Benjamin was married three times:
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# 1. Elizabeth ("Eliza") French
in 1837. They had four children
(two sons and two daughters):
B. Franklin, Lucinda, William,
and Pam Hayford.
The oldest, a son, B. Franklin
(1838-1842) having died at the
age of four.
Eliza died June 24, 1846.
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# 2. (Eliza's sister) Mercy French.
Both daughters of Titus French Sr.
and his wife
Elizabeth "Betsey" (Thayer) French,
who moved from Spafford, Onondaga
County New York, to Buchanan,
Berrien County Michigan in late 1856.
Benjamin and Mercy had two sons:
C. D. Hayford and Orrin Hayford.
Mercy died Aug. 20, 1858.
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# 3. Mrs.
Loretta ("Lottie") M. (Stebbins) Baker,
in 1859. Lottie was the former wife
of Alexander Baker. Alexander and
Lottie Baker had ond child, Susie,
who married Charles Lanning.
Benjamin and Lottie Hayford had
one child named Freddie Hayford
(1865-1866), who died in infancy.
Lottie died on Aug. 5, 1895,
at the age of 66.
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Benjamin was a Baptist minister
and a farmer.
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The obituary for Benjamin Hayford
reads as follows: (date unknown)
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TULLY. The funeral of the late
Benjamin Hayford, who died at Tully
last Thursday, was held on Saturday,
the large gathering of friends and
neighbors testifying to the esteem
in which the deceased was held.
Mr. Hayford was born in Massachusetts
September 30, 1812, and at the age of
six, in company with his parents,
removed to St. Lawrence county, from
thence to Onondaga county at the age
of eighteen, where he ultimately made
his home. In 1837 he married Eliza
French, by whom he had four children--
two sons and two daughters--three of
which are still living, the oldest,
a son [B. Franklin], having died at
the age of four.
In 1841 he purchased fifty acres in
the town of Spafford, where he resided
until his death. In 1846 he was bereft
of his companion. He afterward married
Mary [Mercy] French, sister to the
deceased wife. The result of this
union was two sons [C. D. Hayford
and Orrin Hayford], who survive.
In 1858 she died, leaving him with
small children again to care for.
In 1859 he married Mrs. Loretta Baker,
who survives him. The deceased was a
very thorough and hard-working man,
having built every building on the
farm and adding many acres thereto.
He was a man of the strictest
integrity, a firm believer in the
Gospel and very zealous to exemplify
its teachings in his every day life.
In politices he was a Whig and then
a Republican.
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Note: See the bio for the mother,
of his first two wives,
Betsey French of Michigan.
-------------------------------