Sally Cook Hayward (maiden name: Cook) was born on December 23, 1828, in Mendon, Massachusetts, to Olney Cook and Melinda Wilcox. Her father was a farmer who owned $5,000 of real estate and $450 of personal property by 1860. She probably grew up in Mendon, and she married John R. Hayward on October 10, 1847. They had at least two children: Lucetta, born around 1849; and Isabella, born around 1852. They lived in Mendon, and her husband worked as a bootmaker and farmer. By 1850, they owned $800 of real estate. A decade later, they owned $1,000 of real estate and $200 of personal property, and by 1870, their wealth had grown to $1,700 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. She died of “cancer of [the] womb” near Milford, Massachusetts, on July 20, 1894.