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HORACE HAYWARD, of Vinton, is a retired farmer and a Civil war veteran who came to Canton township from Ohio in the spring of 1855, being then a sturdy, ambitious young man with a comely young wife whom he had married in the preceding fall. The later years, which were full of hard labors, careful planning and wise execution, as well as of soldierly service for the Union, yielded him substantial prosperity and high honor.
Mr. Hayward was born in Scioto county, Ohio, on the 2nd of May, 1833, and is a son of Moses and Julia (Reynolds) Hayward, old residents of that state. The father was a farmer — also a teamster employed at an iron manufactory — who died in 1838; while the mother passed away about twenty years ago, more than eighty-four years of age. Horace is the only one of the six children who is now living. On October 7, 1854, Mr. Hayward married Miss Caroline M. Richart, born in Scioto county, August 3, 1835, daughter of William and Ann Maria (Clingman) Richart, also of an old family well known in that section of Ohio. The mother died in the Buckeye state when Mrs. Hayward was less than a year old, and the father moved to Benton county to occupy the four hundred acre farm which he had purchased the year before. Mr. Richart resided on that homestead until his death in the fall of 1868.
Mr. and Mrs. Horace Hayward became the parents of seven children, of whom two are deceased, all being born in Benton county. Martha married a Mr. Stone, of Cedar township, this county, and is the mother of Ray and Arthur. Orange, of Hitchcock county, Nebraska, is the father of two children, Reece and Grace. Mary and Sophia are deceased, the former dying young and the latter in womanhood. W. E. Hayward resides in Passaic, New Jersey, is a teacher in New York City, and has a daughter, Katherine E. J. L. is a teacher in the town of Auburn, Rhode Island ; is married and the father of two sons, Horace and John B.; while S. Clark Hayward, of Vinton, is also a married man and the father of Helen M.
When Mr. Hayward located in Canton township with his young wife on the first of April, 1855, he occupied a farm of forty acres, which he operated for sixteen years. He then moved to Bruce township, rented land for three years and finally bought a quarter section, upon which he erected a house of "Quaker poles," twelve feet high and sixteen by twenty feet on the ground. This was considered a great improvement over the first family house built of logs. Later, a large kitchen was added to the pole house, and a cave was also provided for the storing of the family provisions. These household accommodations were in force until Mr. Hayward erected the comfortable and commodious residence which he now occupies. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. In the fall of 1861, while still living on the little farm in Canton township, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, his active service commencing in 1862 and continuing until the conclusion of the war. Two years of that period were spent as a government teamster, and he participated in both the first and the last battle (Cedar Creek) of his regiment. He took part in several wearing campaigns and not a few important engagements, but was never seriously injured and, on the whole, enjoyed good health; so that on the Civil war score he has much for which to be thankful.
At the time Mr. Hayward purchased the quarter section in Bruce township (in 1871) he paid an average of twenty dollars an acre, the land being raw prairie covered with "n***** head" bowlders. As an illustration of the increase of values in that part of the county, it may be stated that the same grade of land now sells for one hundred and twelve dollars per acre. Such advancement in land values is due to the agricultural labors of such men as Mr. Hayward, who both bring the soil to its full productiveness and maintain their implements and improvements at the highest standard. His successes have included both general farming and stock raising, and besides his valuable property in Bruce township he owns a fine eighty-acre farm near LaPorte, Iowa. As of old, his politics are Republican, and he has served the public well as trustee of Bruce township. He still revives the memory of his Civil war days by his connection with P. M. Coder Post No. 98, G. A. R., although the reminiscences of that period come with less and less frequency as his comrades drop from the ranks of the living, and those who remain have the greater honor.Picture of Horace and Caroline Hayward
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