JOSEPH L. HAYWARD
Joseph Lyman Hayward. Tremont, surveyor and farmer, was born in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Mass., October 17, 1819, being the son of Joseph and Sylvia (Conant) Hayward. His mother’s parents, Sylvanus and Sylvia Conant, were natives of Massachusetts,
The Hayward family has long been represented in New England, the first of the family to arrive in Massachusetts being Thomas Hayward, who came from England in a sailing vessel, and settled in Duxbury, Mass., before 1638. Ten years later he was made a freeman, and his name appears among the very earliest settlers and proprietors of Bridgewater. He died in 1681.
Thomas Hayward was his son, and he was among the earliest military men of the colony, being appointed Lieutenant in 1667, and Captain in 1692. He was a Magistrate, and among the Governor’s assistants. In 1692 he was chosen Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and Sessions. His death occurred August 15, 1698, and was occasioned by a fall from his horse. He left a widow, Sarah.
John Hayward, son of Thomas, married Sarah Mitchell, and died in 1710. His son, Deacon Thomas Hayward, born in 1674, married Bethiah, daughter of William Pratt, in 1706, and died in 1741; his widow survived him four years. Seth Hayward, son of Deacon Thomas, was born February 29, 1721, married Tabitha Pratt (born March 7, 1725), and their son, Solomon (born at Plymouth, Mass., January 27, 1754) married Zerviah Washburn (born a Plymouth, Mass.. April 9, 1760). Their son, Joseph, the father of our subject, was born at Bridgewater, Mass., August 29, 1786, and died at Hampton, Ill., September 1, 1843. His wife, Sylvia Conant, was born at Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Mass., May 27, 1791, and died at Hampton, Ill., March 28, 1882.
Joseph Lyman Hayward, who stands in the eighth generation of his family in America, was educated in the local schools of his boyhood home, and accompanied his parents, in 1837, when they removed to the West, to make a home in Tazewell County. His father, who had been a mechanic in the East, purchased a farm, in Section 31, Morton Township, Tazewell County, where he lived the remainder of his life. Joseph L. came into possession of this farm and lived upon it for forty-eight years. He was both farmer and surveyor, serving one term as County Surveyor. In 1886 he moved to Tremont, where he now resides, his home being east of the Public Square.
Since his removal to Tremont, Mr. Hayward has also engaged in surveying, and given his sons much valuable assistance in the grain business. While living in Morton Township he was Commissioner of Highways, Assessor, Collector and School Director.
Mr. Hayward was married March 2, 1843, at Tremont, to Miss Mary C. Selah, who was born in New York City, on September 28, 1824. She was a daughter of Morris and Mary C, (Harris) Selah. Her father was also a, native of New York, where he was a contractor and builder in the earlier years of the last century. In 1836 he located at Tremont, Ill., where he long worked along these lines, constructing many of the residences of Tremont and the adjacent country.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hayward were born eight children: Mary Caroline, born March 20, 1844; Joseph Morris, born May 31, 1845, a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1866, and a practicing physician of Hopedale, Ill, where he died July 20, 1871; James Taylor, November 24, 1848; Sylvia Conant, October 2, 1851; Alice E., born June 15, 1855, and died September 23, 1856; Sigourney Augustus. August 29, 1857: Helen Stone, Feb. 3, 1863, and Eugene Grant, December 23, 1868. Mrs. Hayward died October 4, 1895.
Mr. Hayward is a Republican, and, in company with nine others, gave his maiden vote (viva voce) for Wm. H. Harrison for President, in 1840. He is the only survivor in 1904, and has voted at every Presidential election since that date.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County - page 1016