"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 507.
 
THOMAS R. HAYTON

     Founder and proprietor of the extensive hardware house which bears his
name, is one of Skagit county's eminently successful business men, and also  one
of its early pioneers.  He has been one of the real builders of the county,
hence is especially deserving of a place in these chronicles.
     Both the Hayton and the Sanders families, from which the subject of this
sketch draws his blood, are numbered among the prominent pioneers of Kentucky
and West Virginia.  Their very first representatives came to America in 1643,
settling in Rhode Island.  The earlier Haytons and Sanders formed a part of that
courageous, hardy vanguard of Americans that forged westward across the
Alleghanies in the fore part of the nineteenth century, and gave their lives to
the subduing of the fertile valleys of the sunny South and to the establishing
there of new homes and new states.  On this frontier, in June of 1832, Thomas
Hayton, the father of Thomas R., was born.  When he grew to manhood he entered
actively into the further building of Kentucky; later he fought for the
preservation of the Union under the banners of his native state; later still he
moved to Missouri and thence across the plains to Washington, becoming one of
Skagit county's distinguished pioneer citizens.  At the state constitutional
convention in 1889 he represented Skagit county, and in fact he has always been
identified prominently with its public life; at present he is residing upon the
old homestead on the Skagit delta.  A more detailed sketch of his life appears
elsewhere in these pages.  The devoted mother, only a year younger than her
husband, laid down life's burdens in the fall of 1896.  She was the mother of
fifteen children.
     Thomas R., the seventh child was born while the family resided in Pike
county,Kentucky, the date of his birth being January 7, 1863.  Soon, however, he
bade Kentucky farewell, the Haytons removing to Missouri, where the lad received
the rudiments of his education.  Then, only when thirteen years old, came the
greatest event of his boyhood, the emigration of the family from Missouri to
Puget sound.  The events of that memorable trip across the plains with prairie
schooner and stock, during which they were continuously facing hardships while
passing through numerous regions still in their primitive condition and infested
by dangerous Indians, will ever be fresh in his memory.  Reaching Seattle,
September 28, 1876, the family tarried there a few days, then pushed northward
to the delta of the Skagit river, near Fir, where the father settled.  In the
converting of this tract of marsh and brush land into a cultivated, diked farm
of ample dimensions Thomas R. Hayton manfully took his part.  For the first
eleven years the place could not be reached by wagon.  From the farm and public
schools at the age of twenty the young pioneer went again to Seattle, this time
to attend the territorial, now the state university, supporting himself largely
during this period by teaching while not in school.  Eventually having been
graduated with the class of 1887, he returned to Skagit and engaged in teaching
as a vocation.  A year later he was called upon by those among whom he had grown
up, to serve them in the capacity of superintendent of the county's schools,
which position he filled with fidelity and credit for two years.  At the close
of his term in 1891, he formed a partnership with Thomas Hurd and opened a
hardware store at La Conner.  Two years later A. I. Dunlap was admitted to the
firm and as the La Conner Hardware Company it was continued until Mr. Hurd sold
his interest to his partners, the firm name then becoming Hayton & Dunlap.  In
the spring of 1899 Mr. Hayton absorbed the Dunlap interest.  The business was
moved to the county seat in November, 1901, and two years afterward Mr. Hayton's
brother George became a partner, the name of the house becoming the Hayton
Hardware Company.  However, the junior partner retired in the spring of 1905,
again leaving the business solely in the hands of its founder.  Step by step the
business has progressed until it is recognized as one of the solid institutions
of the county.
     On New Year's day, 1890, Mr. Hayton was united in marriage to Miss Hattie
E. Marshall, at Ellensburg, the daughter of Alexander and Christena (Shaffer)
Marshall.  One child, Gladys, born August 11, 1893, has blessed the union.  Mr.
Marshall was one of the gold seekers of California in the days of '49, going
there in 1848.  He had been a soldier in the Mexican War, serving two years.  He
died in California a few years after the birth of his daughter, leaving her to
be reared by her mother.  Mrs. Hayton was born in California, March 4, 1869.
When five years old she was taken to Seattle by the mother, and there received
her education, finishing it with a course at the University of Washington.  Her
mother now resides at Mount Vernon with the Haytons.
     Mr. Hayton is among the leaders of the Republican party in his section of
the state, following in the footsteps of his father in this particular.  While
living at La Conner he served five years as city treasurer and was also a member
of the council.  In fraternal circles he is likewise active, being a Royal Arch
Mason and a Woodman of the World.  He is a deacon and member of the board of
trustees of the Baptist church of Mount Vernon.  In the course of his long,
unusually active career, but yet only fairly entered upon, he has gathered
around him a host of warm friends and admirers who have unbounded faith in his
sterling qualities and rare business talents.
     
*******************

Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in January, 2006 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.