U. ELLERY HAYDEN.-Sullivan county was the birthplace of U. Ellery Hayden, on the 1st of May, 1863, in Turman township, and it has been the scene of his subsequent business career. He is a son of Daniel J. and Sarah (Gray) Hayden, the former of whom was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, and the latter where the east portion of Sullivan has since been built. Daniel J. Hayden came to Indiana before the inauguration of the Civil war, and he worked at the blacksmith's trade in Sullivan and finally, about 1851, he began farming in connection with his trade, continuing both occupations there until about 1862, when he moved to Turman township and continued his residence there until his death in about 1892. The wife and mother is still living and resides with her son William, north of Sullivan, having reached the age of seventy-five years. In the Hayden family were seven children, namely: Mary E., deceased: John J. who resides on the old home farm in Turman township: William T., who has never married, and lives with his mother at the old homestead; U. Ellery, the subject of this review; Julia E. Patton, whose home is in Turman township; Ural, near the old home farm in Turman township; and one who died in infancy.
U. Ellery Hayden continued to reside with his parents until he had attained his twenty-ninth year, and he then married and started in life for himself by renting a farm, but after one year as a renter in Turman township he bought the farm where he now lives in Curry township. Although he carries on general farming pursuits, he makes a specialty of the raising of Chester White hogs and has been very successful in this line of business. His land is divided, his homestead consisting of seventy- five acres in Curry township, and he also owns seventy-seven acres in Turman township, forty acres in Hamilton township, and forty acres in Jackson township, but he farms all his land himself, and is a prominent and progressive agriculturist.
On the 1st of March, 1891, Mr. Hayden was united in marriage to Lillian B. Dodd, who was born in Illinois, July 28, 1868, and her father became one of the early settlers of Sullivan county. The children born of this union are Forest A. and Fannie O., the elder born December 22, 1892, and is at home, but the younger, born April 17, 1895, died April 7, 1896. The wife and mother is also deceased, dying September 7, 1896, and on the 29th of December, 1897, Mr. Hayden wedded Josie Shepherd, who was born in Jackson township, and her people were of Irish descent and among the oldest residents of that township. Her mother still lives on the old homestead near Hymera, but the father is deceased. The second union has been without issue. Mr. Hayden is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 584, at Graysville, and he has served in all the offices of that lodge and has twice served as a delegate to the Grand Lodge. He was a delegate to the famous convention at Chicago which secured four hundred and fifty dollars of prize money. He is a member of the Baptist church and is a stanch and active Prohibitionist.