Hayden, James Lewis

From: An Island Refuge- Loyalists and Disbanded Troops on The Island of Saint John, The Abegweit Branch of UELAC, 1983

  • JAMES LEWIS HAYDEN was born in 1749 and died in 1832. He and his wife Christina Haes were both of German descent and lived in Cherry Valley, Ulster County, New York. Other spellings of Christina’s surname have been given as: Hoss, Hess, Hawes.
  • In November of 1778 the settlement of Cherry Valley, New York, was raided by Butler’s Rangers, a British detachment under the Tory, John Butler, and Indian allies under the famous chief, Joseph Brant; about fifty people were massacred. Hayden, being loyal to Britain, was so harassed by the revolting colonists that he abandoned his home and with his wife and three children, George, Margaret and Elizabeth set out for New York. Hayden kept a journal and the following excerpts from it:
  • “April 16, 1774 George Hayden born and baptized by Mr. Sayre. May 29, 1780 Com (sic) to New York. Sept. 20, 1783 Left New York for Shelbourne, N.S. and landed there Oct. 4, 1783, and com (sic) to Island of St. John June 11, 1785.”
  • The family Bible recorded the names of their children: “George was born on April 16, 1774. Margaret was born on March 18, 1776. Elizabeth was born on September 28, 1778. Jacob Lewis was born on November 25, 1780 and died at New York on January 6, 1783. Catherine was born on January 28, 1783. James was born on July 5, 1786. Alex Lewis was born on April 2, 1788. Ann was born on July 26, 1790. William was born on December 22, 1792. Maria was born on September 4, 1795. Frederick was born on November 15, 1798 and died on July 14, 1810.”
  • No evidence exists that Hayden was in the army. It is more probable that soon after his arrival he followed his trade as a millwright near the place that became known as Hayden’s Creek in Cherry Valley. On April 7, 1796 James Lewis Hayden took a ninety-nine year lease on one hundred acres from the widow of Robert Clarke, a London merchant. He called this land, situated on Mill Creek, Cherry Valley, in memory of his former home in New York. He operated a mill there until April 7, 1801 when he assigned the lease to John Acorn in exchange for Acorn’s mill in Vernon River. Hayden then took over the Vernon River mill, both grist and saw, which in turn was operated by his son, James, his grandson, James Lewis, and his great-grandson, John Furness Hayden.