Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Hayden, Cyrus 1843 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 25, 2006, 10:04 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) CYRUS HAYDEN. Cyrus Hayden was born in Lake county over sixty years ago, to be exact, on the 24th of September, 1843, so that he is among the oldest of the native born citizens of the county. He has spent the adult years of his life in useful activity in farming pursuits, and from an impecunious beginning has, by his constant industry and sagacious management, acquired a measure of success such as to place him among the truly representative men of the county. He was the youngest of thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters. whose parents were Nehemiah and Harriett (Kitchell) Hayden. Six of this family are still living, and all residents of Lake county. The Hayden family long since gained the reputation of being one of the most progressive in the west part of the county. The parents migrated out to this part of northwest Indiana when the country was all a wilderness, without railroads, and everything in the primitive condition of unsettled regions. Mr. Cyrus Hayden was reared to farm life, and has from boyhood known the details of farming and stock-raising. He is one of the citizens of West Creek township who in their childhood attended the old log-cabin school-house. The school was located a little north of the Hayden homestead, on section 12 of West Creek township, and the size of the building was about fourteen by sixteen feet, with one or two rough windows, and a wood-stove to furnish heat. He sat on a slab seat supported by wooden legs, and when he became classed with the older boys and girls he used as a desk the slanting board that ran nearly around the room and rested on pins driven into the wall. His pen was a goosequill, fashioned into the necessary shape by the schoolmaster. From the conditions of which this school was a representative Mr. Hayden has seen Lake county pass through a most wonderful period of development, witnessing when a small boy the advent of the railroad and then the many other concomitants of rising civilization, until he now lives in a county that is among the most highly improved of the middle west and contains all the arts and industries and institutions of twentieth century life. He remained at home until he was fifteen years old, when his father died, and he then lived with his brothers for three years. When he was ready to begin on his own account all he had was a team, so that he has risen from the very bottom of the ladder. In his early days he has raked the grain after the old-fashioned cradle, and has seen the hay cut down with a scythe. It is a well remembered event when the first reaper came into his neighborhood, and with that machine it was necessary to rake the grain by hand off the platform, and the reaper could also be used as a mower. He has thus been intimately acquainted with all the improvements in agricultural processes as they have been introduced. During the war Mr. Hayden offered his services to the Union cause, enlisting in Kankakee county, Illinois, in Company K, One Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois Infantry. He joined his regiment at Memphis, and was then assigned to duty in the trans-Mississippi department. He did guard and patrol duty, and got as far south as New Orleans. He was still in the service when the glad news of Lee's surrender came, followed five days later by the distressing tidings of Lincoln's assassination. He received his honorable discharge at Chicago, and then returned home to take up his duties as a peaceful citizen. September 1, 1864, he was married to Miss Caroline Cleaver, and five children, two sons and three daughters, were born to them, three of the children being still living: Myrtie, the wife of William Einspahr, a farmer of West Creek township, finished the public school work and took instruction in music. Thuel A. was educated in the country schools and the Lowell high school, and prepared himself for teaching, which profession he followed very successfully in this county, having taught in his home township for four years; he is now a successful farmer of West Creek township, and married Miss Minnie Shirley, an old soldier's daughter, and they have a son, Hugh. Mamie, the youngest, is at home, and she graduated from the public schools in 1904 and has also taken music. Mrs. Hayden was born in Yellowhead township, Kankakee county, Illinois, June 15, 1846, and was the second of five children born to Woster D. and Eliza A. (Sargeant) Cleaver, four of the family being alive at the present writing and residents of Lake county. Mrs. Hayden was reared and educated in Illinois and was a teacher in her native county for three years. Her father was born in Connecticut, April 7, 1816, and died November 28, 1867. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade. In young manhood he came to Illinois, where he resided till his death. He was a strong Republican in politics. He and his wife were members of the Christian church. His wife was born in Fountain county, Indiana, December 31, 1825, and passed away August 14, 1897. During the first year of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Hayden were tenant farmers in Yellowhead township of Kankakee county. He then purchased eighty acres in West Creek township of this county, and this land was the nucleus around which they have since built up their fine estate. Their first eighty was in the condition of nature, and it was by his persevering labor that it became such a profitable piece of agricultural land. There was a lone burr-oak tree on the place, and it stood for many years as a natural guide-post to the traveler across the prairie, being finally cut down by Mr. Hayden in the spring of 1904. His first home was a little frame building, and the barn was small and roofed with hay. But the days of early struggle and hard labor have given place to comfortable circumstances, and Mr. and Mrs. Hayden now look out upon a beautiful estate of three hundred and forty acres, all of which is in West Creek township with the exception of five acres in Cedar Creek. They have a nice country residence, and they take much satisfaction in the knowledge that their possessions are the result of their own work. Mr. Hayden is a Simon-pure Republican, and has cast his ballot for the presidential candidates from Lincoln down. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/hayden569gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 7.2 Kb