Hayhurst, Edward M., 1842-1923

Edward M. Hayhurst (1842-1923) was a carpenter and joiner, and a soldier in the U.S. Civil War, serving in the 124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry from 1862 to 1865. Hayhurst married Ella Weeks in September 1870 and had two children.

Edward M. Hayhurst was born on December 20, 1842, to Louisa W. Miller and Isaac Wiggins Hayhurst, a Baptist preacher and school master of Marlton, New Jersey. When of age, Hayhurst was trained as a carpenter and joiner. On October 12, 1862, Hayhurst enlisted as a Private in the Union Army, and became a member of Company E of the 124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry for a term of three years. By the time of his discharge after the Civil War ended, Hayhurst had risen to Sergeant. He served as Head Quarters Clerk under General C. C. Gilbert, March to May 1863; as Color Bearer, August 1863 to May 1864; and as Company Clerk from about May 1863 to June 1864 (battle of Kennesaw Mountain), until he caught typhoid fever and spent the rest of the war recuperating from the resulting ulcers.

During the course of his active service, Hayhurst's unit was involved in campaigns at Thompson's Station, Spring Hill, Tullahoma, Knoxville (relieving Burnside's Army, under siege by Longstreet), Strawberry Plains, Dandridge, and Chattanooga, Tenn.; and at Chickamauga, Poe's Tavern, Lee and Gordon's Mills, Brown's Ferry, Ringgold, Orchard Knob, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge/Dalton, Resaca, Adairsville, Kingston, Cassville, Dallas/New Hope Church, Allatoona Hills, Marietta, and Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia. Hayhurst was mustered out while in the hospital at Camp Dennison, Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 18, 1865.

He married Ella Evalina Weeks in Jackson, Kansas City, Missouri on September 18, 1870, and had two children, Paul and Miriam. During the course of his life (besides his time in the service), Hayhurst lived in Elyria, Ohio; Fredonia, New York; Boston, Massachussetts; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Waco, Texas; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Denver, Colorado. He died in Denver on February 2, 1923, and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheatridge, Colorado.

From the guide to the Edward M. Hayhurst correspondence and other materials, 1862-1938, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)