Santa Barbara County Biographies

COLONEL W. A. HAYNE

Submitted by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


COLONEL W. A. HAYNE, one of the pioneer settlers and- developers of the Montecito Valley, 
whose pleasing residence commands a beautiful view of valley and ocean, was born at 
Charleston, South Carolina, in 1821. He is a son of Hon. Robert Y. Hayne, an eminent 
statesman of South Carolina, who also served as Speaker of the South Carolina Legislature, 
was elected a member of Congress and, later. United States Senator (which office he 
resigned, in favor of Mr. Calhoun), and was then elected Governor of South Carolina. In 1832 
when President Jackson issued his proclamation against nullification, Governor Hayne issued 
a counter proclamation, in favor of " State Rights." Robert Y. Hayne was in the United States 
Senate, opposed to Daniel Webster, in that great debate on " Foote's resolution," regarding 
public lands, which drifted into " States' Rights " and eventually resulted in the civil war. 

Colonel W. A. Hayne is a graduate of the South Carolina College. He studied law and 
was admitted to practice; was afterward elected to the South Carolina Legislature, 
and voted for the convention which passed the " ordinance of secession." He served 
through the war of the Confederate States; was assigned special duty at Charleston, 
where he was stationed much of the time; and at the close of the war, having lost a 
large estate, he emigrated, with a family of small children, to California, arriving at 
San Francisco in July, 1867. Having there a brother. Dr. A. P. Hayne, and cousin, E. J. 
Pringle, a prominent attorney, under their advice, he visited different localities, and, 
finding Santa Barbara possessing the most desirable qualities, bought a tract of 200 
acres of land, in the Montecito Valley, at the rate of $20 per acre. The valley then was 
wild and unsettled, the ground being covered with sage brush and chapparal. There 
were no improvements in the neighborhood, and not a fruit tree had been planted. The 
Colonel began clearing and developing, bringing 1,000 orange trees from Los Angeles, 
and thus begun the industry, which has since proved so successful, making the valley 
one of the most beautiful of Southern California, and increasing the price of land from 
$20 to $250 per acre. His son, William Alston Hayne, Jr., is deeply interested in the 
development of the olive, having extensive nurseries at Montecito, and planting 
extensive groves in the Santa Ynez Valley. Arthur P. Hayne, another son, is in the 
" Montpelier Institute," in the south of France, studying viticulture and perfecting 
himself in wine manufacture, that he may be better able to develop the great wine 
interest of California. His eldest son, Robert Y. Hayne, is an eminent lawyer of San 
Francisco, and has been elected Superior Judge, and is now a member of the " Supreme 
Court Commission," appointed by the Legislature to aid in Supreme Court decisions. 
Colonel Hayne has. two other sons who are lawyers, and one who is also interested in 
the Santa Ynez olive ranch. 

Colonel Hayne was married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1847, to a daughter of 
Edward Stiles, a gentleman of English descent, who early settled in Pennsylvania. The 
Colonel is a modest, retiring gentleman, justly proud of his ancestors, and of the 
success of his own family. 

History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California  - by 
C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II.  -Lewis Publ. Co., 
Chicago, 1917.