The Family of
aywood
For more than 150 years, members off this
famous North Carolina family have been
outstanding in various fields of service in
the state and nation.
FEW Carolina families can fur¬
nish names more illustrious
than that of Haywood, or that
have lived longer within our bor¬
ders and have rendered our state
more distinguished service. The
ones hereinafter referred to are
but a few of those of that name
who have graced the annals of our
state.
Judge John Haywood was born
in Halifax County in 1762. When
he reached school age, the Revolu¬
tion was drawing on. educational
facilities were limited, and the
country was in a disturbed con¬
dition. On this account he did not
have the advantages of a collegiate
education; but he did possess what
Wordsworth so well speaks of as
"Man’s unconquerable mind.”
Few men have the honor of hav¬
ing the Supreme Court officially
ss upon their legal attainments,
t in Ex Parte Spier, 12, N. C..
the court speaking through Mr.
Justice Hall said: "1 believe I shall
not treat with disrespect the
memory of the dead or the preten¬
tions of the living, when I say that
a greater criminal lawyer than
Judge Haywood never sat upon the
bench in North Carolina."
Judge Murphy ranked Haywood
higher than he did Mr. Justice Al¬
fred Moore of the Supreme Court
of the United States; or General
William R. Davie, generally con¬
sidered as the ranking lawyer of
the state. Murphy said that in
pure intellect, neither Moore nor
Davie could compare with Hay¬
wood.
He served as Reporter for the
Supreme Court, and in 1785 the
Legislature elected him as Superior
Court Judge for a district in what
is now Tennessee; an appointment
which he declined. In 1790 the
legislature elected him as Solicitor
General, his duty being to assist
the Attorney General. The follow¬
ing year he was elected as Attorney
General, but resigned that office in
1794 to accept an election as Judge
of the Superior Court.
Later in life Judge Haywood re¬
moved to Tennessee, where he was
elected as a Justice of the Supreme
Court of that state, a position
6
Ky It. C. LAWRENCE
which he occupied until his death.
He was the author of two histories
of the state of Tennessee.
John Haywood, usually referred
to as "Treasurer John" to distin-
uish him from his cousin, the
udge of the same name above re¬
ferred to, was born in Edgecombe
in 1755. Early in life he removed
to Raleigh, and when the city was
laid ofT and its lots sold, he pur¬
chased an entire block on New-
bern Avenue, and erected thereon
a residence which is still in the pos¬
session of his descendants. He
served as the first "Intendant of
Police" or Mayor of the city of
Raleigh.
In 1787 he was elected as State
Treasurer, and occupied that office
for more than forty years. He was
one of the original board of trus¬
tees of the University, and was a
member of the committee which
selected the Chapel Hill site. So
high was his standing over the
state, that in 1808 when a new
county was erected in the west, it
was named in his honor; and the
Chatham County town of that
name also perpetuates his memory.
Few men occupied a position of
such influence in the life of his day
as did "Treasurer John."
Dr. E. Burke Haywood, was a
son of the State Treasurer, and
was educated at the University
where he numbered among his
classmates General James J. Pet¬
tigrew and General Matt W. Ran¬
som. His medical education he re¬
ceived at the University of Penn¬
sylvania. He was the ranking phy¬
sician and surgeon of his genera¬
tion.
Upon the outbreak of the war,
Governor Ellis anticipating that it
would be necessary for the state
to establish a system of hospitals,
directed Dr. Haywood to make a
tour for the purpose of determin¬
ing the best type to erect, the best
equipment and other details. Upon
his return he organized the first
military hospital in North Carolina.
As early as May 1861, he was
named as Surgeon of State Troops
and was placed in charge of the
Raleigh hospital; and he was desig¬
nated as President of a Board ap¬
pointed to designate surgeons for
State Troops.
In August 1862 he became Sur¬
geon for the Confederate States,
and was assigned to duty as Presi¬
dent of the Board for granting fur¬
loughs. Later he was placed in
charge of the Pettigrew Base Hos¬
pital at Raleigh, and continued in
charge until the end of the war.
In 1868 he became President of
the State Medical Society. For
more than twenty-five years he was
a member of the Board of Directors
of the Hospital for the Insane,
serving for most of that time as
Chairman of the Board. It was
at his instance that a separate in¬
stitution was established for the
colored insane, which was erected
at Goldsboro.
In 1889 he became Chairman of
the State Board of Public Chari¬
ties. and played a prominent part
in the establishment of the West¬
ern Hospital for the Insane at
Morganton. He was the first phy¬
sician upon whom the University
conferred the degree of Doctor of
Laws.
United States Senator William
H. Haywood was born in Raleigh
in 1801, and it is a rather singular
fact that his two sisters both mar¬
ried men who became Governors —
Elizabeth, who married Governor
Edward B. Dudley; and Charity,
who married Governor Charles
Manly.
He graduated from the Univer¬
sity with the first honors of his
class in 1819, where one of his
schoolmates was his lifelong friend,
James K. Polk. Later in life, when
Polk was President, Haywood was
in the United States Senate.
Coming to the bar he represent¬
ed Wake several sessions in the
House of Commons, of which he be¬
came Speaker in 1836, defeating
Governor William A. Graham. He
was appointed by President Van
( Continued on page 20)
THE STATE. DECCMDCR 6. 1947
