The Omaha, Sunday -Bee
PART III.
HALF-TIME SECTIOII
PAOtS 1 TO 4.
A Paper far th Haana
THE OMAHA DEC
Best t';. West
VOL. XXXVLT NO. 4L
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCI1 29 1908.
SINGLE COPY F1VK CENTS.
BLANCHARD S. HA YD EN STURDY SON OF THE FRONTIER
Ninety-two Years of Life and Five Weddings Have Left Him Vigorous and Active in Pursuit of Affairs of Business and the Comforts and Consolations of Religion.
THE FAM1LT FROM WHICH BLANCHARD S. HAYDEN,
pioneer of Nebraska, spraag. wu on which would have
delighted the president of a certain great republic There
were nineteen children and seventeen of them grew to
manhood and womanhood. Indeed. It U refreshing to
anyone, who loves th human race and delights In seeing It increase
and multiply to look at a family of this Wad. It Is the more de
lightful this day and age, when the man without any child Is
satisfied with Just a good wife, when the father with one child is
complacent, the father with two Is contented, the father with three
Is proud, the father with four Is arrogant and boastful, when the
father of Ave considers himself a veritable patriarch, and the father
or six hurries to a photograph gallery with his wife and children
and there, smiling the smile of a man who has done hi full duty
to (lie world, surrounded by his six children and with his wife seated
proudly at his side he has his remarkably numerous family pictured
ior the admiration of future generations, andorders one of the plc
luris finished more elaborately than the rest, for that picture he
Is going to forward to President Roosevelt, who, doubtless, will
wilte him a personal letter of commendation.
Hark in Kentucky where Blanchard S. Hayden was born 91
years ago, married people were pitied If they didn't haVe at least
a dozen children, twenty was considered "right smaht of a family"
and If a man had thirty children he was considered to have rather
a large household.
Of course, the economists have a rand argument here. In
Kentucky a century or so ago It didn't cost much to raise children.
Strong young men and women were valuable assets, rather than
expenses in the conauest of the backwoods. They learned early
how to use the axe and the plow; and the land, rich with the fer
tility of ages, poured forth copiously from Its bountiful lap Into
the hands of the men and, women who asked. Today In cities the
average man would be decidedly embarrassed In a financial ' way
if he had a couple of dosen children to support. He might receive
the commendation of the president and he might be lauded by his
fellow citizens for contributing fair daughters and sturdy sons te
the assets of the state. But the grocer and the butcher and the
department stores would not enter so heartily into the spirit of the
occasion as to cancel the bills which would necessarily arise.
Zarly Life in Kentucky
But, returning to Kentucky, Blanchard 8. Hayden was one of
the nineteen children of his father, who was married three times.
The father was a pioneer, one of those sturdy men who went along
in the vanguard of the westward moving civilization from Pennsyl
vania across the trackless mountains Into Kentucky at the end
of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Mr. Hayden was born April 22, 1816, In Mead county, near
Louisville. His father's farm consisted of more than 200 acres. On
it wero a distillery, a mill and a blacksmith shop, beside the barns
ai d the house. The life there in that enchanted country and In that
history-making age la surrounded with all the charm lent to It by
reu.oteness and by the unique' character of the sturdy race that had
occupied the land. Kentucky was already famous for good whisky,
pretty women and fast horses. Mr. Hayden Inherited the popular
taste. He was aa wild as any ot the young bloods of the new
, country.
"One of our greatest sports then was horse racing,"' he says.
"I was as much interested In It as anyone, and many a time I have
stood by the track and shouted myself hoarse with the excitement
that was born In my blood.. Another of our sports waa fighting.
It was a common thing to have a big mill between two giants, who
seemed to be made of Iron, Judging by the punishment they could
y take. It wasn't scientific. They justv hammered each other or
choked each other or wrestle. The Idea, waa to put ana ar the
other out of business, and it dldnt matter how It waa done except
that any other weapons than those with which the men wera
equipped by nature were barred."
In his life of hard work and rough sport, amid the dangers
of the natural enemies of civilised men and the dangers from rough
fellow men, young Hayden grew np in his father's patriarchal, pio
neer household. When he was 16 years old he left that home and
bound himself as apprentice to a blacksmith in Ellzabethtown. At
the end of four years he set up for himself In a smaU Tillage. ,
Though his father was amply able to aid the son. ha pursued that
grim pioneer policy of letting his son struggle for himself. He' ad
vanced him only enough money to buy a set of simple tools. The
boy set up his business literally "under a spreading chestnut tree."
He rented a cabin from a negro and there ha "bached It" for six
months. Then he married the first time he waa married flva
times during his life.
Married at Twenty Years
"I was 20 years old and my wife waa just IB on our wedding
day,", he says. "I met her on a farm close to where I was in busi
ness. Her parents were Well-to-do for that time and country. She
came with me into that littla cabin with its one room and I bet wa
wire aB happy a young couple as aver got married. We ate on a
goods box for the first three months of our married life because
we didn't have money to Invest In a table. Then I bought a table
at a bargain from a colored man and we felt wa were getting on In
the world with this fine piece of furniture."
Kight at this point Mr. Hayden has certain things to say which
aro to the disparagement of the modern bride, compared with the
gills who went out and fought the battles of the wilderness by the
tl(,e of their husbands back in the pioneer days. But he admits
( it only the influence of environment that has made many girls
of today extravagant and frivolous. If cities, theaters, department
tt r;s, Irresistible millinery displays wene suddenly removed and
n o U rn man were suddenly launched back Into the wilderness the
w. man of today would, no doubt, adjust herself by her intrinsic
wo th to conditions and be Just as happy in a sunbonnet as in a
$2, '.98 hat and In a calico Mother Hubbard as In the stunning crea
tion of a Parisian tailor.
Just before his marriage, the event which Mr. Hayden considers
thr greatest in his life, occurred. This was his conversion to Chrls
t'.: a:ty and his joining of the Baptist church. ' His conversion par
too': largely of the nature of the supernatural. From a roistering
backwoods boy, full of animal spirits and very fond of all three of
Kentucky's famous products, be was changed to a sedate, solemn
minded man whose first thought was for religion and whose chief
concern was for the conversion of others. He was converted during
a protracted meeting conducted by Thomas Fisher ot Louisville, one
of the most powerful of pioneer preachers.
Prosperity in Youth
The blacksmith shop under the tree prospered and the home
iu the negro cabin grew in elegance, adding to Itself gradually two
chairs and five children. In the course of time the young couple
acquired enough money to buy a horse, then two horses and a
wagon. Theu the pioneer blood which flowed In the veins of both
of thim stirred a feeling of unrest In their hearts and they deter
mined to push several hundred miles further into the west. They
placed their belongings and their children in their wagon and in
the fall of 1848 started through the wilderness for the west After
a trip of twenty-eight days they reached the southeastern corner
of Iowa and there they stopped in Carroll county, looked 'around
and considered themselves fortunate to find a little house.
' ' : . - - X - J
' ' ' s 1 " i
' 11 I
r
BLANCHARD 8. HATDEN.
father with live young children. Two years later h married again.
In 11(1 he left Iowa and settled in Missouri. There he lived dur
ing the civil war. He was a sympathizer with the south during
this conflict. He was plundered to some extent by wandering bands
from both armies, but his loss was comparatively small', consider
ing the times.
Frontier Calls Him
Population In Missouri in 1865 was becoming too thick to suit
the backwoodsman and .he determined to push west again. Dis
posing at his property, loading his goods and chattels and his wife
and children In a canvas-covered emigrant wagon, he set his face
to the west again. The caravan consisted of a big wagon loaded
with provisions and drawn by three yoke of oxen, four pack mules
and a buggy dri.wn bya mule. Beside his wife and children he
was accompanio6 by his two sons-in-law, Jacob Harmon and Samuel
Schuster. When they started they expected to go to the Rocky
mountains. But the charms of Nebraska drew them from this pur
pose and they stopped in Otoe county, near the present site of Ne
braska City, where Mr. Hayden has lived ever since. They crossed
the Missouri river February 14, 1865. That spring Mr. Hayden
bought three quarter sections of land, paying $1,600 for all of it.
He farmed for five, years and then retired to Nebraska City, where
he has lived in retirement since that time speculating, buying and
selling property until he is a well-to-do man.
Five times Blanchard S. Hayden has been married. His first
bride, the 15-year-old 'Kentucky girl who shared the hardships of
his young manhood, lived thirteen years and bore him five children.
She died soon after they reached Iowa, which was thirteen years
after their marriage. Her maiden name was Martha Ann Matthews.
He mprrled Mary Ann Woodrlng In Iowa in 1850 and she lived
twenty years, dying In Nebraska City. . Then he married Luclnda
Dakan, who died in 1890. v Then at the age of 74 years he mar
ried Rebecca Ann Chllds In Kentucky, bringing her to his new
home In Nebraska City. She lived eight years. His fifth wife, who
Is still Uving, was an Omaha woman, Mrs. Amanda Shupp, mother of
Mrs. C. A. Sherwood, 2562 Manderson street. Mr. Hayden was 85
years old when he married her.
The three sons and two daughters, borne by his first wife, were
his only children. Three of these are living. ' They are: John
Hayden of Syracuse, Jacob Hayden of Sterling and Mrs. Sarah
Schuster of Nebraska City.
Still in Vigorous Health
Almost a century old, Blanchard S. Hayden is still In vigorous,
health. His appetite is good, he sleeps soundly. He walks with
a crutch because an accident caused the dislocation of his right hip
a few years ago. In Nebraska City he attends to all his own busi
ness Interests, which include the renting, repairing and managing
of eighteen dwellings, besides some farm land. He keeps his own
books and visits his tenants personally.
"What have I done to keep my health?" he says. "I have Just
lived a clean, moral, Christian life. I never drank or used tobacco
to amount to much. I did use tobacco when I was a boy, but one
day I heard the men talking about how expensive it was. One
man said It cost him more for chewing tobacco than It cost for
coffee for his whole family, and he had a big family. I had a plug
of tobacco in my pocket then and I went right out to the creek
and threw the plug as far into the water as 1 could throw it. I
y bavd never used any tobacco since then."
wnen uiancnara te. Harden was born James .Madison was
president of the United States. Oeorgo Washington had died only"
seventeen years before. Cornerstone statesmen were still grum
bling because Thomas Jefferson had thrown away $7,000,000 of
the country's good money to buy from Napoleon Bonaparte 3.600,
000 square miles of desert land lying west of the Missouri river.
He was already a middle-aged man of 50 years at the time of the
, civil war. He passed the three-score years and ten mark when
Grover Cleveland waselected to the presidency the first time.
He is an old man and to one who looks into his face, into tha
dull eyes, It seemS as though the spirit has already halt passed from
the prison of clay in which It has been detained beyond the time
generally allotted to mortal men. And this half-Illusion is borne
out by the experiences of this aged man, this man who has devoted
more than seventy years of his life to preparing himself for the
life to come. Blanchard S. Hayden has seen visions. These visions
were of the other world and they came to him In time of great
Illness, when his soul seemed to have gone out from the body and
hurried ahead to have a glimpse at the other world. Once he suf
fered a congestive chill and the doctors pronounced him dead. Ills
body was laid out upon the bed. And then those who sat by and
wept suddenly noted a quiver of the eyelids. The soul crept back
Into .the body. .And It seemed to have brought with It the memory
of what It had seen during that brief, swift adventure Into the
spirit world. i
Stood on Jordan's Banks
"I seemed to have stood on the banks of the River Jordan," ha
says. "I could see the water flowing six or seven feet below me.
And on the other shore I saw the entrauce to the City of Zlon.
And while I looked, I saw a ship coming up the stream on the side
opposite to me. It moved slowly, steadily, without (.ails or oars. It
went up the stream some distance and then it swung around and
came down the side on which I stood. It seemed to st&p for me
and then I came back to earth."
Hymn writing Is one of the favorite occupations of the aged
man. He has written and set to music' more than 200 hymns upon
various topics. .The Inspiration to write these comes to him unex
plalnable, he says, sometimes in the middle of the night and then
it is an effort at all to write them. The words come to them. It
is a remarkable fact that although he never had much education
these hymns are perfect In rhyme, and rhythm. A poet could not
make their meter better. Much of his time Is spent In singing these
songs. He carries a tune perfectly and his voice is good. He has
composed one hymn to be sung at bis funeral. He has been a mem
ber of the Baptist church since his conversion. In Nebraska City ha
has been a member of the First Baptist church tor more than thirty
years during all that time he has been a deacon. He has no desire
to live to a greater age.
The mossy marble rests
On the Hps he loved to press
In their bloom.
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.
"I am ready to go any time." he says with a look that seems
to be across the great river. "I have lived much longer than moat
men. My father died at 89 years. I don't, care to live longer."
Diereine: Out the Remains of a Once Splendid City
R
OMB. March 10. Prof. Dante Vaglierl,
whose recent discovery of a pre
Romulean necropolis on the Palatine
has revolutionised ancient Roman his
tory, has now undertaken extensive ex
cavations, at Ostla, and their great importance
may be Judged by the fact that at the very start a
good find has been made.
Ancua Martius, the fourth king of Rome, built
over 600 years before Christ at the mouth of the
Tiber, about sixteen miles from Rome, a seaport
caled Ostla and secured the trade of the river, as
well as that of the adjacent salt pits. At first a
Roman colony, Ostla became in the course of time
an important and flourishing town. It was de
stroyed In the civil wars by Marlus. but was re
built with greater splendor than before.
Claudius constructed a new and better harbor
on the right arm of the Tiber the old one was
situated on the left arm which Trajan enlarged
and improved, and the port of Rome became one
of the greatest works of the Romans. Artificial
moles, forming a narrow entrance, advanced fa?
into the sea and firmly repelled the fury of the
waves, while three deep and capacious basins re-
celved the northern branch of the Tiber and af
forded a aafe anchorage for the vessels laden with
the corn of Africa, which was deposited in spa
clous granaries for the use of the capital.
The old town and port of Ostla, whose harbor
had already been partly filled with sand, gradu
ally sank Into insignificance and continued to exist
only through Us salt works, but the new harbor,
called Portus August!, rose to great importapce.
It was described aa a place where the spirit en
Joyed repose and the body recovered health. ,
la the tenth century the port of Trajan was
allowed to fill up with the sand and mud which
ine ijuer, ai me rate oi over s.vvu.uuu tons a
verted into p
,
-it war a fine house," says Mr. Hayden. "It waa built of small' year, carries down to the sea.- As Pope Gregory
poles. It had one room, a puncheon floor and a clapboard loft under
the thatched roof. My wife thought It was elegant. Nowadays they
wouldn't use the place for a barn, but it was a lot better than our
negro cabin."
The brave young couple set to work with native industry and
thrift and the virgin soil yielded good crops. They prospered, their
flocks and herds multiplied and their lands increased In value. Soon
after they reached Iowa, however, Mrs. Hayden died, leaving tha
IV had built a fortress at Ostla in the preceding
century and attempted to revive the ancient town
and port, which after him was called Gregorlopolls,
a passing Importance was given to mediaeval
Ostla, which was nothing but a fortified hamlet;
but its few Inhabitants soon fell a prey to malaria,
the sand of the Tiber gradually covered all that
remained of tha ancient city, the land was cou-
estiferous marshes and swamps and
the port was left at a distance of nearly two miles
from the sea.
Paul V cleared out the port of Trajan and
connected it with Flumlclno In 1612. and" It has
remained ever since the only way by which ves
sels can ascend the Tiber. Ostla today is one of
the many ancient burled cities of Italy,
v It Is like Pompeii. Sand and mud Instead of
volcanic lava covered Its streets, palaces, theaters,
fora, villas and shops. The debris of Nero's great
fire was carted thither and thrown over the ruins
of the old town, which had already begun to pale
before the prosperity of Portus.
In the Middle Agts dstla became a marble
quarry.. The - cathedral of Pisa" is built mostly
'from marbles taken from Ostla, and some of them
actually bear still the mark of their origin. This
is also true of the cathedral of Orvleto.- The cor
nice of the temple of Vulcan was broken and
burned Into lime as late as 1816.
Ostla marbles were used In the building of the
Loggia of the Bened(ctlon at St. Peter's and in
many ether churches of Rome. And yet such
was the vastness end richness of the ancient town
that despite continued spoliations, wholesale de
structions and the ravages ot barbarian Invasions
many of 1U streets, houses and public buildings,
although In ruins, still exist today.
The excavations undertaken at Ostla in the
past have yielded a rich archaeological harvest.
When the sacred field of Cybele, the mother of the
gods, whtre in a triangular space about one acre
in extent the, temple of the goddess surrounded by
a colonnade is still t6 be seen, was exoavated In
1867 the bronze statue of Venus Clotho, a recum
bent marble figure of Atys and a set of written
records referring to the worship of the goddess
were discovered. Other finds of great importance
consisted of a Mithralc sanctuary, the house of
the Aesrllll, the imperial palace aid many Inter
esting Inscriptions. '
But the excavations were never carried on on
a scientific basis, and very often they were inter
rupted and the places unearthed were allowed to
fall again Into ruin. Seven years ago an eminent
Italian archaeologist submitted a memorial to the
government In which ha affirmed that 8,000
bronze tablet constituting the records of Rome
from its foundation to the time ot Vespasian were
burled in the marsh of Ostla, having been carried
there after being rescued from the fire which de
voured Borne in the year 69 of the Christian era.
He proposed to drain the marsh in order to re
cover this invaluable historic treasure. Although
a commission was appointed to Investigate the
matter, a few years after the project was entirely
forgotten and It has been left in abeyance.
The main or entrance street of the ancient
town of Ostia is entirely unearthed. It Is long
and narrow, paved with great blocks of lava
closely dovetailed one into another and lined with
the low ruins of small houses or shops chiefly
built of brick set in opus rcticolatum. .Very few
buildings have remained perfect.
In some of the smaller streets there are evi
dent remains of pillared porticos. Here and there
are the remains ot temples and baths richly deco
rated with mosaics, while pieces of colored marble
and ancient glass tinted in opalescent hues from
long interment litter the ground.
The ruts made by chariot wheels obliged by
the narrow space to run always In the same groove
remain in the pavements ot the streets. Frag
ments of broken pottery and here and there ot
huajan bones fill the banks. Everything Is silent,
melancholy and strange. "
The level ground, mostly marshy and still un
excavated, that surround the town stretches away
to the Tiber and the sea. On a low hill the re
mains of a once massive building mark the spot
where the temple of Jupiter stood; when discov
ered It still .contained Its ancient altar.
The ruins of the theater discovered in 1881
belong chiefly to a careless restoration of the fifth
century with materials plundered from the an
cient monuments of the town. Here are a number
of pedestals taken from the Forum which once
supported statues of distinguished men. They
are (till inscribed with eulosiums of the merits
and exploits of the men whose portraits they bore,
but the statues have all disappeared. Here an
attar of A. t. 124, bearing reliefs of the story of
Romulus and Remuswas discovered.
The ForumN 240 feet square, stood between
the theater and the quay of the Tiber and belongs
to tha time oAJBeptlmus Severus. The intercol-
umnatlons of the east and west sides of its portico
are divided off into rooms for the different trade
guilds, and the corporation which occupied each
is named in the white and black mosaics on tha
tbrebhold. .
The history of Ostia Is the history of Rome, as
it was the place where the great Roman expedi
tions embarked for the subjugation of the prov
inces. From Ostla Sclpio Afrlcanua started for
Spain and Claudius for Britain. The town ob-""
tained its chief importance from Rome and it de- .
clined and fell with Rome.
Had any attempt been made to remove tha
sand which accumulated at the mouth of tha
Tiber, and which, cutting off Ostia from the sea,
rendered it useless as a seaport, the town today
would have remained the capital's harbor, as
flourishing as when It was founded, but nothing
has been done to save It It was allowed to ba
burled under the sand of the Tiber, the ground ,
around it was covered with stagnant water which
bred malaria, its inhabitants died and nothing
was left except ruin and desolation. r
The excavations 'of Ostla are comparatively
recent, as after the failure of the attempt to re
vive it by, Gregory IV the popes considered It
lost town and left it to its fate. This being tha
case, Prof. Vaglieri's researches may bo expected
to disclose much valuable material.
His first find was made In the so-called Via
della Kontana. There a large room probably be
longing to a villa has been discovered. Its walls
are decorated with paintlngs,-while the floor is
covered in black and white mosaics.
The frescoes, as seen in the two photographs
kindly furnished by Pror. Vaglierl, are In the
architectonic style, with figures painted in each
square, and they are In a very good state of
preservation owing to the fact that they were
found covered by a layer-of clay which had evl- .
dently protected thm for centuries. "Several
fragments of the ceiling ottlntcd in a similar style
were found and these can be reunited and replaced
with very little difficulty. A corridor leudlng to
the room has also been opened and very likely this
was lighted by a window which was covered by a
substance resembling mica and used Instead of
glass.