Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

his first chance to do work at the White
House through one of his customers, Secretary
of the Treasury William Windham,
who was a close friend of the Pres-
ident's family. Mr. Yergason decorated
the apartment of Captain George E.
Lemon, of Washington, owner of the
"Washington National Tribune," a paper
devoted to the interests of veterans of the
Civil War. Mrs. Harrison and the wives
of four members of the cabinet visited the
apartment to see the recently completed
work and were so delighted with it that
Mr. Yergason received an invitation the
next day to visit the White House with a
view to suggesting changes in the Blue
Room. His suggestions were well received
and he was commissioned to do
considerable work, not only in the noted
Blue Room, but also in other parts of the
building. He installed the first electric
lighting system ever used in the build-
ing. During the years 1890 and 1892, he
was frequently called to the White House
by President Harrison or his wife to sug-
gest desired improvements in the decorat-
ing of certain parts of the building.
Among the private mansions that Mr.
Yergason furnished in Washington was
that of John A. Logan, United States
senator from Illinois. This mansion was
leased by William Jennings Bryan when
he became Secretary of State at the start
of the Wilson administration. The house
is one of the most elegantly furnished
mansions in Washington to-day and many
of the draperies and carpets in it are the
ones Mr. Yergason put there in 1892. Mr.
Yergason was acquainted with many of
the most prominent men of the United
States between 1890 and 1900. Among
his friends have been Thomas A. Edison,
the inventor ; Richard J. Gattling, who
perfected the first gun which bears his
name ; General Horace Porter, who was
a member of General Grant's staff in the
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
162
Civil War; James G. Blaine, Thomas
Piatt, General W. T. Sherman, General
Philip H. Sheridan, General E. W. Whitaker,
General Joseph R. Hawley, Captain
George E. Lemon, Admiral George
Dewey, Actor Joseph Jefferson, Artist
Albert Bierstadt, and other noted men.
For over a quarter of a century Mr.
Yergason was collecting valuable relics
with the result that his collection is one of
the rarest and most unusual of its kind.
The range of the items comprising it is
extremely wide, and the great men and
events which they recall increase their
value. To mention all of this wonderful
collection would take up considerable
space, but perhaps the most valuable are
the two flags which were used to drape
the box in Ford's Theatre at Washington
where President Abraham Lincoln
was murdered on the night of April 14,
1865, as he was watching a performance
of the "American Cousin" with Mrs. Lin-
coln. One of the flags in which Booth's
spur caught as he jumped out from Lin-
coln's box, located on the second floor of
the theatre, is of silk and is torn in half.
The other half is in a glass box in the
hall of the treasury building in Washington.
He received a vote of thanks from
the Joint Assembly of the Legislature,
June 13, 1899, for the gift of a war relic,
the body of a tree containing five cannon
balls from the battlefield of Chickamauga
and placed in the Capitol at Hartford.
Mr. Yergason was a member of the So-
ciety of Sons of the American Revolution,
being a descendant of Elder and Love
Brewster ; member of Robert O. Tyler
Post, Grand Army of the Republic ;
mem-
ber of Army and Navy Club of Connecti-
cut ;
of Amaranth Dramatic Club of
Brooklyn, New York; of Aldine Mer-
chants Club, New York ; of Republican
Club of New York ; of Amen Corner Re-
publican Headquarters, New York State,