William Hayes Ackland

William Hayes Ackland (born William H. Acklen, September 6, 1855 – February 16, 1940) was an American lawyer, writer, and art collector from Nashville, Tennessee. He lived most of his life away from Tennessee, in Washington, DC, and various social spots, traveling to England annually for its social season. The Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was begun with his collection. Early life William Hayes Acklen was born on September 6, 1855, in Nashville, Tennessee. He changed his last name to Ackland by 1892. He was a son of Colonel Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen (1816–1863), a lawyer from Alabama who had served in the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848, and Adelicia (Hayes) Franklin Acklen (1817–1887). She was a wealthy widow when she married Col. Acklen, and their children benefitted by her wealth. His maternal grandfather, Oliver Bliss Hayes (1783–1858), was a lawyer and later Presbyterian minister from South Hadley, Massachusetts; he was related to Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893), who served as President of the United States from 1877 to 1881. William's older brother, Joseph H. Acklen (1850–1938), served as U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1878 to 1881. Acklen grew up at his family plantation home, Belmont Mansion, in Nashville, and on his mother's family plantations in Louisiana. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nashville, followed by a Bachelor of Laws from Vanderbilt University. He was one of the first students at Vanderbilt, attending when the university first opened.