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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Haywood, Sherwood

by Thornton W. Mitchell, 1988; Revised by Jared Dease, Government and Heritage Library, December 2022
See also: Lane, Lunsford

17 Feb. 1762–5 Oct. 1829

Unidentified artist of the American School. "Sherwood Haywood." North Carolina Portrait Index, 1700-1860. Chapel Hill: UNC Press. p. 100. (Digital page 124). Sherwood Haywood, banker, was born in Edgecombe County, the son of William and Charity Hare Haywood. He first entered public life as clerk of the state senate, a position to which he was elected on 4 Jan. 1786, following the resignation of his brother, John Haywood, to accept the post of state treasurer. He continued to serve as clerk of the senate until 24 Dec. 1798. Early in 1800, he moved from Edgecombe County to Raleigh, where he purchased four lots from John Haywood which comprised the block bounded by Wilmington, Edenton, Blount, and Jones streets. In 1804, when the Bank of Newbern was chartered by the state, Sherwood Haywood became Raleigh agent of the bank, a position that he held until his death.

Haywood was one of the original trustees of the Raleigh Academy, serving for the rest of his life. He also subscribed to the fund to complete the Main (South) Building at The University of North Carolina. Calvin Jones described him as a "good, polite, clever, worthy man, who never contradicted anyone in his life." Haywood was the enslaver of Lunsford Lane, an enslaved then free black businessman and entrepreneur. He married Eleanor Hawkins, by whom he had nine children; one son was Richard Bennehan Haywood, who became a physician and surgeon in Raleigh. Haywood and his wife were buried in City Cemetery, Raleigh, in the Colonel William Polk plot.

References:

Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, 2 vols. (1907–12).

William K. Boyd, "Currency and Banking in North Carolina," Historical Papers, Trinity College Historical Society 10 (1914).

Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790–1840 (1915).

Deeds and wills of Wake County, and Raleigh Academy Journal, 1802–11 (North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh).

General Assembly, Session Laws of North Carolina (1840).

Additional Resources:

"Sherwood Haywood (Feb. 17, 1762 - Oct. 5, 1829)" North Carolina Business History. 2006. http://www.historync.org/bio-SherwoodHaywood.htm (accessed January 14, 2013).

Image credit:

Unidentified artist of the American School. "Sherwood Haywood." North Carolina Portrait Index, 1700-1860. Chapel Hill: UNC Press. p. 100. (Digital page 124). https://www.worldcat.org/title/832326?oclcNum=832326. Accessed 10/14/2014.

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