Thomas A. Hayden (1880-1940) - Civil Engineer and Surveyor

 

PCA Archives

Although Thomas Albert Hayden was neither a pioneer or early resident of Phoenix, his dedication to the cemeteries earned him a final resting place among Phoenix’s first citizens.

Thomas Albert Hayden was born 2 June 1880 in Green Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada, to Thomas Hayden and Elmyra Ringer.  He attended Sheffield Scientific School in New Haven, Connecticut, but left in 1899 before graduating to go out West for his health. 

In Santa Fe, Hayden met Harvie Sheffield DuVal, an attorney and civil engineer who had moved to New Mexico in 1903.  Hayden married DuVal’s youngest daughter Irene in 1905.  The couple had one son, Irwin, born 1905 in Albuquerque.

Between 1906 and 1915, Hayden oversaw the construction of the Urraca Dam in Colfax County, New Mexico, and did drainage work in the Florida Everglades.  By 1912, he was back in private practice in Santa Fe, where he was also the city engineer.

Suffering from tuberculosis, Hayden moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1915.  After recovering, he found work as a civil engineer with the U.S. Surveyor General’s office.   During World War I, he served briefly in the Second Battery, 16th Provisional Training Regiment, probably as a training officer.  By 1918, Hayden was an engineer for Salt River Valley Water Users Association.

 Thomas and Irene eventually divorced, after which he married a much younger divorcee, Anna Marjorie Kessler.  They had four more children born between 1927 and 1935.

To keep fit, Hayden was in the habit of walking from his office near the Arizona State Capitol to his home at 339 East Palm Lane in Phoenix.  In doing so, he often passed by an overgrown, abandoned cemetery at 14th Avenue and Jefferson.  A little investigation confirmed that it was the last resting place of many Arizona notables.

Hayden surveyed the cemetery, created a map and recorded all the extant headstones. In 1939, he also prevailed upon some of his acquaintances in government to form the original Pioneer Cemetery Association, the purpose of which was to preserve the seven historic cemeteries now known as the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park.   Among the charter members were Rep. Carl Hayden, Lindley Bell Orme, and a young Barry Goldwater.  

Thomas died at home on December 23, 1940, following a heart attack.  His body was cremated and the stated intention was to have him buried in Greenwood Cemetery.  However, his cremains were left at the J. T. Whitney Funeral Home for another 48 years, until they were interred on the Avenue of Flags in the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park in 1988.  It is not known why the original burial never took place.

- by Donna Carr