Samuel Snowden Hayes

Samuel Snowden Hayes (December 25, 1820 – January 28, 1880) was an American politician from Tennessee. Hayes moved to Illinois after a family tragedy and eventually established a successful law practice in Carmi. He became a prominent politician in White County, serving two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives and attending the 1848 state constitutional convention. He was a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party and often campaigned on their behalf. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1850 and became one of the city's leading Democratic voices preceding the Civil War. From 1858, he supported Stephen A. Douglas and championed him at the 1860 Democratic National Convention. He was one of the three delegates on the United States Revenue Commission in 1865.

Biography Samuel Snowden Hayes was born in Nashville, Tennessee on December 25, 1820. He descended from early American families from both his parents. His mother died in 1828 and the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio three years later. In 1837, his father died when a servant poisoned a family meal with arsenic. To support his family, Hayes moved to Louisville, Kentucky to work in a drug store as a clerk. The next year, he bought a stock of pharmaceuticals and moved west to Shawneetown, Illinois to open his own shop. He sold his shop after two years and used the proceeds to fund an education in law. He studied at the Henry Eddy; future US Representative Samuel S. Marshall was a fellow student there at the time.

Hayes was admitted to the bar in 1842 and moved to Mount Vernon, Illinois to practice. After a short term there, he opened a practice in Carmi, Illinois. He took an interest in politics and canvassed Southern Illinois in favor of Democrat James K. Polk for the 1844 presidential election. He attended the 1845 commercial convention in Memphis, Tennessee and drew acclaim for his critique of John C. Calhoun. An elementary school in the city was later named after him.

Hayes Drive in Jackson Park was named for him.