February, 8, 1796 ….Peyton R. Hayden Born
Peyton R. Hayden was a pioneer lawyer of Boonville and the first attorney admitted to the Cooper county bar. Hamilton R. Gamble, later governor of Missouri, Abiel Leonard, George Tompkins, John F. Ryland, all future judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri, and Duff Green, were his associates. Although Hayden had received only a common school education, few if any excelled him in his knowledge of law. He prepared his cases carefully and carried with him on his circuit a book he called HAYDEN'S DIGEST. Here he recorded a synopsis of every case in which he was retained with the authorities on which he relied.
Hayden was born near Paris, Kentucky, February 8, 1796. At 15, he entered the law office of Judge Benjamin Mills, well-known lawyer of northern Kentucky, where he remained until 1817. In 1818 he moved to Franklin, Howard county, Missouri, after living a year in Cape Girardeau county. At Franklin he taught school for a year, and one of his pupils was the later famous Kit Carson.
In March 1819, Hayden secured for Abiel Leonard his first case, a gesture which began a life-long friendship. Later, as leaders of the Missouri bar, Hayden and Leonard opposed each other in many cases. The repeated appearance of Hayden's name in early volumes of Supreme Court reports indicates the frequency with which he was counsel in important legal cases. When he died at his home in Boonville, December 20, 1855, the Supreme Court of Missouri passed a resolution to wear mourning for thirty days.
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