Fayette County PA Archives Obituaries.....Hayden, Joseph May 3, 1905 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jamie Robinson JamieARobinson@hotmail.com August 16, 2011, 10:33 pm Daily News Standard Uniontown, PA Wed May 3, 1905 JOSEPH HAYDEN DEAD Uniontown's Oldest citizen Passes Quietly Away on Wednesday Morning He was in 93rd Year of His Age His father and Himself Had Unbroken Record of Voting for Presidential Candidates from Jefferson to Parker - Witnessed Great Brownfield-Campbell Debate - Death of Charles E Spear of Pittsburgh. Uniontown's oldest person, Joseph Hayden, aged over 92 years, died at an early hour Wednesday morning, May 3, 1905 at his home on Union street. Mr Hayden received a fall almost a year ago which resulted in a fracture of the hip and since that time he had been confined to his home. Death resulted from ailments incident to old age. The deceased was born July 9, 1812, in Georges township and was a son of John Hayden, a Revolutionary solder and one of the pioneer settlers of Fayette county and the first man to make iron west of the Allegheny mountains. John Hayden was the father of 23 children, of whom 13 were sons and Joseph Hayden was the sole survivor of this large family. An unbroken record of father and son having voted in every presidential election from the beginning of the government up to the present time was represented by Joseph Hayden. His father, John Hayden, voted in every election from the beginning of the government in 1789 up to his death, July 24, 1836, the same year that his son Joseph was first old enough to vote in a presidential election and thus carry forward uninterrupted the record of voting. Joseph Hayden voted at every election since 1836, or 13 in all, casting his vote last year for Alton B. Parker. He was always a Democrat. Many years ago Mr. Hayden was a candidate for county commissioneer and as an evidence of his popularity although there were 14 candidates in the race and Wharton was not his home township yet he received every one of the 90 votes cast in that township, but was defeated for the office by a plurality of seven votes. Although born two years after the murder of Polly Williams at White Rocks, Mr. Hayden in his childhood heard the story of the murder so often and it was so impressed upon his mind that in his old age he frequently remarked that he could remember things that happened before he was born. In those early days of the last century a murder was unusual and created great excitement and it was the leading topic of conversation for several years and Mr. Hayden heard the story time and again until it seemed that he knew it as if he were there when it happened. Polly Williams was buried about 200 yards from Joseph Hayden's father's house and the sandstone marker over the grave could be seen from the front door of the Hayden house. Besides being the oldest person in Uniontown Mr. Hayden was the only person living here who was present at the Redstone Association meeting in the old Redstone church at Smock when Alexander Campbell and Rev. William Brownfield had their memorial debate in 1826 which led to Campbell leaving the Baptist church and founding another church. Mr. Hayden also remembered the visit of Gen. Lafayette to Uniontown May 26,1825 and many other important events in the history of Uniontown and Fayette county. Mr. Hayden had for many years been a member of the Baptist church. He was early married and his wife died years ago. There are surviving a daughter, Miss Mary, at home, and a son Ayers Hayden, who is past 70 years of age and lives at East Liberty, near Vanderbilt. Another daughter lives in Missouri. Mr. Hayden during the greater part of his life followed farming. The funeral will take place Friday at 2 p.m. from the Baptist church with services by Dr. H. F. King. Interment in White Rock cemetery. The front page article included a photo of him. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 4.2 Kb