Alexander Laws Hayes (1793-1875)

Alexander L. Hayes was born in Kent County, Delaware on March 7, 1793, the son of Manlove and Ziporrah Laws Hayes. He entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with the class of 1812 and after graduation studied law with Henry Moore Ridgely of Dover, Delaware. Hayes passed the bar in Delaware in 1815 and began practice in the state.

Continuing to practice law, Hayes moved to Philadelphia in 1821 and then to Reading, Pennsylvania in 1822. In 1827, he relocated again to Lancaster when he was appointed an assistant judge of the District Court of Lancaster and York Counties. Hayes was made president judge of that court in 1833. He served another fifteen years before retiring in 1849 to concentrate on his Lancaster practice and to venture into business, notably as the president of the Conestoga Steam Mill Company. Hayes was also very active in civic affairs; he served as the president of the board of school directors in Lancaster and as a trustee of the Millersville Normal School, today's Millersville University. He also served on the board of trustees for Dickinson College between 1837 and 1841. In 1854, he was persuaded to once again sit on the judge's bench, this time for Lancaster, and being reelected regularly, served until 1874.

Hayes was married, and he and his wife had several daughters. Alexander Laws Hayes died in 1875 in Lancaster. He was eighty-three years old.