Luther F. Hayden #94
Nicknamed Monk - played baseball. This was a rather important thing at the time and he was well-known. Red hair, alcoholic. John H. Thomas once asked Benjamin R. Thomas what sort of work his biological father did. He was told he was an iron worker. However, he only remembers him as working at the B. & O. freight yard pulling nails out of wood. He would knock the old freight cars apart since they were tongue and groove, pull the nails out of them, and then the freight yard could sell the wood. At this time he lived on Wolfe Street in Alexandria. He worked on the north side (DC side) of the 14th street bridge. On his death certificate it says Luther was a R. R. Car Inspector.
In the 1880 census, Luther is 7 months old (born in October). He and his twin sister Lucy are living at home, the youngest of 10 living children. It would appear that he was born at 321 Gibbon Street, Alexandria, VA and not Jefferson Street.
In the 1910 census, Luther is married and has 2 children, Samuel and "Nannie" and is working as an oiler at the electric plant. He's renting a house at 435 Wilkes Street next door to his mother-in-law Nannie, her husband, William Shinn. Also living next door is Thomas Stone, Nellie Robey Stone, and their 8 month old, Mary Stone.
JHT remembers being bathed in the back yard. Sis would run the water down his shoulders and ran off his penis and he HATED it. He also remembers getting hit by a piece of wood. His nose bleed from the cut and he had 2 terrible black eyes. It was right after this he stayed with the Thomas'. JHT can remember hollering to Luther when he was swimming in the water. Aunt Rose used to take JHT to Mt. Vernon Park and there was a play ground. There was a merrygoround, etc. They would go down by boat and say look over there when they passed Alexandria because you "might see your brother." Once JHT said they told him it looked like his brother Luther. He yelled and waved and Luther waved back.