Biography - A H Hayes
A. H. HAYES. Our subject is engaged as full general agent for the State of Illinois for the Anthony & Kuhn Brewery of St. Louis, which company has its distributing depot situated on the Wabash Railroad at Litchfield. Mr. Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, November 4, 1845. He is a son of D. S. and Ann (Wells) Hayes, the former being engaged in business at Springfield, Ohio, in early years. After the war, he moved to Tolono, Ill., and was for some time engaged in the hotel business, remaining there until his death, which occurred in March, 1883. His wife still survives and resides in Champaign.
Our subject is one of a family which contains six sons, the other five being railroad men. Four of them are passenger conductors and are familiarly known on the road as John C., Theo W., George N. and Judson D., respectively. The fifth brother is a locomotive engineer, and bears the name of William N. Mr. Hayes has one sister, whose name is Sabina, now the wife of Henry Weigle, of Danville.
The original of this sketch received his early school training in the city of Springfield, Ohio. On the breaking out of the war, he enlisted in Company C, of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and later in Company K, of the One Hundred and Fifty-second Infantry, and Company E, One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Ohio Infantry. He joined the army July 11, 1862, and with his regiment was sent to the Army of the Cumberland. With them he experienced all the horrors of war in the memorable campaign of the Shenandoah Valley. He was also at the battle of Lookout Mountain, that of Mission Ridge, Resaca, Atlanta, and, in fact, served gallantly until the close of the war. When peace had been declared, our subject, as did thousands of others of the Union soldiers, marched eastward to the National Capital, and the first reunion was held under the name of the Grand Review in the city of Washington.
Mr. Hayes saw a service of three years in the Civil War, and when he came out of the fight was still in his minority. He came with his father to Tolono and engaged in business for himself until 1870, when he moved to Irving, and in 1875 came to Litchfield.
On first locating in this city, our subject engaged in the butchering business, and in 1883 he took the agency he now holds. His thorough knowledge of the country and his energy have enabled him to build up an extensive trade in this portion of the State. The company have every convenience for storing their product. They have a very large cold storage place, which contains the most improved style of ice boxes and other things necessary to the perfect care of the brewing. Mr. Hayes has charge of the railroad business and handles about ten thousand kegs per annum.
Our subject was united in marriage in 1868 to Miss Alma E. Kelley, of Delaware, Ohio. They have one son whose name is Arthur Howard, and who is at the present time taking a course of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Mr. Hayes is a member of the Fire Department of the city and also belongs to the S. B. Phillips Post, G. A. R. He is also a Knight of Pythias, and is numbered among the Knights and Ladies of Honor, also the order of Tonti No. 343, of Litchfield.
Extracted 04 Dec 2016 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 206-207.
