Mrs. Mary J. Hayden was born in 1830 in Athens, Maine

Athens, Maine

Athens is a town in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 847 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....

 as Mary J. Bean, and spent her early childhood with her grandparents in the town of Cornville, Maine

Cornville, Maine

Cornville is a town in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,208 at the 2000 census.-History:Settled in 1794, Cornville was incorporated on 24 February 1798 as the 116th town in Maine.-Geography:...

. In 1845 Miss Bean emigrated with her parents to the wilds of Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, where in 1847, she met and married Gay Hayden

Gay Hayden

Gay Hayden of Vancouver, Washington was a prominent Oregon pioneer who owned a significant portion of what is now the city of Vancouver including properties previously owned by Esther Short...

. In 1850, they emigrated to the Oregon Territory

Oregon Territory

The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...

 and settled in what is now Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...

. In 1851 upon hearing of the Donation Land Claim Act

Donation Land Claim Act

The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 was a statute enacted by the United States Congress intended to promote homestead settlement in the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest...

, a year after the act was passed by Congress, they settled on an island situated on the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

 between modern-day Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 and Vancouver, Washington that would become known as Hayden Island

Hayden Island, Portland, Oregon

Hayden Island is an island in the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The wide main channel of the Columbia passes north of the island. To the south, sheltered by the island, is a smaller channel known as North Portland Harbor...

. Gay Hayden proceeded to build a grand home and live on the island for five years with Mary and their twin children. Together and individually, they would both become well-known pioneers of the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

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Hayden v. Zerbst

On March 10, 1886, Mary Jane Hayden separated from Gay Hayden and divided their property in court, from that point on each handling their own real estate and financial affairs. Gay Hayden later sold a portion of his land to Terrence Furey in September 1901, Terrence Furey prior to the purchase of the lot was informed that Mary Jane Hayden was the wife of the grantor but that she had no interest in the lot. Furey then resold the land on March 8, 1906 to Reinhold Zerbst. Mary Jane Hayden did not join in this conveyance. Terrence Furey sold and conveyed the lot to Reinhold Zerbst, who at said time did not know that Gay Hayden was a married man. Gay Hayden had died almost four years previously intestate in Clarke County

Clark County, Washington

Clark County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.Clark County was the first county of Washington, named after William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition...

 in May 1902 and his estate was probated in that county.

The Portland and Seattle Railway had Zerbst's land condemned in 1903 and he was subsequently reimbursed $1200 for the land. Mary Jane Hayden had made no claim to this lot until the sale to Zerbst was begun upon which she appealed to the Supreme Court of Washington in 1908 for her half of the proceeds from said land sale and resulted in the case of Hayden v. Zerbst. In the end, the court found in favor of Zerbst as Hayden had not taken any action for 14 years after the sale of the land by her late husband.

Mary J. Hayden (Bean) was a member of the Oregon Pioneer Association, and in died June 24, 1918 in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

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