William Dutton Hayward
William Dutton Hayward (August 31, 1815 – July 10, 1891) was the founder and namesake of the city of Hayward, California.
William grew up on his father’s farm where he was born, near Hopkinton, Massachusetts. In 1836 he proceeded to Georgetown, Massachusetts, and finding employment in a shoe factory there, remained about ten years. Also in 1836, William married Louisa Bartlett (born Lois-White Bartlett). Their daughter Sarah Louise Hayward was born in 1838. Louisa died in 1840.
Learning of the 1848 finding of gold in California, Hayward booked passage on the steamer Unicorn which set sail on April 23, 1849, steamed through the Strait of Magellan, and arrived in San Francisco on August 31, 1849. Proceeding to the gold fields, he "mined as long as his money lasted" and then returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, a disappointed gold seeker.
For a while, William squatted on Guillermo Castro's ranch, in Palomares Canyon (37°41′16.8″N 122°1′12″W / 37.688000°N 122.02000°W). Castro tried to evict him, but William persuaded him otherwise by making him a pair of boots. His stubbornness and shoe-making ability convinced Castro to hire him.
William set up a small store and saved up enough money to buy 40 acres (160,000 m2) of Castro's land including what is now the downtown Hayward area. On this land, he established a store and a small dairy operation. This land was along the road that ran from San Jose to Oakland (now called Mission Boulevard).
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