Yuba-San Francisco-San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Biographies.....Hayne, William Alston 1855 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 8, 2012, 9:28 pm

Source: See below
Author: Peter J. Delay

    WILLIAM ALSTON HAYNE.— The qualities which have distinguished the
citizenship of William Alston Hayne, of Marysville, are an inheritance from his
English and French ancestors, who immigrated to America in 1700, settling in
Colleton County, S. C. William Alston Hayne was born in the village of
Pendleton, S. C., November 26, 1855, and is the fourth of nine children born to
William A. and Margaretta E. (Stiles) Hayne. William A. Hayne, Sr., was born at
Charleston, S. C., and during the Civil War was a Confederate colonel. He was a
lawyer by profession, and was a member of the State legislature of South
Carolina; he passed away at the age of eighty years, at the family home in Santa
Barbara, Cal., his wife surviving him until she was eighty-six years old, she
too passing away at Santa Barbara. 

    Among the distinguished members of the Hayne family of South Carolina was
Colonel Isaac Hayne, known in the history of our country as the "Martyr of South
Carolina." During the occupation of Charleston by the British, Col. Isaac Hayne
was in command of cavalry, as General Marion was. Marion was called "The Swamp
Fox." Hayne and Marion attacked the British whenever opportunity was afforded,
and thus harassed the Redcoats very much. Hayne was finally captured and taken
to Charleston and lodged in jail; and while he was in jail, word was brought to
him that his wife was dying of smallpox. Their three small children were with
her. Under such distressing circumstances, he sent word to Lord Rawdon, who was
in command at Charleston, that if he would allow him to go to his dying wife he
would lay down his arms against the British. To this Lord Rawdon agreed. Hayne's
wife died the next day. After the sad funeral was over and the children had been
provided for, Hayne, true to his compact with Lord Rawdon, had nothing to do but
to sit in sorrow and let matters drift along. It was but a short time, however,
until Lord Rawdon ordered him to take up arms against his own people, or in
other words turn traitor against his country. Hayne very justly and correctly
regarded the agreement between himself and Lord Rawdon ended, it having been
grossly violated by Lord Rawdon; and mounting his horse, he again joined his
brave and devoted men in the swamps. Hearing of several British officers a few
miles out of Charleston, Hayne determined to capture them, and did so. Almost
immediately he was pursued, and again, captured. He was jailed in Charleston,
and without a trial was ordered to be executed. Hayne imagined that he would be
shot, or meet a soldier's death; but as he was walking towards the place of
execution, he beheld a roughly constructed gallows. Stopping only for a moment,
he then walked on, mounted the gallows without assistance, placed the black cap
on his head himself, and thus bravely met his fate. It is recorded that a
British officer, called "Mad Archie Campbel," who captured Hayne, said that if
he had known that Hayne would be treated as he had been — that is, without a
trial and hanged — he would have shot Hayne on the spot where he had captured
him. After the war, the matter was taken up in England and Lord Rawdon, to
excuse himself, blamed an officer by the name of Balfour. As Balfour was then
dead and could not testify, the matter ended there. It is recorded that fifty of
the most beautiful women of Charleston, taking with them the three small
children of Hayne, called on Lord Rawdon and on their knees pleaded for Hayne's
life; but Lord Rawdon only waved them away. It is stated that at the death of
Hayne the people of Charleston put on mourning and hung their flags at half mast. 

    The maternal ancestors of our subject were likewise among the earliest of
American patriots. Among them was his great-great-grandmother, Rebecca (Brewton)
Motte, who was born in South Carolina in 1739, and died at Charleston in 1815.
At the time of the Revolution she was a widow, and resided in her residence on
her plantation on the Congaree River, which was taken for a garrison by the
British officers and called Fort Motte. Mrs. Motte fired her own house by having
General Marion's men shoot arrows, sent to her from India, which would explode
when striking, thus setting the house afire; and all the officers were captured
by General Marion. Her interesting biography may be found in Mrs. Ellet's "Women
of the Revolution." There is now an oil painting in the Capitol at Washington
which shows Rebecca Motte handing the arrows to General Marion; she has always
been referred to in history as "The Heroine of South Carolina." 

    Our subject's maternal great-grandfather, Judge Thomas Duncan, was Chief
Justice of Pennsylvania for thirty-seven years; and Robert John Walker,
Secretary of State under President Buchanan, was a cousin of Mrs. Margaretta L.
Hayne, mother of our subject. 

    John Hayne, the founder of the Hayne family in South Carolina, came from
Shropshire, England, in 1700, settling in Colleton County; he married Mary
Deane, by whom he had eight children, from the eldest of whom descended the
subject of this review. William A. Hayne, the father of our subject, was the
elder of two sons born to Robert Young Hayne, American statesman, born in St.
Paul's Parish, Colleton County, S. C., November 10, 1791; he studied law at
Charleston, and at the age of twenty-one was admitted to practice at the bar.
During the War of 1812, Robert Young Hayne served as a soldier. At the close of
the war he resumed his practice of the law at Charleston. In 1814 he was elected
to the State legislature, and four years later he was made Speaker of the house.
From 1818 to 1822 he served as attorney-general of South Carolina; then he was
elected United States Senator from that State, serving from 1823 to 1832. The
great debate between Hayne and Webster occurred in 1830 during the discussion on
the Foote Resolution in regard to public lands. This debate was an historic
event of unusual political significance, Hayne championing the South, while
Webster championed the North, although six years previously Webster had
advocated the very same principle that Hayne was maintaining in 1830. Senator
Hayne's speech has gone down in history as a classic, and no less a person than
the late James G. Blaine told ex-Governor Bourn of Rhode Island that "Webster,
in his speech, did not reply to Hayne, but evaded the questions he could not
answer"; and yet Webster's reply is classed among his ablest speeches. "Colonel
Hayne was incontestably the most formidable of Mr. Webster's opponents. He had
more native and acquired ability than any other of them. Such is the concurrent
opinion of all who witnessed this great forensic contest, the Honorable Mr.
Everett of Massachusetts among others." Mr. Hayne was in his thirty-ninth year
and Mr. Webster in his forty-ninth year at the time of the "Great Debate." It is
worthy of note that Webster lists his Reply to Hayne as "No. 1 among his
political efforts." Senator Hayne's speech, as well as the one by Webster, is
printed in the Riverside Literature Series edited by Lindsey Swift, Boston
Public Library, and has been used as a text-book in the high schools of the
United States for many years. 

    At one time the merchants of Boston were suffering greatly from an act of
Congress placing an embargo on their goods, which they regarded as
unconstitutional and unjust to them. They expected Mr. Webster, their
representative, to defend them, but he failed to do so; whereupon Senator Hayne
took up their defense, and his speech in their favor was so well received that
the merchants of Boston had it printed on satin in its entirety and sent to
Senator Hayne with their compliments — surely a token of great appreciation,
coming from the opposition. 

    Senator Hayne vigorously opposed protection, and in 1832 boldly supported in
Congress the doctrine of Nullification. The tariff of 1824 had worked a great
hardship on the South and had become a great burden. In some cases it was as
high as seventy-five per cent on imports that were in daily use and were
necessary for the people of South Carolina to carry on their business. So great
was the burden, that on November 24, 1832, South Carolina, in a State
convention, adopted an ordinance of Nullification. As soon as the fact was known
at Washington, President Jackson issued his famous proclamation in which he
declared, in substance, that Nullification was treason. Robert Young Hayne was
then Governor of South Carolina. He replied in a proclamation breathing
defiance, and the State prepared to resist the enforcement of the tariff laws by
force of arms. There was no collision, however, for through a compromise
suggested by Henry Clay Congress speedily modified the tariff and South Carolina
repealed the Nullification ordinance. 

    In his reply to President Jackson's proclamation, Governor Hayne used some
strong language, having, in addition to the public, question involved, a
personal grievance which he keenly felt but was of too chivalrous a nature to
make public. Not to aid his cause, dear as it was to his heart, would he use the
private correspondence of the President, and this is the true explanation why
that fierce, stern, hot-tempered and fearless veteran took so meekly the
chidings he received, and cherished through them all an abiding affection for
the younger man. As an explanation of the somewhat personal tone of Hayne's
reply to the proclamation, and the "bitter words" which Adams noted in it, the
inquiry of the correspondent of the New York Courier and Enquirer is
interesting, coming to light, as it did, a little later: "Did General Jackson,
or did he not, in 1830, address a note to Governor Hayne approving his
celebrated speech now so much condemned by those who laud the proclamation? I
believe he did." Continuing, the correspondent avers, "When I penned that
interrogatory, I not only knew that General Jackson had written such a letter,
but I knew its contents." This inquiry provoked comment from the Augusta
Chronicle, the editor of which asserted, "He, General Jackson, did write such a
letter, the contents of which have long been known to us and are substantially
as follows. He told General Hayne that his speech (on Foote's Resolution)
explaining and advocating the doctrine of Nullification, was the best, or one of
the best, he had ever read, and that he would have it splendidly bound and
placed by the side of Mr. Jefferson's works in the best place in his library,
and that it was peculiarly worthy of so distinguished a station." If this
statement be true — and it is supported by two unimpeachable witnesses, who
state they saw the letter — then Hayne certainly had grounds for bitter feelings
against the President; yet not one word concerning it seems to have fallen from
his lips. Senator Hayne interpreted the Constitution of the United States in the
same light as did Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun, Democratic leaders and
men of equal ability with Daniel Webster. 

    In 1834, Robert Young Hayne, after retiring from public life, was chosen
mayor of Charleston, S. C. When the Cincinnati-Charleston Railway was organized,
Hayne was chosen as the first president of the company; he resigned as mayor of
Charleston to take up .his duties as president of the new railroad company,
believing, as he said, "that the Union could be better preserved by connecting
it together by railroads." His career in bringing about sound development of
transportation and communication between the North and South, is well-known. As
president of this railroad, he displayed an intimacy with the history and
operation of trade and commerce in every respect creditable to his high reputation.


    Five days after the adjournment of the third annual board meeting of the
railroad, held on September 16, 1839, Governor Hayne died of fever. The
Columbia, S. C, Temperance Advocate said of him: "He reflected back upon his
country the honors she so freely gave him." He was highly esteemed by his
friends; and by those with whom he had controversies he was admired for his
strict adherence to his public duty. The last meeting between Governor Hayne and
ex-President Andrew Jackson occurred at the Hermitage, General Jackson's home in
Nashville, Tenn. The General was old and feeble, but clear in intellect, and the
meeting was the result of an invitation from General Jackson to Governor Hayne
to spend the day with him. Being informed of Governor Hayne's arrival at
Nashville, General Jackson directed his private secretary, Major A. J.
Donaldson, to wait on him with his kind regards, and to request that before he
left the State he do him the favor to pass a day with him at the Hermitage. The
invitation was accepted, and as soon as Hayne had finished his public business
he rode out to the Hermitage and remained with Jackson during the day. He found
his host very feeble and much changed in appearance; but his mind was strong and
vigorous, his memory good, his manner calm, courteous, gifted as when he first
became acquainted with him in 1820, at the same place. The day passed
pleasantly, the parting hour arrived, and not a word had been uttered in
relation to their former antagonistic positions. On parting, Governor Hayne,
standing before the General, seized his hand and said, "General, it is probable
we shall never meet again in this world; and as we are about to part, I will say
to you with perfect frankness and sincerity that if, in the discharge of my
official duties, circumstances have occurred — and many such we believe have
occurred — to shake our friendship, on my part they are now and ever will be
forgotten." General Jackson rose from his seat, hardly able to stand, and taking
the hand of his guest, said in reply, "Governor Hayne, the kind, frank and noble
sentiments you have just given utterance to are those I truly feel, and from the
bottom of my heart I sincerely reciprocate all you say; and now, my dear sir, I
rejoice that our mutual friendship is restored and that we stand together as of
old. The purity of your character, the virtues which adorn your spotless life as
a public man and in social and domestic circles, won my friendship in our first
interview, in 1820, at this place. I say it now, and I say it with pleasure and
sincerity, that in that great record of your country which belongs to history,
your name will stand conspicuous on the roll of her illustrious sons as an able
jurist, an elegant orator, a wise counsellor, a sagacious and honest statesman." 

    A brother of Governor Hayne, A. P. Hayne, was Jackson's adjutant general,
and distinguished himself at the Battle of New Orleans. Letters now in
possession of the family, written by General Jackson, show his high opinion of
Arthur P. Hayne as an officer. 

    William A. Hayne, the father of our subject, brought his family to
California in 1867 and settled at Santa Barbara, where they engaged in
agricultural pursuits, and where, as above stated, both parents passed away. 

    The next to the eldest brother of our subject, Robert Young Hayne, was
admitted to the bar at San Francisco when twenty-one years old. At the age of
twenty-eight he was a superior judge, and he also became a supreme court
commissioner. He is the author of the book, "New Trials and Appeals," now in its
sixth edition, which is used extensively by men in judicial and legislative
circles. 

    Arthur P. Hayne, the youngest brother of our subject, became professor of
horticulture and viticulture in the University of California at the age of
twenty-eight. He resigned his professorship to enter the Spanish-American War,
and served with General Wheaton as first lieutenant. General Wheaton gave him
the following letter: "I thank you for your services, your gallant conduct and
how well you stood under heavy fire. Signed, General Wheaton." After the war, he
returned to California and was tendered his former professorship, which he
accepted. Later, however, he returned to the Philippines as a representative of
a land syndicate, remaining for six years. During this time he contracted a
fever, and finally he returned to his old home in Santa Barbara, where he passed
away. 

    William Alston Hayne started out for himself at a very early age. For a time
he worked in a lawyer's office in San Francisco, then in a wholesale house, and
afterwards in one of the banks of the bay metropolis. But the care-free life of
the farm proved of greater attraction, and he returned to the rancher's life. In
1898, with a party of fifteen men, fitted out for a trip of two years, he took
passage on the Northern Eight, an old whaling-ship, bound for the Bering Sea.
The party spent eighteen months in the frozen North in search for gold,
encountering the hardships and privations of the rigorous Arctic climate,
sometimes seventy-three degrees below zero. Mr. Hayne returned to the States
without the riches he anticipated finding, and again resumed agricultural
pursuits. Later he spent three years in Durango, Old Mexico, as a horticulturist
and cotton planter; and in this enterprise he met with well-deserved success. He
returned to the United States a few months previous to the outbreak of the
Mexican revolution in 1910. After his arrival he spent a short time in Santa
Barbara, and then went to San Luis Obispo, where he set out a large tract of
land to eucalyptus trees, adjacent to that city. 

    In 1913, Mr. Hayne made an investment in Yuba County, District No. 10, where
he bought 437 acres, paying eighty dollars per acre. This land is now worth four
times the purchase price. He has sold off 237 acres and retains as his home
place 200 acres, 100 acres of which is bottom land along the Feather River.
Besides producing beans, Mr. Hayne grows olives and grapes, which do
exceptionally well. 

    In 1922 Mr. Hayne was foreman of the Yuba County grand jury. For a term he
served as supervisor of Santa Barbara County. While residing in San Luis Obispo,
he became a member of the San Luis Obispo Lodge, No. 322, B. P. O. Elks. He is a
charter member of the Marysville Lions' Club, to which, in 1922, he presented
the United States flag which he raised on American soil north of the Arctic
Circle, on July 4, 1898. 

    Mr. Hayne was married in San Francisco, in 1899, to Miss Maud Bourn, a
native of that city and a daughter of W. B. and Sarah (Chase) Bourn, both
natives of Massachusetts. Miss Sarah Chase was a near relative of ex-Chief
Justice Chase of the United States Supreme Court, and held office under Lincoln.
Mrs. Hayne comes of the same family as Garrett Bourn, the planter of the
"Liberty Tree" at the southeast corner of Washington and Essex Streets, Boston,
where it grew until it was cut down by a party led by Job Williams. A British
soldier was killed at the time, while trying to remove one of its branches.
During Colonial days and the Revolution, a pole was fastened to the tree from
which a flag floated. The flag is now in a collection at Providence. A business
building now occupies the original site where grew the "Liberty Tree." Of this
tree Lafayette said, when in Boston, "The world should never forget the spot
where once stood the 'Liberty Tree,' so famous in your annals." W. B. Bourn came
to California in pioneer gold days and became a prominent mining man; he owned
and operated the famous Empire Mine in Grass Valley, now one of the
best-regulated and richest mines in California. He was also identified with many
of the great enterprises in California in those early days. Mrs. Hayne is a
member of the Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Mr. and Mrs. Hayne's
union has been blessed with two sons, who do honor to the family name. William
A. B., a graduate of Stanford University, is lieutenant in the 91st Division, U.
S. A., and Francis Bourn Hayne is now a student at Harvard University. During
the World War, in the year 1918, Mr. Hayne wrote the following poem: 

To Our Flag— Old Glory 
Those stars upon our nation's flag. 
Record the birth of every State; 
Each separate, in a certain way. 
United, form those forty-eight. 

Each star a State, each State a part 
That forms the perfect Union's soul; 
As one, we feel them throb and beat, 
A perfectly united w'hole. 

Stars of liberty, stars of peace, 
All set upon that perfect blue. 
Each star a window in itself, -, 
To let the light of Heaven through. 

The nations of Europe now see it unfurled. 
And the example it teaches impresses the world. 
Then may it for Freedom forever remain, 
The brightest of flags in the galaxy of fame. 


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF YUBA and SUTTER COUNTIES 
CALIFORNIA 
WITH 
Biographical Sketches OF 
The Leading Men and Women of the Counties Who Have Been Identified with Their
Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present 

HISTORY BY 
PETER J. DELAY 

ILLUSTRATED 
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME 

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY 
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1924


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