Elijah Hayward

Elijah Hayward (November 17, 1786 – September 22, 1864) was a lawyer in the U.S. State of Ohio who represented his county in the Ohio House of Representatives, sat on the Ohio Supreme Court for a short time, and was Commissioner of the General Land Office. He was a noted genealogist and historian.

Early life

Elijah Hayward was born in 1786 in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He was descended from Thomas Hayward, one of the original proprietors of Bridgewater, who immigrated from England in 1634. His mother's ancestor came on the same ship passage. Hayward attended the village schools, and in 1801 entered Bridgewater Academy, where he learned English grammar and arithmetic for three months.

Starting in late 1801, Hayward worked in stores in West Bridgewater, and later Plymouth. In 1803, he went to Hanover, to learn shipbuilding. He became partner with David Kingman in 1807, and married his daughter, Eliza Kingman, February 19, 1809. He traveled to England on one of his ships, the ''Belfast'', in 1812, and returned to the U.S. in June of that year after hearing of the death of his partner and father-in-law Kingman. In Hanover, he decided to pursue the study of law at the office of John Winslow, esq. His studies were delayed by the need to attend to his father-in-law's estate, including a return to London for a lawsuit. He returned to East Bridgewater to study under Nahum Mitchell.

Immigration to the West

In the autumn of 1819, having studied law off and on for four and one half years, Hayward emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he opened an office. He established a partnership with David Wade, which lasted for eight years. In 1825, he was elected to represent Hamilton County in the Ohio House of Representatives, serving until 1829 in the 24th to 27th General Assemblies.

In 1830, the two houses of the Ohio Legislature, in joint session, elected Hayward as a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court for a seven-year term. He only served a part of that year when he accepted an appointment from President Jackson as Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington D.C. Hayward resigned in 1835, after his wife died, and returned to Ohio and the practice of law. In April, 1851, Hayward was named State librarian by Ohio Governor Reuben Wood. He served until May 1854.

Judge Hayward was a dedicated genealogist, who would spend weeks at a time copying the records of Plymouth Colony and towns of Massachusetts. He was elected a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1854. He was a member of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen. He was elected a corresponding member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society of his ancestors, before rejecting it to accept the Roman Catholic faith. He died in McConnelsville, Morgan County, Ohio in 1864. Hayward left one son, George Hayward, born Hanover, Massachusetts, July 14, 1817.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Elijah
Politicians from Cincinnati
1786 births
1864 deaths
Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court
Ohio lawyers
People from Hanover, Massachusetts
Lawyers from Cincinnati
General Land Office Commissioners
American librarians
People from McConnelsville, Ohio
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American judges
19th-century American lawyers