Item Detail
-
Hayward, Ruth Hughes
-
1814-1904
-
MSS SC 1140
-
Biography
-
Ruth Hughes Hayward was born May 1, 1814 in Sheppey, Kent, England to Richard Hughes and Mary Turner Hughes. She married William Hayward on March 17, 1837. They had two daughters, Emma and Hannah, but Emma died in infancy. Ruth and William joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1849 and immigrated to Utah with their daughter Hannah in 1853. They were part of a handcart company and walked the entire journey. They moved to Ogden and to several other towns in Utah before being called to settle Richfield. However, they had trouble with the Indians and had to abandon the settlement. In 1872 they returned to Richfield where they settled permanently. Ruth was devoted to children and spent much of her time working in the Primary Association in Richfield. She was remembered in the town 'for the outdoor picnics she loved to take with the children.' She also did a considerable amount of temple work. Her husband died in 1891. She lived thirteen more years, and spent the last years of her life living with her daughter. She died October 13, 1904.
-
The information about Ruth's life is contained in 'Family Life Stories: William George Baker,' a family history compiled by Ruth Baker Thompson. The man mentioned in the title of the history, William George Baker, married Ruth Hughes Hayward's daughter Hannah. There are several items pertaining to Ruth in the family history: a photograph of her and of her husband in their later years, a one-page biographical sketch written by one of Ruth's grandchildren, another very short biography, a newspaper article about Ruth's sixty-ninth birthday party given by the Richfield Primary Association, an article about Ruth at age ninety, and an obituary. The biographical sketch by a grandchild is full of interesting anecdotes about Ruth's life. For example, 'Once during the grasshopper famine, she emptied a pin cushion stuffed with bran and baked a bran cake. She said they were so hungry it tasted very, very good.' Ruth is described in the sketch as 'a very small woman with snappy brown eyes.' Her grandchildren adored her, and they loved to play fox and geese with her. The geese were small white buttons, and the fox was a large black button; 'These buttons were always kept in a small white scalloped china bowl, on her dresser.' One granddaughter, Erma B. Chadwick, also remembered playing checkers with Ruth: 'Grandmother Hayward would play checkers with us and let us win and then say, How in the world do you do it?'' The biographical sketch concludes with a tribute from the Richfield Reaper, published October 20, 1904.
-
1839-1927