HAYTER, JOHN J. (1788-1865). John J. Hayter, early plantation owner, was born on October 3, 1788, in Washington County, Virginia, and is believed to have been the son of Abraham and June (Hutton or Hatton) Hayter. He married Elizabeth Hayes on May 12, 1808; the couple had five children. Hayter lived in Tennessee and Lafayette County, Mississippi, then moved to Nacogdoches County before 1845. He settled on a large plantation eight miles northwest of Nacogdoches, and over the course of the next decade he and his son Samuel acquired large tracts of land in Nacogdoches and adjoining counties. By 1860 Hayter had over 60,000 acres and 150 slaves; he was thus one of the 100 largest slaveowners in Texas. In 1860 his plantation produced 12,000 bushels of corn and 249 bales of cotton. Hayter died in July or August 1865 and was buried in the family graveyard on the old Hayter Plantation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carolyn Reeves Ericson, Nacogdoches, Gateway to Texas: A Biographical Directory (2 vols., Fort Worth: Arrow-Curtis Printing, 1974, 1987). Nacogdoches County Genealogical Society, Nacogdoches County Families (Dallas: Curtis, 1985). Ralph A. Wooster, "Wealthy Texans, 1860," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 71 (October 1967).
