Embree Cemetery ~ Thomas Jefferson Hayter ~ part of the Polk County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
Hayter, Thomas Jefferson
LAST: Hayter FIRST: Thomas MID: Jefferson
GENDER: M MAIDEN NAME:  TITLE: 
BORN: 8 Feb 1830 DIED: 30 Oct 1918 BURIED: 1 Nov 1918 (Embree Cemetery)
OCCUPATION:  Farmer; Legislator
BIRTH PLACE:  Franklin, Howard Co., Missouri
DEATH PLACE: Dallas, Polk Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
Name of father James Hutton Hayter
Maiden name of mother Sarah Fulkerson
MARRIAGE - Thomas J. Hayter & Mary J. Embree, md 22 May 1856; H. M. Waller, M. G. Wit: A. M. Miller & Samuel T. Burch. 
1900 OR CENSUS - Thomas Hayter, age 70, b. Feb 1830 in Missouri, is enumerated with his wife of 44 years, Mary I., age 62, mother of 6 children 4 of whom are living at the time of the cenus, b. Jan 1838 in Missouri, along with James C., age 29, single, occupation editor and publisher, b. Sep 1870 in Oregon, and Oscar, age 26, single, occupation lawyer, b. Dec 1873 in Oregon.  Also enumerated with the family is Emma Dempsey, identified as a niece, age 20, occupation type setter, b. May 1880 in Oregon.
OBITUARY: 
T. J. Hayter Passes Away
Pioneer Who Lived Eventful Life Dies at Dallas at age of 88 Years.
Dallas, Or., Oct. 31 – (Special to the Statesman) – Hon. Thomas Jefferson Hayter, one of the oldest surviving pioneers of Polk county, passed away at his home in the western part of the city yesterday, after an illness of several months due to old age.
Mr. Hayter was a former member of the Oregon legislature and a former extensive farmer of this county. He was born in Howard county, Mo., February 8, 1830, and came of English forefathers who were long identified with the South. Mr. Hayter’s father, James H. Hayter, was a native of Virginia and moved to Missouri in the year 1816, settling at Old Franklin, where he established a gristmill in the then wilderness of the West. The elder Mr. Hayter and wife both died during the cholera epidemic of 1856. T. J. Hayter was the last surviving member of a family of 10 children born to the parents.
Mr. Hayter spent an uneventful youth period at his home in Old Franklin until he was 19 years old, when he crossed the plains to California. He came by way of the old Califonia trail past Fort Hall, Humbolt and Truckee. Upon arriving at Sacramento in the fall of that year Mr Hayter obtained employment as a teamster and followed that occupation until going to work in the mines of California later on in that year.
In the fall of 1850 Mr. Hayter came to Oregon on the schooner Cre[--]e, 23 days being consumed in making the trip from San Francisco to the mouth of the Columbia river. After arriving in Oregon he came to Polk county where he took up a claim upon which he lived until 1852 when he sold it and in 1853 returned to his old home in Missouri by way of Panama.
In the spring of 1854 Mr. Hayter again crossed the plains by ox team, taking the old trail to Raft river and there branching off to the old Oregon trail. The time consumed in making this trip was much longer than the first time he crossed the plains on account of his driving a large herd of cattle to the state. He arrived at the first Oregon home on the road in September and after arriving in Polk county settled on a claim about three miles west of Dallas, where he engaged in stock raising.
In the fall of 1855, during the outbreak of the Yakima Indians, Mr. Hayter volunteered in Company G, First Oregon regiment of cavalry under the command of Colonel Nesmith and served throughout the war. After returning to this county he sold his stock farm and in 1856 located on a 260-acre ranch three miles east of this city where he lived until 1884 when he moved with his family to Dallas where he has since lived.
Mr. Hayter was a lifelong Democrat and, although taking an active interest in politics, he cared little for office, although he served Polk county in the Oregon legislature as representative in 1876. His chief interest in affairs outside his home was along educational lines and he was ever an active citizen in all affairs for betterment of the schools.
In May 1856, in this county, Mr. Hayter was united in marriage to Miss Mary I. Embree, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Carey Embree, and also a native of Howard county, Mo. To this union five sons and one daughter were born, the daughter Ellen and son Frank having died in childhood. Mr. Hayter is survived by a widow and four sons, all living in Dallas. They are Eugene Hayter, Dr. Mark Hayter, J.C. Hayter and Oscar Hayter.
Funeral services will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock, Rev D.V. Poling of Corvallis officiating.
Daily Oregon Statesman, 1 Nov 1918, 3:6-7
INSCRIPTION: 
Thomas J. Hayter
1830 - 1918
(shares marker with Mary)
SOURCES: 
Branigar Survey
Saucy Survey & Photographs
OSBH DC (Polk County 1918) #95
Polk County Oregon Marriage Records, 1849-79, pg 11
1900 OR CENSUS (Polk Co., Dallas, ED 173, sheet 13B)
DOS 1 Nov 1918, 3:6-7
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