A History of the Hudson Family: Part IV
Samuel Dana Hayes began life according to a similar script seemingly written by the generations before him. First, he followed in his father’s footsteps to the Norwich Military Academy. Located in the small town of Norwich along the banks of the Connecticut River, he may have felt as if he was peering into his future as he looked across the water, as his father’s alma mater, Dartmouth College, sat on the opposite side of the river.
The resemblance of life paths would not last, as he cut his studies short before completion sometime after 1857. Instead, he seemed to develop an itch to travel around the same time as his brother, Augustus Jr., was leaving for China. After soliciting the help of Robert Henry Eddy, perhaps a family friend or the family’s attorney, Eddy submitted a passport application on Samuel’s behalf in a letter written directly to U.S. Secretary of State Lewis Cass, just days before the 18-year-old was meant to begin his travels in Europe.
His first destination was Britain, arriving in early 1860. Demonstrating the impetuosity one might expect from a teenager who drops out of school and waits for the final days before an international voyage to apply for a passport, the then 19-year-old Samuel made his way north, meeting a young local named Margaret Gunn in Duddingston, Scotland, and immediately eloping.
The young couple finished the summer of 1860 in Britain before crossing the channel and arriving in Mannheim in the Grand Duchy of Baden, then part of the German Confederation. This served as the newlyweds’ first joint home, as they resided in the Grand Duchy until May 1861 when they returned to the United States. With the American Civil War breaking out at the bombardment of Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861, it is unclear whether Samuel had felt the duty to return and thus cut his European sojourn short, or if the news had not yet made it to Mannheim and the young American returned to find his country being torn apart.[1]
Back in Boston, he again trod the same path as his father, becoming a chemist and state assayer. In this capacity he quickly built a public profile, establishing a national reputation as a leading assayer. Thanks to his technical savviness in matters metallurgical and chemical, he was invited to lecture and write on chemical properties, and like his father, to testify in court cases. Countless advertisements in newspapers across the country feature endorsements by Samuel attesting to the quality of products ranging from baking powder to skincare treatments and whiskey, presumably in exchange for a comfortable fee.
In 1877, Samuel and Margaret adopted an infant girl, with court records showing they officially renamed her Hope Beatrice Hayes. The family life, however, did not last long.
In the Winter of 1879-1880, he began a careful examination of his business and ensured all outstanding debts were fully paid. He even settled his rent bills in advance. Full power of attorney was conferred upon his wife Margaret, who he authorized to make all arrangements for the settlement of his affairs and to dispose of his business interests as she saw fit. He then left a note addressed to her, containing no explanation beyond the statement that he would never return, and that she would only be informed of his whereabouts in the event of his death. Shortly after, Samuel traveled to New York to attend final business for a law firm that engaged him for a patent infringement case. Then he vanished.
Why exactly Samuel Dana Hayes left, we will likely never be sure. In a detailed report in the Chicago Tribune from 4 February 1880, his business was said to be in “a very flourishing condition, and probably he had the largest practice of the kind in Massachusetts.” Further, he was at “the hight [sic] of success in his profession and had lately distinguished himself as an expert analyst in the Hayden murder trial in Worcester, Mass,” and assured “his character was unquestioned.” Augustus Jr. received a final note from his brother just days before his disappearance, in which he addressed him in his usual “familiar and affectionate way,” while providing the same vague details as were given to his wife. Whatever drove Samuel away, financial ruin or professional disgrace were almost certainly not the cause.
Friends and family hypothesized a mental breakdown. Only weeks before, Samuel and his family had buried his mother, Henrietta. Moreover, his domestic life appeared highly strained. These personal details were revealed in several newspaper stories, including one that explains after 15 years of marriage with Margaret, “the union did not prove to be one of the happiest.”
As 1880 progressed, the public drama surrounding Samuel Dana Hayes began to fade. Newspaper articles appeared less and less, while later appeals sent out by his family indicate that Margaret and Augustus Jr. had somehow learned that he had “gone west.” In 1882, two years after vanishing, his ailing father Augustus Sr. died. In his last will and testament, he left one third of his considerable estate to Samuel and his heirs, provided he came forward, or was proven dead, within three years of Augustus’ passing. Notices again fluttered out to newspapers across the country, from Maine to California, calling for Samuel to contact the family to claim his inheritance.
While no news stories have yet been found recording whether Samuel had come forward or not, digital records of the Probate Estate Files in Norfolk from 1882 shed some light. These reveal that on 12 July 1882, Samuel Dana Hayes silently reemerged in New York before Notary Public Frank L. Hall and identified himself as an heir and son of Augustus A. Hayes Sr., formally accepting his father’s will.
Another document offers the final clue of Samuel’s new life, this time in the will of Augustus Jr. Prepared ten years before his death in November 1882, it leaves his entire estate to his wife, Emily. In the event of her death, he appointed his friend Francis Weeks as guardian of the estate of his daughter, Florence, and his brother, Samuel D. Hayes, as “guardian of her person.”
And there, tucked inconspicuously between two parentheses after his brother’s name, Augustus left one final clue: “Address care of F. E. Everett, Golden, Colorado.”
[1] There would be no working underwater transatlantic telegraph cables until 1866, meaning news of the war would likely have taken roughly two weeks to reach Germany.
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