Hayden Family Papers

Charles Trumbull Hayden was born on April 4, 1825 to Joseph and Mary (Hanks) Hayden at Haydens, Windsor Township, Connecticut. Charles Hayden is known to have taught school at the age of nineteen at Caldwell, New Jersey, and by 1848 was engaged in trade between Independence, Missouri, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Chihuahua. In 1856 Hayden began running wagon trains between Santa Fe and Tubac and soon opened a store about ten miles south of Tubac. He later operated this business in Tucson in partnership with Palatine Robinson.

In 1864 Hayden was appointed Probate Judge for the First Judicial District of the Arizona Territory by Governor John N. Goodwin. While planning his first trading trip to Prescott in 1866, he learned of a safe crossing of the Salt River near a small butte. Hayden recognized the potential for irrigated agriculture at the river crossing site while en route to Prescott and by 1870 newspaper accounts documented the establishment of the Hayden Milling and Farming Ditch Company. He established a ferry at the site soon afterwards and began construction of his waterpowered milling operation.

In 1873 Hayden closed his Tucson store and moved his entire mercantile operation to Hayden's Ferry. Soon afterwards he was introduced to Sallie Calvert Davis by a common acquaintance, a Dr. Alford of Visalia, California, while en route to San Francisco on business.

Sallie Calvert Davis (1842-1907) was born to Cornelius and Eliza (Halbert) Davis near Forrest City, Arkansas. She taught school in Tennessee, Nevada City, and finally Visalia, California. She was boarding with Dr. Alford at the time of her acquaintance with Charles T. Hayden. Charles and Sallie were married at Nevada City on October 4, 1876. Soon after their arrival at Hayden's Ferry Sallie was appointed Postmaster.

In 1876 Charles Hayden expanded his mercantile business by opening a store at Prescott. He constantly expanded his facilities at Hayden's Ferry until 1887, when the construction of the Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad bridge over the Salt River destroyed his ferry operation. Charles Hayden died at Tempe (renamed from Hayden's Ferry in 1879) on February 5, 1900.

Carl Trumbull Hayden was born to Sallie (Davis) and Charles T. Hayden at Hayden's Ferry on October 2, 1877. He was the oldest of four children, including Sallie Davis (1880-1962), Annie Spencer (1883-1885), and Mary Calvert (Hayden) McEllherren (1886-1951). Carl Hayden attended local schools and graduated from Tempe Normal School in 1896. He then attended Stanford University, where he met Nan Downing (1877-1961). The couple were married in Los Angeles on February 15, 1908. Carl Hayden held a number of political offices in the first decade of the twentieth century, including Tempe Town Council member, Maricopa County Treasurer, and County Sheriff.

Hayden was elected Arizona's first Congressman in 1912 and served in the US House of Representatives until 1926, when he was elected to the US Senate. He served as a US Senator from Arizona continuously until his retirement in 1970, holding appointments as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, ranking member of the Rules Committee, and member of the Interior Committee among others. Carl T. Hayden died in Tempe in 1972.