H. C. Haymen, proprietor of the "Spring Valley Stock Farm," Fairview township, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Meigs county, November 19, 1863, and is a son of Hezekiah H. and Esther E. (Costen) Haymen. Hezekiah H. Haymen was an early settler in Fairview township. He was born in Maryland and was educated and grew to manhood in his native State, where he was married to Esther E. Costen, also a native of Maryland. They lived for several years in their native State, when they removed to Ohio and settled in Meigs county, first locating at Letart, and later at Racine, Meigs county. Mr. Haymen was engaged in the general mercantile business in Ohio, and met with a fair degree of success.

In the spring of 1870 he came to Kansas and filed on the northwest quarter of section 34, Fairview township. His first habitation on his claim was a dugout on the banks of a little stream called Spring Branch. He bought a yoke of oxen and a limited equipment of farming implements and proceeded to break the prairie and improve his place. However, he became discouraged, after meeting with failure under adverse conditions. His son, Robert H., had accompanied him here, while the mother and the younger members of the family remained in Ohio until the father and son had a home prepared for the family in the West. Mr. Haymen had written his wife that he and his son were dissatisfied with this country and for her not to come, but Mrs. Haymen and the other children had started before receiving the letter, and came by rail as far as Emporia, and drove the remainder of the distance to the Butler county claim, and Mr. Haymen and Robert H. were taken completely by surprise upon the arrival of the mother and the other children. However, the family decided to stay on the claim, and no thought of leaving it was ever entertained, from that time. Some of the older children, upon becoming of age, homesteaded claims, and the father spent

his life on the original homestead. He died about three years after coming to Butler county, and the mother passed away a few years later. They were the parents of twelve children. For a number of years after the the death of the parents the old homestead was owned by the heirs, and in 1900, H. C., the youngest child of the family and the subject of this sketch, purchased the interest of the other heirs and the old Haymen place is now known as "Spring Valley Stock Farm," and is one of the ideal places of Fairview township.

H. C. Heyman, the subject of this sketch, was about seven years of age when he came to Butler county with his parents, and therefore has practically been reared in Butler county, and has many recollections of the pioneer conditions here when he was a boy. Coming here at the age he did, gives him the distinction of being an old settler and practically a young man at the same time.

Mr. Haymen was married on April 6, 1892, to Miss Maude H. Heath, a native of Butler county, and a daughter of John and Esther Heath, natives of Illinois and early settlers in Butler county, locating on the banks of the Whitewater at a very early day in the settlement of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Haymen have no children of their own, but they have one adopted girl, Susie Heath Haymen, a daughter of Mrs. Haymen's brother. She is now the wife of Luther E. McCulloch, of Fairview township.

Mr. Haymen is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at El Dorado, the Knights of Pythias at Towanda, and the Anti-Horse Thief Association, Fairview. Both Mr. and Mrs. Haymen are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are well known and prominent in the community.

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