Moses Hayden

Moses Hayden (June 1785 – February 13, 1830) was an American lawyer and politician from New York who served in the United States House of Representatives and the New York State Senate during the early nineteenth century. He was the son of Dr. Moses Hayden (1742–1813) and Triphena (French, Childs) Hayden (b. 1756). Contemporary and later sources differ as to his exact birthplace and year—some giving Conway, Massachusetts, and others “near Westfield,” Massachusetts, and some citing 1786 as his birth year—but genealogical and regional histories commonly record him as having been born in June 1785. He was part of a prominent New England family; genealogical records indicate that his father, Dr. Moses Hayden, had two sons named Moses by different wives, one born in 1767 and the subject of this biography born in 1785 to his second wife.

Hayden completed preparatory studies in Massachusetts and enrolled at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He graduated from Williams College in 1804, a period when the institution was still relatively young and drawing students from across New England. After college he read law in the traditional manner, studying under established practitioners rather than in a formal law school, and was admitted to the bar in 1808. He commenced the practice of law in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, an important legal and commercial center in Berkshire County. On August 8, 1809, he married Elizabeth Williams, who died in 1825; the couple had no children. His early professional years in Pittsfield placed him within the legal and political networks of western Massachusetts at a time of expanding settlement and economic development.

At some point after establishing himself as a lawyer, Hayden removed from Massachusetts to western New York, settling in York, in Livingston County. There he continued his legal career and quickly became a figure of local prominence. From 1821 to 1823 he served as First Judge of the Livingston County Court, presiding over county-level judicial business during a formative period for the region’s legal institutions. His judicial service reflected both his professional standing and the trust placed in him by the local community and state authorities.

Hayden entered national politics in the 1820s, aligning himself with the faction that supported John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. He was elected as an Adams–Clay Democratic-Republican to the Eighteenth United States Congress and re-elected as an Adams man to the Nineteenth Congress, representing New York. He served two consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, holding office from March 4, 1823, to March 3, 1827. As a member of the Adams Party representing New York, Moses Hayden contributed to the legislative process during these two terms in office. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history marked by debates over internal improvements, tariffs, and the evolving party system, and he participated in the democratic process by representing the interests of his New York constituents in the national legislature.

After leaving Congress, Hayden remained active in public life and became associated with the emerging Anti-Masonic movement, which opposed what its adherents viewed as the undue influence and secrecy of Freemasonry in public affairs. He was elected as an Anti-Masonic member of the New York State Senate from the Eighth District and served from 1829 until his death in 1830. During this time he sat in the Fifty-Second and Fifty-Third New York State Legislatures, taking part in state-level deliberations at a moment when New York was one of the most politically dynamic states in the Union.

Moses Hayden died in office on February 13, 1830. He was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Fowlerville, a hamlet within the town of York, New York. His career, spanning legal practice in Massachusetts, judicial service and political leadership in New York, and terms in both the United States Congress and the New York State Senate, reflected the mobility and political transformation of the early republic and the emergence of new party alignments in the 1820s and 1830s.