| Notes |
- HISTORY OF OUTAGAMIE COUNTY
REF. BOOK 977.539 RYAN PAGE 391-392 APP. LIBRARY
George W. Hayden, farmer and ex-soldier, of Pittsfield Township, Brown County, was born in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, May 1, 1839. His parents were Silas and Betsey Hayden, who reared a family of thirteen children, of whom, however, our subject is the only one living.
George W. Hayden was but thirteen years of age when his parents sold their farm in the east and came to Wisconsin, settling on a tract of forty acres of wild woodland in Pittsfield Township, Brown County, among the Indians, bears and wolves. They were a hardy couple, and the mother, on one occasion, walked to and returned from Green Bay in one day, after her sixtieth birthday, bearing a burden of twenty pounds. Of their large family only four of the children lived to come west to aid their parents in carving out a home from the wilderness. When our subject was but fourteen years old an ax was placed in his hands, and from that time onward he has earned his own living. The first winter he worked in the woods at twelve dollars per month, but later on his pay was increased to twenty dollars, the highest price then paid to woodmen. The father kept steadily at work clearing up his land, and added six acres to his original forty. Mrs. Hayden died in 1869, and her remains are interred in the rural cemetery at Flintville.
George W. Hayden remained with his parents until 1861, when he responded to his country's call and enlisted in Co. H, 12th Wis. V.I., being assigned to the army of the Tennessee, under Sherman. he obtained a furlough of 30 days, however, came home and married Alice E. Brown, daughter of James and Abigail (Tillbrook) Brown, of the state of Maine, where the father had been a fisherman. They came to Wisconsin about the year 1855 and settled at Mills Center, Pittsfield Township, on land purchased by Mr. Brown, on which they lived until 1863, when they sold out and moved to the northern part of the township, where the father died, after which the mother lived with her daughter, Mrs. Hayden. His 30-day's furlough having expired, Mr. Hayden rejoined his regiment and took part in all its marches and engagements until his discharge, at Louisville, Kentucky, July 16, 1965. He had fought at the seige of Vicksburg, at Chattanooga and at Atlanta, and had followed Sherman to the sea, experiencing hardships and privations that very few could endure, but during all his long service was in hospital only two weeks. When he returned home he took possession of a 40-acre tract of land he had purchased from the Fox River Improvement Company, on which no tree had yet been felled. He cleared a space large for the frame dwelling, in which he still lives, and the work of clearing was prosecuted with vigor until the wilderness was conquered. He has increased his possessions to 160 acres, and is altogether prosperous, his elder sons of late years having assisted him materially.
He had born to him eight children, viz.; Clare (deceased in infancy), William, Charles, George, Frank, Carrie, and Harvey and Harry (twins). Mr. and Mrs. Hayden are members of the Congregational Church, and in politics Mr. Hayden is a Republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.
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1839 - 1906 (66 years)