James H. Hayford, was born in Potsdam, New York, in 1828: educated in the public schools, graduated from the medical school of the University of Michigan: in 1855 moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar; affiliated with the Republican Party; in May 1860 a delegate to the Republican National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln; in 1867 came to Cheyenne; in 1868 sent as a delegate to Washington, D.C., to urge the organization of Wyoming as a Territory: in May 1869 moved to Laramie, Wyoming, where he began the publication of the Laramie Sentinel; appointed Territorial Auditor, taking oath of office June 4, 1870, his term expiring February 21, 1872; appointed to a second term, taking oath of office February 21, 1872, this term expiring December 10, 1875; postmaster at Laramie for eight years; Secretary of the first Board of Trustees of the University of Wyoming; one of the six first trustees appointed when the establishment of a State Historical Society was recommended by Governor W. A. Richards; March 7, 1895 named, by Governor Richards, as Judge of the Second Judicial District; serving as justice of the peace, and police judge at the time of his death, which occurred in Laramie, Wyoming, July 30, 1902.

Additional Resources

•  James Henry Hayford memorial, FindAGrave.com
•  Dictation from James H. Hayford : Laramie, 1885. by Herbert Howe Bancroft
• "Pietism and Progress: James H. Hayford and the Wyoming Anti-Gambling Tradition, 1869-1893" by William Howard Moore, Annals of Wyoming Vol 55 No 2 p.2-8