Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/279

 Lucian Hay den.

��253

��LUCIAN HAYDEN.

��Lucian EUyden. — Rev. Lucian Hay- den, D.D., representative 1883, from Dunbarton, sprung from a lineage of stanch, thriving farmers, whose lives verified their family motto, —

" Virtus sola nobilitat."

He is the seventh in descent from William Hayden, who came from Eng- land, and settled in Dorchester, Mass., 1630, but subsequently removed to Connecticut. Patriotic and energetic, this earliest American ancestor fought bravely in the Pequot war ; acquired lands in Hartford, Windsor, and else- where ; and sat as a representative in the Colonial Legislature at Hartford. Along the successive generations in this family line, sterling character received merited reward of general esteem, and from time to tiine won official elevation to positions of responsibility and trust.

Rev. Dr. Hayden was born in "\A'in- sted. Conn., Oct. 31, 180S. In youth, he developed his muscular system on his father's farm, but spent the winter in school, first as a pupil, next as a teacher. On atta.ining majority, he gave to his special preparation for the work of life eight consecutive years, and was gradu- ated at Madison University, New York, in 1836, where he continued in study throughout the following )'ear. On leaving this seat of learning, he supplied a pulpit for a few months in the city of New Haven, in his native State ; and then settled in Dover, N.H., where he was ordained in 1830. But in the course of four or five years, impaired health in his family constrained him to retire farther into the interior ; and at Saxton's River, Vt., now the seat of one of our best academies, he found a home apparently more salubrious.

��In that halcyon retreat, he conducted energetically his professional labors un- til the decease of his wife, — a period of more than fourteen years, — when he returned to our Granite State, and settled in New London. In that well- ordered community he wrought as a pastor untinngly and successfully, nearly twelve years. Again, however, his household was invaded by serious dis- ease. Hoping to arrest its progress, he sought beyond the limits of New Eng- land a less rigorous climate. Eleven years were passed at various stations, chiefly in Augusta, Ga., Indianapolis, Ind., and Washington, D.C., — now in preaching, now in conducting educa- tional interests, and now again in sei-v- ing the Government of our countr}'. Foiled in his effort to restore health to his family, he retraced his steps to New Hampshire, and settled in Dunbarton, — a town in the neighborhood of our capital, elevated, healthful, and " beau- tiful for situation," where he now re- sides.

Occasionally Dr. Hayden has acted as administrator of estates, and as guar- dian for orphans and for the insane. Often he has served as superintending committee of common schools, and on boards of trustees of various educa- tional and religious institutions. Re- peatedly in New Hampshire and in Vermont, he has been called to preside over State conventions in the honored denomination — the Baptist — with which he affiliates. In 1S65 he repre- sented the town of Nev/ London in the Legislature at Concord, and served on the committee on edidcation.

From his Alma Mater he received successively the degrees of A.M. and D.D. His present wife is a daughter

�� �