Search Goes on for Judge's Remains

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

He was a famous jurist, known as the father of Tennessee jurisprudence, so it was no surprise when the bar association and prominent local lawyers recently sought to give him a more suitable burial site, away from a commercial strip alongside a gas station.
But there has been one serious problem with the effort to relocate the remains of the late Supreme Court Justice John Haywood. They can't find the body.
For years many had assumed his remains along with family members and associates were in close proximity to a monument to the judge off Nolensville Road, on land that had once belonged to his family.
Recently filed documents in Davidson Chancery Court provide extensive details on why it was widely believed his body was at or near the site where the monument is located. But an inch by inch search of the momument site turned up not a trace "of human remains or grave shafts."
A TRC Environment report describes the search effort including slowly scraping back the dirt with a backhoe, later even using human hands when nearing a suspected location. As detailed in the historic records of the Tennessee Supreme Court Haywood was a respected though sometimes controversial jurist.
Self taught, Haywood began teaching aspiring law students after moving to Tennessee where his family owned property. He was named to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1816.
In the pending Chancery Court action, all known relatives were contacted and none raised any objections to the relocation.
One relative who did respond said she supported relocating John Haywood's body, along with his wife Martha and any enslaved remains found on the site.
Hal Hardin, who has played a leadership role in the re-interment effort says the search is not over. If the remains are recovered plans also call for them to be re-interred in the historic Nashville Cemetery.
"We are still on it. We dug and did not find him and are trying to get some radar equipment to assist in the hunt," he said.
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