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JOHN CLEMENT HAYDEN. The Greene county bar has an able exponent in the person of John Clement Hayden, of Ash Grove, formerly a well known and successful, contractor. His habits of study, industry and critical research, his ability to grasp and understand the law, to sift it, segregate it, weigh, deduce, and apply it, make him an informed, fortified, reliable and certain lawyer, and, necessarily and logically, a successful lawyer. He is characterized by fairness in stating the position of an adversary, and is strong enough and broad enough to seek or desire no undue advantage. His utterances are expressive of a calm dignity, a tolerant spirit, but a fixed purpose. In his discussion of the law he is terse, clear, precise, incisive, and to the jury he is a cautious, deliberate, impressive, reasoning advocate.
Mr. Hayden was born in Beetown, Grant county, Wisconsin, October 17, 1853. He is descended from distinguished ancestry, of which was the illustrious John Alden, one of America's favorite heroes, of Colonial history, song and story. Mr. Alden, who resided at Duxborough, Massachusetts, was one of the "Pilgrim fathers" of New England, who emigrated from England in the Mayflower in the year 1620, and is supposed to have been a native of some part of the island of Great Britain, although the name has probably been more common in Germany. He was one of the signers of the compact formed and solemnly adopted in the cabin of the Mayflower in Cape Cod harbor on November 15th of the year of emigration, and the last male survivor of them. He was about twenty-two years of age when he arrived, a single man, and it seems that he was an intimate of the family of Capt. Miles Standish. He was the stripling who first leaped upon the rock, as mentioned by President Adams in a certain communication. In 1623 he married Priscilla Mullins, a daughter of William Mullins, of Molines, one of the Pilgrims who died soon after their arrival. There is an interesting tradition relating to that period of his life, which is felicitously celebrated in Longfellow's poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish," with which all students of literature are familiar. For a few years John Alden lived in Plymouth, and then settled at Duxborough, on a farm, and it is a remarkable fact that these lands have remained in possession of his descendants ever since, and is regarded as one of the best farms in the vicinity of that town. He built his house on a rise of land near Eagle Tree Point, where the ruins of his well are still to be seen. He had, probably, eleven children, but only eight lived to enter the marriage state, four sons and four daughters, namely: John, Joseph, David, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Sarah, Ruth and Mary. Elizabeth married William Paybody, of Little Compton, Rhode Island, and died on May 1, 1717, at the age of ninety-four years, leaving numerous posterity; at the time of her death her granddaughter Bradford was a grandmother. John Alden was an assistant to all the governors of the colony, except Carver, for thirty-six years without interruption. He was elected to this office, and for the last twenty years of his life, from 1666 to 1686, he was senior assistant. From 1641 to 1649, inclusively, he was chosen to represent the town of Duxborough in the general court of the old colony. His death occurred on September 12, 1687, probably in his ninetieth year. He was a man of deep religious sentiment, and he did a great deal for the general good of the colony, throughout which he was popular; in fact, all the early Aldens, descendants of the Pilgrims, seemed to have been highly esteemed. They filled many important offices, and many of them were distinguished professionally, as physicians, teachers, etc., and as subjects of quite extensive notices, inscriptions and epitaphs.
Ruth Alden, third daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, married, on May 12, 1657, John Bass, of Braintree, Massachusetts. He was a son of Deacon Samuel Bass. To John and Ruth Bass seven children were born. Her death occurred on October 12, 1674, when about forty years of age, her husband surviving until September 12, 1716, dying at the age of eighty-three years. The youngest of the daughters of John and Ruth Bass married, on January 7, 1692, Ephraim Thayer, of Braintree, and to them fourteen children were born, all of whom grew to maturity, were married and reared families of their own. The death of Mrs. Thayer occurred in 1751. From her children sprang a numerous race. Mr. Thayer was a man of considerable property and was highly esteemed. According to the church records, his death occurred on January 15, 1757, in his eighty-eighth year, death being by accident. When he was eighty-four years old he married his second wife, Mrs. Mary Kingman, a widow. His second daughter, Hannah Thayer, was twice married, first to Nathaniel Blanchard, of Braintree, and to them eleven children were born. Their second daughter, Hannah Blanchard, was one of the one hundred and thirty-two grandchildren of Mrs. Thayer, and she was married on November 26, 1762, to Clement Hayden, of Braintree, who afterward moved to what is now called West Gray. An apple tree that he planted before the Revolutionary war was still standing on the farm he moved onto at West Gray, at the close of the Civil war, being at that time a century old. His eldest daughter, Jerusha Hayden, married James Humphrey. Samuel Hayden, grandfather of Jeremiah Hayden, was born in England about the middle of the sixteenth century. Clement Hayden, father of Jeremiah, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1708, died in 1785, at the age of seventy-seven years. He married Hannah Blanchard, who died in 1786. Jeremiah Hayden, born on August 23, 1768, married on January 2, 1794, Margaret Davis, who was born March 26, 1774, died September 14, 1841. Abigail Hayden was born on March 11, 1755, died on September 7, 1815. Gideon Hayden was born on December 19, 1796, died February 15, 1824. Jeremiah Hayden, Jr., born on September 28, 1798, died on September 15, 1818. John Hayden, born on September 19, 1800. Esther Hayden was born on December 19, 1802. Ebenezer Hayden was born on October 30, 1804. M. D. Hayden was born on August 16, 1806. Margaret Hayden was born on September 3, 1808, died on July 12, 1810. Clement Hayden, born on March 11, 1811. Joseph H. Hayden is mentioned in the following paragraph. Abigail Hayden was born on December 3, 1816, and died on February 19, 1843.
John C. Hayden, of this sketch, is the son of Joseph H. and Elizabeth A. (Pritchett) Hayden. The father was born at Raymond, Maine, November 18, 1814, and was a son of Jeremiah and Margaret (Davis) Hayden. Jeremiah Hayden was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, August 23, 1768, and was a son of Clement and Hannah (Blanchard) Hayden. Clement Hayden was born in Braintree in 1708, and was a son of Samuel Hayden, who was born in England about 1650, as before indicated. He emigrated from his native land about the close of the sixteenth century and settled near Braintree, Massachusetts. His son, Clement Hayden, was undoubtedly a farmer in that locality, and his death occurred in 1785, and the death of his wife occurred the following year. She was Hannah Blanchard before her marriage. Jeremiah Hayden married Margaret Davis on June 2, 1774. She was born on March 26, 1774, and her death occurred September 14, 1841.
Joseph H. Hayden, father of our subject, grew to manhood in his native New England, and he received a good education in the schools of Portland, Maine, graduating there when about eighteen years of age. When twenty-two years of age he undertook the long and prolix journey to the frontier country west of the Father of Waters, in 1836, arriving in Pike county, Missouri, locating among the early pioneers. He taught school there for a number of years and, in 1843, removed to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he continued teaching. He was a very successful and popular educator, and engaged in that field of endeavor for a period of thirty years. Finally, abandoning the school room, he took up farming, which he followed successfully in the last-named county until 1873, when he sold out and returned to Pike county, Missouri, where he resumed farming, which he continued along general lines until 1892, or until his death. He was an influential and well known man in both the above-named counties. Politically, he was a Democrat until 1856, when he espoused the cause of the Republican party, and remained loyal to that the rest of his life. He was, in early life, a Baptist, later a member of the Methodist church. He and Elizabeth A. Pritchett were married about 1841. She was born on March 20, 1826, in Kentucky, and died in July, 1912. She was a woman of commendable Christian character.
John C. Hayden received a good education, first passing through the public schools, and later studied one year at Baker University, Ogden City, Kansas. When a young man he learned the stonecutter's trade, which he followed for twenty-five years, as a cutter and contractor, in Kansas and Missouri, and was very successful in this line of endeavor. He built a number of substantial bridges in the Sunflower state, and was ever known as a skillful, careful and honest workman. In 1889 he came to Ash Grove, Greene county, Missouri, where he has since resided. He continued contracting until 1894, when, believing that a professional career was more to his liking, and for which he seemed to have a natural bent, he took up the law, and this has since claimed his attention. In 1894 he was elected justice of the peace. He began the study of law during his spare moments, made rapid progress, and in due course of time was admitted to the bar. While justice he discharged his duties in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. His decisions showed a deep insight into the basic principles of jurisprudence and they seldom met reversal at the hands of higher tribunals. During his incumbency of his office he tried over four hundred cases. He has been very successful in the general practice of law, and has figured conspicuously in the important cases in Ash Grove and vicinity for many years and is well known as an attorney over the western part of the county, where he has a large and satisfactory clientage. He represents the following insurance companies and does an extensive business in this line: Phoenix of London, Fidelity-Phoenix of New York, Niagara of New York, National of Hartford, Connecticut, Springfield Fire and Marine, and the Queen of New York; also the Fidelity Casualty Company of New York, and a bonding company.
Mr. Hayden was married, June 25, 1890, to Kitty DeMoore, who was born in Tennessee, October 23, 1863. She received a good education, and came from her native state to Missouri when young, locating at Ash Grove.
To our subject and wife two children have been born, namely: Ezelia V., born June 2, 1896, is attending the Ash Grove high school, from which he will graduate with the class of 1915; George Marlowe, born June 16, 1902.
Politically Mr. Hayden is a Republican and is more or less active in party affairs. Religiously he belongs to the Christian church. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, in which he is at present keeper of records and seal in the local lodge; also is past chancellor. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having passed the, chairs in the local lodge. He has won a host of warm friends since coming to Greene county by his straightforward, honorable course and is one of the most representative citizens of Ash Grove and vicinity.
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