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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Andrew Jackson
Hayes Among those who have borne an active part in the pioneer
period of this County is the well known farmer of Elk Creek Township whose name
introduces this sketch, whom to know is to honor and respect.
Andrew Jackson Hayes, a Buckeye by birth, has long been one of the highly
esteemed citizens of the Township of his residence and it is with pleasure that
the following brief outline of his life and achievements is accorded a place in
this volume which is devoted to a review of Jasper's representative men.
That he is one of such, no one who has known him since his residence
began in our midst nearly a half century ago, will deny. Mr. Hayes was born in Perry County, Ohio,
March 30, 1844. He is the son of
Bazel Cooper Hayes and Mary Pickeral Hayes, the father born in Maryland on
December 25, 1800, and the mother in Perry County, Ohio. The father was young
when he came to Perry County, Ohio, and there they grew up and were married.
He had lived in Baltimore prior to his leaving the Oriole state.
He learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed in connection with
farming, but devoted the principal part of his life to the latter pursuit.
It was about 1846 or 1847 that the Hayes family moved to Licking County,
Ohio, where the father of the subject purchased a farm.
The mother dying when the subject was two and one-half years of age, the
father later remarried, his second wife being Hannah Matthews.
The death of Bazel C. Hayes occurred in Ohio in 1863.
He was a very radical Democrat, but a loyal supporter of the Union.
Although he was an admirer of Stephen A. Douglas, he was an abolitionist.
He and his wife belonged to the Christian Church. Andrew J. Hayes, of this review, had two
sisters, and two half-sisters and a half-brother. The subject is the second
child and, being the oldest son, he began assisting his father with the general
work on the home farm when quite young, and although he was kept busy in the
fields the major part of the year, he found time to attend school in the brief
winter months in Licking County, Ohio. The
schools being excellent for those days, he became fairly well educated.
When twenty years of age he hired to A. V. Cooper to drive five hundred
sheep from Licking County, Ohio, to Jasper County, Iowa.
That was in 1864. He and his assistants were fifty-two days on the trip,
which required considerable hardship and labor. Mr. Cooper Owned considerable land in Jasper County.
Being pleased with the prospect here, the subject decided to remain, so
he continued to reside here for two years, working by the month. He then married
and lived on his father-in-law's place, that of John Wheeler. In 1881 he bought
forty acres in Elk Creek Township and has since made it his home.
He has served as justice of the peace for a period of sixteen years,
filling this post of duty in a manner that stamps him as a faithful and able
public servant and he has given the utmost satisfaction to all concerned.
His decisions have been characterized by fairness and have seldom met
with reversal at the hands of a higher tribunal.
Mr. Hayes has long been a loyal supporter of the Democratic Party. On November 14, 1869, occurred the marriage
of Andrew J. Hayes with Emeline Melissa Wheeler, who was born in McLean County,
Illinois. She was the daughter of
John Wheeler, who came to Jasper County in 1856 and here Mrs. Hayes spent her
girlhood and attended the early schools of the district in which the family
resided. The following children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes: Will B. and Artemissia are deceased; Lee B. is living in
Newton; Mrs. Nellie Zanderman, Arthur, Agnes 0.; Mrs. Myrtle Blacklidge of
Waterloo, Iowa; Maud, who is now deceased, were twins; Nina was the youngest in
order of birth. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 711. |
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