Dr. Arista Tarvin Hayman, a physician and surgeon of St. Louis, was born July 8, 1874, in Monticello, Missouri, a son of Ervin E. Hayman. The father, a native of Missouri, was a son of Peter Deshields Hayman, a pioneer settler of St. Louis, who was a native of Kentucky and at an early day removed to Missouri, becoming a pioneer merchant of Monticello. Ervin E. Hayman was reared and educated in Monticello and became a pharmacist, devoting his life to that business. In politics he was a democrat and served as county treasurer of Clark county, to which position he was elected in 1892. He also filled the office of chief weigher with the warehouse commission of Missouri and was very active in politics, proving a capable official and standing stanchly in support of the principles in which he believed. He died in 1903 at the age of fifty-two years, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mathilda Mackey and was a native of Ohio, is still living, making her home at Kahoka, Missouri. In the family were three children, of whom Arista T. is the eldest; the others are: Herbert, living in St. Louis; and Vivian, the wife of J. L. Wees of St. Louis.
Dr. Hayman was educated in the public schools of Luray, Missouri, and in the Kahoka Normal. After leaving college he served as deputy sheriff of Clark county and later, having determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he was graduated from the Barnes Medical College of St. Louis, in which he completed a course in 1903, winning the M. D. degree. Following his graduation he served in the city health department for a period of nineteen months and then entered upon private practice, in which he has since continued very successfully. He does not specialize upon a particular line, but continues in general practice and his capability is widely acknowledged by the extensive patronage accorded him. He is a thorough student of his profession, keeping in touch with the trend of modern scientific thought, method and investigation t and he belongs to the St. Louis and Missouri State Medical Associations.
On the 27th of March, 1895, Dr. Hayman was married in Clark county, Missouri, to Miss Carrie Miller, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Austin and Anna (Burkhead) Miller, both representatives of old Illinois families. Dr. and Mrs. Hayman have become parents of two children: Thelma, born February 2, 1896; and Ruth, born in June, 1898.
During the World war Dr. Hayman became a member of the Medical Corps with the rank of first lieutenant and was stationed at Fort Riley. In politics he supports the democratic party where national questions and issues are involved, but at local elections casts an independent ballot. He is a member of the Mutual Benefit Association of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Union Avenue Christian church, in which he is serving as deacon. His life is actuated by high and honorable principles and worthy motives have at all times prompted his relations with his fellowmen. He is self-educated as well as self-made, for he provided for his college course through his own labors and laudable ambition has prompted him at every point in his career, while his energy and enterprise are balanced by a broad humanitarian spirit.