The following Biography appears in Early History of the Disciples, by A. Sutton Hayden (1875), a chronicle of the founding of the Disciples of Christ denomination in Western Pennsylvania and North-Eastern Ohio in the early years of the Nineteenth Century.

WILLIAM HAYDEN was born in Rosstrevor Township, Westmoreland County, Pa., Lord's day, June 30, 1799. In April, 1804, his father moved to the wilds of the new State of Ohio, and settled in Youngstown, where William, the oldest of the family, experienced the privations of pioneer life. Fond of reading, and having access to few books, he read much in the Bible. He was, when he was young, perplexed with questions about the origin of things, and what shall be hereafter. He was a deist before he was twelve; then for awhile the gulph of atheism yawned before him. From its frightful chasm he was rescued by the reflection, that "if nothing had eternally or primarily existed, nothing could have been originated, and that hence a cause uncaused was self-evident." He farther reflected that to doubt the existence of a Creator leads necessarily to a doubt of the existence of the creature.

For awhile he tried the bold adventure of doubting his own existence. This was impossible. His conclusion, in his own words was, "there is no sense in being a fool!" Cured now of atheism--for deism he found another remedy:

"I plainly saw that to turn away from the Bible, we plunge ourselves into darkness, and our only refuge is in our ignorance." [. . .] "Finally, reading again the narrative of the inhuman treatment of Christ from the garden to the sepulcher, and seeing how patiently and meekly he endured it all, his whole life passed in review before my mind. I was indignant that such a person should be so treated. What harm had he ever done them? The only perfect character that ever appeared on earth; a model of goodness, wisdom, dignity, condescension, and pity--just such a friend as ignorant, suffering man needed--and to be requited thus! Till now I had never seen sin in its hatefulness, and I felt myself a sinner."

For four years longer, till he was sixteen, he struggled in the mysteries of Calvinism; hoping, if he was one of the elect, God would impart the evidence of it in a needed and desired regeneration. A revival occurring, he sought the coveted relief!

At last, he was thoroughly aroused by the words of Jesus, Matt. xii: 36, 37: "I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." He fled for refuge to the hope of the gospel. He was baptized May 19, 1816, by Elder Joshua Woodworth, and united with the Baptist church, of which his parents were members.

December 20, 1818, he married Miss Mary McCollum, and settled on new lands in Austintown. In the midst of his work his zeal did not relax. When the church in Youngstown ran down, he took membership in Canfield. He studied the Scriptures diligently, and was ready always to give a "reason for the hope that was in him." I quote from his own pen: "I had heard some time before of one Alexander Campbell. I had read a sermon from his pen, and now in October, 1821, he was to preach in Warren, and I resolved to hear him. He was then thirty-three years of age, the sharpest man I ever saw, both in appearance and in intellect, and I confess I was afraid he might lead us astray. His first sermon was from the text, 'Thy kingdom come.' I soon saw what he meant to make out, and I did not mean to believe him; but I could not help believing him. He showed that the kingdom had come. At that meeting, which was for the mutual improvement of the preachers, he made several remarks, which were new and startling, and of infinite use to me. He said 'the true disciple of Christ will follow the truth wherever it leads.' Upon a moment's reflection, I saw there was no safety in doing otherwise.

I resolved that whatever the truth would make me, I would endeavor to be. A second was, 'you will notice the apostles in preaching the gospel never said one word about election.' I saw this was true. But then I thought, what is the gospel? I soon saw if the gospel can be preached without election, so can it without any of the 'five points.'"

A person with so tenacious and energetic a mind could not abandon the cherished system of Calvinism without a great struggle. His "Christian experience" had to be analyzed, and every impression and feeling traced to its cause. But the truth that faith comes by hearing the testimony of God was revolutionary, and he did not rest till it had gained in his mind the complete ascendancy. Every number of the Christian Baptist was thoroughly sifted. No wonder, then, that after seven years of so thorough a schooling he was ready, at the call of the association, to enter unhesitatingly into the work of teaching the true gospel to the world?

His own struggles, and his complete mastery of his own difficulties, prepared him to relieve others from similar doubts and scruples. In May, 1828, the church of Canfield gave him license as a preacher of the gospel. In October following, after his call to ride with Scott, he was ordained, in his own church of Austintown, of which he was then a member and leader, by brethren [Walter] Scott and Bentley.

From this time his labors were double those of most men. Working with his own hands as much as other men, and yet more in his saddle than most preachers. For twenty-five years he was absent from his own home on an average two hundred and forty days and nights each year. His industry was proverbial. He was incessant in preaching, teaching, and conversation--in public and in private. He created openings--occupied them, and when others could be found to hold the positions, he broke new ground. He was the first man and the chief operator in raising up the churches in Ravenna, Aurora, Shalersville, Akron, Royalton, Warrensville, Solon, and Russell, and several others. The following from his pen, written near the close of his life, is worthy of careful attention:

"I perceived within six months of the beginning of my labors the necessity of system in our operations, of which we had none--measures to call out and prepare fit men to preach and teach, and to take care of the converts--measures to insure a reasonable support for such men--measures to secure harmony of action among the preachers, and for holding the ground already gained. I spoke of all these interests to all the brethren; but there was only one man who seemed to perceive any sense in what I had to say, and that was Jacob Osborne, one of the most wise, prudent, and godly men we ever had among us; and he died in May, 1829.

For twenty years I urged these things, but they received no encouragement. I was astonished that all could not see the indispensable necessity of a matter so in accordance with common sense, and the demands of every-day experience; for the want of which so many of our churches are languishing almost to dissolution.

After twenty years hardship, toiling against wind and tide, my brother A. S. Hayden and I resolved that we would lay before the brotherhood the expediency of founding an institution of learning--the Eclectic Institute--at Hiram. It took with the people, and has accomplished much in many ways.

Isaac Errett responded to the appeal uncompromisingly to aid in getting an association of churches for the purpose of missionary operations on the Western Reserve. Shortly after, in 1852, the Ohio State Missionary Society was organized. It works well, and is likely to live and prosper; for the brethren are forced to see, after so long a time, the need of united action. But, oh how much the cause of Christ has lost! and how many have died ignorant of the gospel! and how many more will, for not having had a good system of management from the commencement!

But now my labors are about ended, and I am beginning to see the brethren act like men of common sense. One whole generation has passed away, and we are not quite ready to begin to act with efficiency in this great work of showing our contemporaries the true gospel in contradistinction from the speculations of men about the gospel.

Until the true gospel is honored by its friends, it will not be heard so as to be understood; and, until it is understood, faith that justifies will be supposed to come by prayer and the mysterious work of the Spirit; and while that is so, the evidence of prophecy and miracle will not be taught the people. Consequently, ignorance, unbelief, division, and iniquity will abound, as it is at this day.

No man has labored so wisely and so successfully as Alexander Campbell, to show the true gospel and its evidences, and how men become Christians, since the great apostasy commenced; and almost no man appreciates his labors! He has left nothing to be done by any other reformer who may come after him; and I fear it will be another generation before those who acknowledge him a reformer will organize, so as to be as efficient as all other people are in conducting their affairs."

His teaching on the whole question of conversion, was so clear and thorough, few who heard him candidly failed to see the difference between the teaching of the Scriptures on this important subject, and the mystic theories of regeneration which bewilder the mind and perplex the conscience.

His converts were, therefore, thorough and decided, like himself. One of these, Jewett Frost, of Richfield, could not rest till his brother and other friends in Riga, New York, should hear the same truth. At his instance, Wm. Hayden went into that State in 1832, and afterward, alone or in company with others, he made many and extensive trips in most of the Western counties of the Empire State, and in Canada, where he powerfully proclaimed the gospel, and rendered the most efficient service in establishing the cause of reformation.

In western Pennsylvania, Virginia, and in all the region of North-east Ohio his pioneer labors laid the foundations for others to build upon. Some of his most stirring and profitable tours were into Michigan and Wisconsin; so that from Syracuse to the Mississippi River, and from Canada to Virginia, he "fully preached the gospel of Christ." The following account of him is from the Millennial Harbinger, to which it was sent by the writer, 1863, just after his death:

"During his ministry of thirty-five years he traveled ninety thousand miles, full sixty thousand of which he made on horseback--that is, by this mode of travel--a distance of more than twice around the world!

The baptisms by his own hands were twelve hundred and seven. He preached over nine thousand sermons, that is, over two hundred and sixty one discourses per annum for every year of the thirty-five years of his public life. He once preached over fifty sermons in the month of November alone. Besides all these pulpit services, his private labors were abundant and incessant.

He had a peculiar turn for winning attention, and imparting instruction in the social circle, mingling the humor that charms with the experience which teaches. Few could relish or relate an anecdote better, or apply one more appropriately for purposes of illustration. Yet he never indulged in recitals of any in which the adorable Name, or any of the titles of the Most High, were even playfully, much less irreverently, introduced; a practice against which he bore frequent and forcible testimony.

His mental powers were most rapid and energetic in action. His method of reasoning tended to generalization, embracing a great variety of subject and method. Though not educated, in a scholastic sense, his taste, discernment, and industry very fully supplied this deficiency, and stored his mind with much general information and critical historical learning. The master quality of his mind was his almost matchless memory--memory, both of history and chronology. He made no memoranda of his sermons, yet he could report at any time, promptly and accurately, the number of his discourses, baptisms, and multitudes of incidents, and all without pen or pencil to aid him. It were vanity, perhaps, to assign him a place in this respect with Macaulay or Johnson; but all who knew him wondered at his power--a power which was at his command, with undiminished force, up to the hour of his death."

In his character were chiefly discernible firmness, decision, boldness in enterprise, and sturdy honesty. He was eminently social and hospitable, compassionate and kind-hearted. His religion was conscience and reverence; his humanity, a tender and systematic benevolence. He gave freely for humane, religious, and educational objects.

More than a year previous to his death, he was afflicted with a gradual weakening of the muscles, which pervaded the whole system, affecting his speech in common with every other muscular action. Without pain, and with the full exercise of his mental powers, he died at his home, at Chagrin Falls, easily and tranquilly, in full hope of immortality, April 7, 1863, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

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