherry and
mahogany! Those were days
when people took good first-growth white
pine and "grained" it.
Also there were usually a few barns
which needed painting after
the winter. Warren had his preferences
but, as Tryon once re-
marked, "Warren was never afraid of
hard work if there was a
little money in it." By the spring
of 1879 another opportunity ap-
peared when the Ohio Central Railroad
was glad to give some
compensation to strong farm boys who
would help in the grading
and track-laying work, particularly
those who could bring a team
of horses. Warren was big for his years,
and stronger than most
of the boys of his own age. Perhaps the
explanation for the ill
health which plagued him through his
early twenties, and sent
him several times to Battle Creek
Sanitarium for medical treat-
ment, was the fact that at fourteen and
fifteen he had often done
the same hard labor as that done by
grown men. Such strains
upon a growing boy, even one as strong
and as well physically
as Warren Harding, usually command a
toll of some sort.
Otherwise Warren's life was little
different from that of
other boys in that time and locality. In
the winter it was early
morning chores, long hours at school and
such evening amuse-
ments as the community provided. Phoebe
Harding saw to it
that all her family accompanied her to
church, and to its suppers
and entertainments. Spring, summer and
autumn are open season
for country boys. School is just
beginning or about to end, work
around the farm homes leaves time for
fishing or swimming, ball
games and the circus, odd jobs and, in
Caledonia anyway, Satur-
day night concerts by the town band. The
ministers preached the
gospel on Sundays, and outside of church
the men talked crops
and politics.
By the winter of 1880-1881 Tryon's
penchant for trading had
brought the family into possession of a
farm property about a mile
or so from Caledonia, so the place in
town was sold and the
Hardings moved to this new home.
The spring of 1882 brought several
changes to the Harding
family. Warren graduated from Ohio
Central College at nearby
Iberia, Ohio. It had been chartered
originally as Iberia College,
and was twelve miles from Caledonia. Its
courses were the type
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 273
of "academy education"
prevalent in that section and period. Of
the seven Presidents of the United
States who came from Ohio,
four besides Warren G. Harding received
their education at an
academy or small college. Rutherford B.
Hayes was graduated
from Kenyon College at Gambier; James A.
Garfield finished his
courses at Hiram College; Benjamin
Harrison was an alumnus of
Miami University at Oxford, Ohio; and
William McKinley at-
tended Poland Academy.
In his last year at Ohio Central
College, Warren joined with
a classmate, Frank H. Miller, and
impressively formed a firm of
Miller and Harding. This organization of
two undertook to pub-
lish a college paper, called the Iberia
Spectator, and placed their
contract for its publication with
William G. Beebe, the editor and
proprietor of the Union Register. Only
six issues were published,
but this was something of an achievement
considering their lim-
ited means.
Phoebe and Tryon, meanwhile, had decided
to move into
Marion, the county seat, and make a
permanent home there. It
would be easier to send the children to
school and Tryon, while
continuing his rural practice, could
gradually build up a town
practice where the patients might be
expected to meet their bills
in cash instead of eggs, butter and
other farm commodities. More-
over, Phoebe wanted to aid her husband
in his work in a more
practical way and to this end wished to
take several courses at
the Homeopathic College in Cleveland. It
would be easier for her
to arrange to do this if they were
living in town. They moved
into Marion before Warren graduated from
college, but they did
not sell the farm and he continued to
live there for a time. When
lie had to go into Marion he made the
twelve mile journey some-
what uncomfortably by mule.
It was autumn before the family settled
down again. Phoebe
had taken several courses in Cleveland,
one of them being under
her husband's former teacher, Dr.
Hamilton Biggar. All the
children were going to school in Marion
with the exception of
Warren who had his college diploma but
was "very broke" and in
need of work that would mean a regular
income. During the
summer he had tried his hand at odd
jobs, and then, as he wrote
274
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in later years, "I did what was
very much in practice at the time
--turned to teaching, in my aboundant
fullness of knowledge, hav-
ing just come out of college." He
taught reading, writing and arith-
metic at "White School House"
just north of Marion, a school
that was under the Marion County
Institute. By February of the
following year he was convinced that
teaching was not the pro-
fession to which he would devote his
life, as can be gathered from
the following letter which he wrote at
the "White School House"
to his aunt, Mrs. Thomas Wiley
Dickerson, dated February 12,
1883:
Your good letter should have been
aswered ere this, but my excuse is
good enough to secure my pardon from the
terrible punishment of not hav-
ing another trial. As I always am, was
glad to hear from you and the other
friends, although Pa got the first peep
at your letter's contents. However,
he doesn't always open epistles
addressed to me, but seems to know when,
and where they are from. I am still
fighting ignorance with fair success. Of
course there are some chronic kickers,
but I deem that the best evidence of
my success. Next Friday, one week, i.e.
the 23rd inst., forever my career as
a pedagogue will close, and--oh, the
joy! I believe my calling to be in some
other sphere and will follow out the
belief. I sincerely hope that my Win-
ter's labors are not lost but that those
with whom I labored are somewhat
benefited. How often it is that one's
most arduous toils are without appre-
ciation! I will never teach again
without better (a good deal, too) wages,
and an advanced school.
The winter is passing off very
pleasantly and we are all glad to near
Spring. There are plenty of amusements,
but the principal attraction is the
skating rink. I attend quite frequently
and always enjoy myself. Chat has
attended but cannot yet manage the
rollers. Her brother can, and he repre-
sents the family. Quite frequently young
ladies show more of themselves
than is meant for general observation,
but the boys, all the boys, look the
other (?) way.
Hasn't it been wet and slippery? . . .
One morning I saw several new
constellations when on my way to
educational headquarters. . . .
How is Uncle Dan . . . and the rest of
the relatives? I am coming up
when school closes, and then I will
visit all, Gert included perhaps. How
does Cass sail forth? Stingy as ever, I
suppose. Does he "mash"? Uncle
D. K. and Aunt Clara are visiting at our
house at this writing. Will return
home this even, I suppose. Uncle Trav.
dropped in upon us and we all had
to laugh many a time. Pa is very busy,
making over $500. per month. Ma
is on the healthy list again, having had
three monstrous old teeth pulled
yesterday by the dentist. The children
are well, myself included, for I am
gaining in flesh every day.
SEVENTH OHIO PRESIDENT 275
Must now call my herd together and give
them their brain fodder. . . .
With love to all, Your affectionate
neph.
W. G. HARDING
Marion, O.
Warren was not yet eighteen years of age
when the foregoing
letter was written. At the close of the
school term he gave up
teaching and came into Marion to live
with his family, and soon
thereafter began his association with
the Marion Star. With his
editorship of the Star he began
his "public career"--the career
which was to bring him into contact with
most of the notable men
of his day; which was to take him to the
State Capitol, to the
United States Senate, and to the highest
office within the gift of
the Republic in which he was born. So
may close the chapter of
his early life. The story of his
acquisition of the newspaper, its
early struggles, his marriage and the
years in Marion, all these
belong to the dramatic, moving story of
his adult life.3
3 Although the source of every statement
made in this study of President Harding's
parents and his early life has been
carefully checked and recorded, the material has
been assembled from so many different
sources that it is impracticable to acknowledge
them all here.
Anyone undertaking to write of President
Harding's life, either of the early
years or of his public career, must of
necessity go to documentary and original sources
of information and check every detail
most carefully. This is because the material now
in print, almost without exception, has
been prepared without serious or extended re-
search and has been based mainly upon
contemporary journalism. No full biography
of President Harding, worthy of the
name, has as yet been published. There recently
appeared a book which purported to be a
biography of the former President but which
was, to put it mildly, a much better
portrait of its author than of its subject.
One of the explanations for the absence
of a biography of the twenty-eighth
President of the United States may be
found in the position of the Harding Memorial
Association. By the terms of Mrs.
Harding's will this Association came into possession
of all of the files and papers belonging
to President Harding, covering the entire period
of his services in the United States
Senate and as President, as well as other miscella-
neous material preserved by the
Hardings. It has been erroneously stated, and is still
repeated by writers occasionally, that
Mrs. Harding destroyed all of her husband's
papers. This is completely untrue, and
the Association is in possession of a vast
accumulation of correspondence,
memoranda, documents and other material.
The Association, however, has adopted
the policy of refusing to make any of the
Harding Papers available until the
entire collection has been put in order, calendared,
indexed and until they are familiar with
everything that the collection contains. The
Association is to be the sole judge as
to when, and in what manner, any part or parts
of the collection may be made public.
The officers of the Association have been abso-
lutely fair and impartial in adhering to
this policy and have made no exceptions.
It can readily be seen, however, that
until this wealth of information is made
available no historian can hope to
prepare a really satisfactory biography covering the
period of President Harding's public
life. While considerable information is, of course,
available from other sources, no really
complete and authoritative study of President
Harding's adult life can be prepared
without the cooperation of the Harding Memorial
Association. It is safe to say that
whenever the Harding Papers are made available,
many of those who have written so glibly
and even sensationally of President Harding's
later life will be happy that their work
has long since been forgotten.
The author is particularly indebted to
Dr. George T. Harding of Columbus,
Ohio, a nephew of the late president,
for making available the letters of President
Harding's mother, her brother and
sisters. from which excerpts have been
used in
this study, and for his patience and
always cordial assistance in assembling and
checking the family history: to Mrs.
Charity Remsburg of Santa Ana, California, and
to Mrs. Heber H. Votaw of Takoma Park,
Maryland, sisters of the president, for their
kind response to requests for
information; and to Mrs. Ada Denman of Marion, Ohio,
a cousin of President Harding, for
material which she supplied and for permission to
use the early Harding letter [1883] the
original of which is in her possession.