Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Wilford Hayden

Male 1772 - 1827  (55 years)


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  • Name Wilford Hayden  [1
    Birth 25 Mar 1772  St. Mary's County, Maryland Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Death 10 Jul 1827  Washington County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial St. Rose's Cemetery, Springfield, Washington, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Siblings 5 siblings 
    Person ID I8133  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
    Last Modified 8 Oct 2020 

    Father William Hayden,   b. Abt 1742   d. 10 Apr 1794, Washington County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 52 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth Thompson 
    Family ID F4665  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Ann C. "Nancy" Lee,   b. 1774, St. Mary's County, Maryland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Apr 1835, Washington County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 61 years) 
    Marriage 6 Jun 1793  [2
    Children 
     1. Phillip Hayden
     2. Henry Hayden
     3. James Lee Hayden,   b. 4 May 1792, Washington County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jun 1868 (Age 76 years)
    +4. William "Big Willie" Hayden,   b. 5 Aug 1794, Washington County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Jul 1851, Daviess County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years)
     5. Charles Thompson Hayden,   b. 1798   d. Dec 1835 (Age 37 years)
    Family ID F5962  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 8 Oct 2020 

  • Notes 
    • In bequeathing the "land where I now Live" to his wife Nancy in his will of 5 Sep 1827, Wilford Hayden mentions that the land had been deeded to him by Mordecai Lincoln.

      Mordecai Lincoln (1771-1830) was an uncle of the 16th president of the United States. In 1797 he bought 300 acres near Springfield, Kentucky from Terah Templin, Kentucky's first ordained Presbyterian minister, and built a two-story log house on it. On 4 Feb 1802, Lincoln sold 200 of those acres, including the house ("that tract or parcel of land with the appurtenances and improvements") to Wilford Hayden. In around 1815 Hayden expanded the house, adding a Federal facade. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the structure survives today on US Highway 528 near Springfield, the only house of any member of the Lincoln family still standing in Kentucky. Renovated in 2007-08, it is open for tours by appointment.

      On several occasions, President Lincoln referred to his uncle Mordecai as the relative who had most influenced him, remarking that "Uncle Mord ran off with all the talents of the family." Mordecai Lincoln married Mary Mudd, a Roman Catholic, and presumably converted; at any rate, he is buried at the Old Catholic Cemetery (also called the Lincoln Cemetery) near Fountain Green, Illinois. His son, also Mordecai Lincoln, the 16th President's cousin, was vehemently anti-Catholic; he was also known as a "woman-hater", i.e., a man determined to not marry. The younger Mordecai and the future President corresponded on several occasions and met at least once; they shared an avid interest in their family's history.

      In a further twist of history, Mordecai Lincoln's wife Mary Mudd (d. 1850) was a first cousin twice removed to Dr. Samuel Mudd (1833-1883), tried and imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. After more than three years he was pardoned by Andrew Johnson and released from prison in 1869. The question of his actual culpability is still controversial. Both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan wrote letters to his descendant Richard Mudd in which they agreed that Dr. Mudd had committed no crime.

      In the "Statement of Significance" in the 1972 application to have the Mordecai Lincoln House added to the National Register of Historic Places, it is stated that Wilford Hayden (called in the document "Wilfred Haydon") was by 1815 "a wealthy man." In the same section, the Federal frame added by Wilford Hayden to Mordecai Lincoln's log house is called "one of the finest architectural examples in Kentucky."

  • Sources 
    1. [S4468] Mordecai Lincoln House National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 21 Aug 1972.

    2. [S268] Findagrave.com page for Wilford Hayden.